Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social Effects of Enclave Economic Zones: The Case of India

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Doctoral student Preeti Sampat (City University of New York), under the guidance of Dr. David Harvey, will undertake anthropological research on the genesis, enactment and implementation of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Act 2005 in India. Set-aside or enclave economic zones, which provide signficant national and international investment opportunities, are now a ubiquitous tool of economic growth throughout the developing world. While the Indian SEZ Act was approved by the Indian parliament with complete consensus among all political parties, SEZs soon became the subject of disruptive contestation over land and resources between developers, the government, and citizen and peasant groups. Thus this research is important for the contribution it will make to understanding local-level consequences of such zones and possible ways that their implementation may be improved to better benefit all concerned.Sampat will conduct research in multiple sites in India. She will employ a combination of ethnographic methods including in-depth interviews, life histories interviews, participant observation, and archival research. She will explore claims around SEZs made by various key actors, such as developers, politicians, bureaucrats, and citizen and peasant organizations. She will focus in particular on the genesis and implementation of the SEZ Act 2005, the emergent jurisprudence around the SEZ law and the right to land and resources, and the implementation of SEZs and resistance to them in two sites.Findings from this research will contribute to theorizing the changing political economy of land and resources, law-making processes, and democratic practices in the context of a formerly closed economy that has increased its international economic engagement significantly over the past two decades. The study also will further analyses of contemporary social movements and their implications for democracy and citizenship, and of export-oriented enclave economies as central loci of complex local and global processes. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.