This book explores how power relationships, measured through qualitative social network analysis, impact planning participation and livelihood strategies of a marginalized group of farmers cultivating the Yamuna River floodplain in Delhi, India. Through an in-depth study of 165 farming households facing land development, this book offers insights from the ground-up into how social dynamics enable and constrain agency. A novel mixed-methods approach was used to measure social networks and access to resources based on the different types of people farmers might interact with as part of their livelihoods: hired laborers, vendors, other farmers, etc. Digging deeper into social network patterns, typologies of power are illustrated as they manifest household agency through diverse pathways. More broadly, a political ecology lens is used to link together the multiple and fragmented Yamuna farmers’ stories with broader social, ecological, infrastructural, and economic contexts to suggest future directions for inquiry and policy related to localized urban food systems and sustainable development.
This monograph will be of interest to academic faculty and graduate students in critical geography, cultural anthropology, food studies, landscape architecture/urban planning, and sociology.
Author(s): Jessica Ann Diehl
Series: Cities and Nature
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 283
City: Cham
Preface
References
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction
References
Part I A Political Ecology Lens
2 Vulnerable, yet Resilient
2.1 To Develop or Not to Develop: Land as Contested Urban Resource
2.2 Communities in Planning
2.2.1 Participatory Planning: Discourse Versus Reality
2.2.2 Participation and Representation
2.2.3 Knowledge and Problem-Setting
2.3 Power in Planning
2.3.1 Power Within, Power Without
2.3.2 The Disempowered
2.3.3 Social Networks and Decision-Making
2.4 Micro–Macro Disconnect
2.5 Vulnerability and Resilience
2.6 Coping and Access to Resources
2.7 Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
References
3 Whose Land Is This Anyway?
3.1 Human Organization Is Not Random, Nor Even
3.2 Political Ecology: The Structural Context
3.3 Power with a Small “p”
3.4 Measuring Power Relations
3.4.1 Structural Power: What Is Possible
3.4.2 Organizational Power: In What Context
3.4.3 Ego-Alter Power: With Whom
3.4.4 Individual-Level Power: Potential to Act
3.4.5 Livelihood Outcomes: The Outcome of Power
3.4.6 Ego-Alter Power: In-Depth
3.5 Social Networks for Mobilize Resources
3.6 Aggregating and Linking Modes of Power
3.7 Marginal Land Settlement
3.7.1 Pilot Study
3.7.2 Selecting a Site: Identifying a Community
3.7.3 Whose Land Is It Anyway?
3.7.4 Yamuna River
3.8 Community Boundaries
References
Part II Social Networks and Access to Resources
4 Introductions First
4.1 Urban Food System Concepts
4.2 Individuals Embedded in Households
4.3 Household Representation
4.4 The Researcher and the Researched
4.5 Research Design
4.6 Methodological Challenges
4.7 Analysis: Data Limits
4.8 Coercion, I Mean Compensation
References
5 Family Dynamic: The Household as a Collective Agent
5.1 Household Assets
5.2 Benefits to Farming the Yamuna Floodplain
5.3 Physical Capital
5.4 Natural Capital
5.5 Land Improvements
5.6 The Pregnant Woman Who Didn’t Exist
5.7 Ego-Centric (Household) Power
Reference
6 Help Wanted: Laborers as a Social Network Collective
6.1 Investing, Withdrawing, and Exchanging Resources
6.2 Rural to Urban Migration
6.3 Labor Power
References
7 Friends and Frenemies: Other Farmers as a Social Network Collective
7.1 Farmers’ First Experience
7.2 The Other Thirty-Four
7.3 Within Class Violence
7.4 Farmer Power
References
8 Buying and Selling: Vendors as a Social Network Collective
8.1 Negotiating Price
8.2 Loans
8.3 Advice from Vendors
8.4 Lack of Discussion
8.5 If They Come, Build It…Income Diversification
8.6 Mandis and the Slow-Rapid Rise of the Supermarket in India
8.7 The Middle Class Consumer
8.8 Vendor Power
References
9 Seeds and Fertilizer: The Agricultural Industry as a Social Collective
9.1 Lalit vs. Goliath: A Small Seed Shop Owner with a Big Clientele
9.2 Researcher and Researched Revisited
9.3 Green Revolution (Indian Version)
9.4 Industry Power
References
10 Rent or Own? Landlords as a Social Network Collective
10.1 Rent Rate
10.2 Leasing Arrangements and Preference
10.3 Rent Payment
10.4 Rent Collection & Landlord’s Residence
10.5 Conversation and Advice
10.6 Property Improvements and Help
10.7 Ten Landlords
10.8 Tenure, Title, and Identification
10.9 Landlord Collective
References
11 The Outsiders: Other Social Network Collectives
11.1 Who Else and from Where?
11.2 Discussion, Advice or Assistance
11.3 IDs: Education, Social Services, and Charity
11.4 Health and Religion
11.5 The Priest and the Devout
11.6 Politicians and the Right to Vote
11.7 News in All Directions
11.8 Other Relation Power
References
Part III Solutions without Resolution
12 Land, Knowledge, Strategies
12.1 The Catalyst for Action
12.2 Land Use Change: Beliefs and Behaviors
12.3 Knowledge of Land Use Change in Yamuna Khadir
12.4 Involvement in Land Use Planning
12.5 Perception of Land Use Influence
12.6 Potential for Livelihood Outcomes
12.7 Livelihood Indicators
12.8 Benefits to Farming Along the Yamuna
12.9 Livelihood Strategies
12.10 Social Networks and Livelihood Strategies
12.11 Land Use Influence and Livelihood Strategies
References
13 Patches and Corridors: An Expanded Description of Pathways of Power
13.1 Social Networks and Resiliency
13.2 Mimicry: The Case of Weak Social Networks That Appear Advantaged
13.3 Isolation: The Case of Self-Reliant Households
13.4 Community: The Case of Strong Community Bonds Without Power
13.5 Rooted: The Case of Strong Bonds Without Influence
13.6 Charity: The Case of Strong Bridges Without Roots
13.7 Separated: The Case of Weak Community Bonds
13.8 Dependent: The Case of Extrinsic Capital
13.9 Many Pathways: The Case of Strong Social Networks and Influence
13.10 Entrepreneurs: The Non-Farming Community
13.11 Everyday Forms of Resistance
References
14 Urban Food Production as an Embedded Practice
14.1 Changing Land Use and Changing Identities
14.2 City Planning and the Citizen
14.3 Coping with Natural Hazards
14.4 Coping with Development Pressure
14.5 Revisiting Small ‘p’ Power
14.6 Knowledge, Action, Influence
14.6.1 Lack of Knowledge: What to Say?
14.6.2 Lack of Action: Participation and Representation
14.6.3 Lack of Influence: Outside the Decision-Making Space
14.7 The Socially Constructed Farmer
References
15 Conclusion: Scaffolding Urban Food Systems
15.1 Embedding Beliefs and Behaviors
15.2 Reinforcing Marginalization
15.3 Community Representation
15.4 Future Steps
15.5 Final Reflection
References
Index
