Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Agrarian Reform and Shrimp Cultivation in West Bengal, India

研究生Sarasij Majumder将在Bonnie J.McCay博士的指导下，在印度西孟加拉邦进行政治与出口导向型经济发展项目之间的关系研究。他将研究小土地所有者和佃农的政治作用，以解释孟加拉三角洲两个地点对虾种植部门的不同结果。尽管这两个地点的农业生态条件相似，但商业对虾种植模式却截然不同。在一个地点，外部企业家拥有大部分养虾场，这些养虾场占地非常大的面积。在另一个地点，当地的小土地所有者和佃农拥有大部分养虾场，这些养虾场的规模相对较小。研究人员假设，养虾场的规模和所有权取决于两个因素。首先是小土地所有者和佃农与多层地方政府机构--国家的执行机构--各级官僚谈判的能力。第二个问题是这些遗址上的个人如何看待自然资源和国家。将通过以下方式收集数据：a)参与观察乡村和区城镇的正式和非正式政治；b)对两个地点的小土地所有者、佃农、官僚、民选代表和地主进行非结构化和半结构化访谈；以及c)对小土地所有者/佃农进行结构化问卷调查。这项研究将对社会科学家的教育做出重大贡献。这些发现还将有助于理解对虾水产养殖的不同结果，这是整个亚洲日益增长的经济发展战略。

Graduate student Sarasij Majumder, supervised by Dr. Bonnie J. McCay, will conduct research on the relation between politics and export-oriented economic development programs in West Bengal, India. He will examine the political role of small landholders and sharecroppers to explain different outcomes in the shrimp cultivation sector in two sites in the Bengal Delta. In spite of having similar agro-ecological condition, the two sites have very different patterns of commercial shrimp cultivation. In one site, outside entrepreneurs own most of the shrimp farms, which cover a very large surface area. In the other site, local small landholders and sharecroppers own most of the shrimp farms, which are relatively small in scale. The researcher hypothesizes that the scale and ownership of shrimp farm is dependent on two factors. The first is the ability of small landholders and sharecroppers to negotiate with bureaucrats at all tiers of the multi-tiered local government body, the implementing agency of the state. The second is how natural resources and the state are perceived by individuals at these sites. Data will be collected through a) participant observation of formal and informal politics at the villages and the district towns, b) unstructured and semi-structured interviews with small landholders, sharecroppers, bureaucrats, elected representatives and landlords at the two sites, and c) structured questionnaires administered among the small landholders/sharecroppers. The research will contribute significantly to the education of a social scientist. The findings also will help to understand differential outcomes of shrimp aquaculture, a growing economic development strategy throughout Asia.