The Dissertation Committee for Rennison P. Lalgee Certifies That This Is the Approved Version of the Following Dissertation
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Copyright by Rennison Lalgee 2009 The Dissertation Committee for Rennison P. Lalgee Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Indian Leather Industry: Culture, Ambivalence and Globalization Committee: Sheldon Ekland-Olson, Supervisor Lester R. Kurtz, Co-Supervisor Sharmila Rudrappa Gail Minault Bryan R. Roberts The Indian Leather Industry: Culture, Ambivalence and Globalization by Rennison Peter Lalgee, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May, 2009 Dedication To Arthur, Hannah and Raymond Acknowledgements No large task is ever accomplished alone, and over these many years, I have had many people offer their love and support as I tried to finish this project. I would like to thank the fine folks at the Gandhi Museum in Madurai who have been instrumental in conducting the fieldwork necessary to complete the dissertation. Over 10 years ago Dr. S. Jeyapragasam introduced me to a part of India of which I knew little but came to love as a second home. Tamil Nadu is a place everyone should visit at least once in their lives. He was a critical source of structural as well as personal support. Through him I met my research assistant, guide, teacher and friend A. Ravichandran. Ravi is the most generous spirit I have ever met. His friendship has meant everything to me on my trips to India. For being patient and answering all my questions: Gouna. When all appeared lost, your efforts saved the day. I am grateful to Anjum Malik for throwing me a lifeline when I needed it most in Chennai. The world can be a big place and you helped it become smaller. The generosity of the Govind and Bhakti Nadkarni Trust Research Grant made the final and crucial months of fieldwork possible. They made possible the trip and research expenses. I am pleased to thank them for affording me this opportunity. Thanks to the Inter-library loan v service at the PCL, particularly Wendy Nessmith whose patience and generosity typifies what is best about the University. Thank you to all my friends and family whose emotional support through the years gave me the stamina to cross the finish line. My tenure in graduate school seems to have lasted several lifetimes and would have been over without the friendship and intellectual support of my colleagues. From those first days, I thank, Simon Saenz, Sam Echevarria, Julie Reid, Jim Clark and Warren Fincher. Graduate school can be a lonely place both socially and intellectually. Thanks for being great friends. In the final stages of this process, I was lucky enough to not only endure but to enjoy my time in graduate school and that was almost entirely due to a new crop of graduate students who extended their friendship to me and supported my sociology. Thanks to Rita Stephan, Travis Beaver, Chris Pieper, Juan Carlos Esparza Ochoa, Daniel Ritter and Jaya Soni. Of course the business of getting the degree is not possible without one’s committee and I have been fortunate to have had a very experienced and committed group of senior faculty as collaborators. I would like to first thank Dr. Sheldon Ekland- Olson for his willingness to step in wherever necessary to see this process to completion. It seems like many lifetimes ago but my first graduate class was Introduction to Latin American Sociology with Dr. Bryan Roberts. Were it not for a Ford Foundation grant to India, I might have written a dissertation on Latin America. Thanks to Dr. Gail Minault for her many insights on how Muslim-India fits into this project. Her many history courses on India have given me an appreciation for the rich data that exists in history books. Dr. Sharmila Rudrappa has been and continues to be a source of intellectual renewal. Her guidance and academic support has been instrumental in sustaining me vi economically and more important intellectually while I moved through this final phase of graduate school. I thank her for introducing me to a sociology that brings me profound understanding about race and ethnicity. Thank you. Many people played a part, however large or small, in moving the project forward. However, it is fair to say that this project could not have gotten off the ground were it not for Dr. Gideon Sjoberg. Many people are not aware that Dr. Sjoberg spends more time with students than most other professors. Dr. Sjoberg spent many hours with me over the years helping me develop my ideas about the project. When I was in the field, I could count on the occasional phone call from Dr. Sjoberg particularly when things were most difficult. He worked tirelessly to educate himself on the esoteric nature of leather in India and never failed to find a useful book or article that could help frame the issues of my project. I am indebted to Dr. Sjoberg for his attention to my Sociology and to me personally, at a time when I could have easily left the department. Sociology and I will miss Dr. Sjoberg in his retirement. Thank you Dr. Sjoberg. Finally, I must thank Dr. Lester Kurtz. I took my first class with Les after he had spent a year in India doing research for a book on Gandhi. I thought that it was fantastic that he was able to live in India and do research on Gandhi! I came to love sociology through his classes and our many discussions. He was always eager to learn from me and that spurred my sociological imagination. It was his idea to go to graduate school. Les has been my biggest advocate and champion and my intellectual mentor. Once in graduate school, I too did my own research on Gandhi under his guidance. It was on my first trip to India that I stumbled on the leather industry and it was Les’ keen sociological insight that encouraged me to pursue the topic. Our conversation so many years ago about tanneries in India has produced this work. vii Last, but not least are the people closest to me. None of this would have been possible, of course, without the never-ending love and support of the best parents for which anyone could ask, Raymond and Hannah. I can never thank them enough. Of course, that does not mean I will not try! Finally, thank you to Kimberly whose love and support helped see this project to completion. You make it possible to be better. Thank you, Kimberly. viii The Indian Leather Industry: Culture, Ambivalence and Globalization Publication No._____________ Rennison Peter Lalgee, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2009 Supervisors: Sheldon Ekland-Olson and Lester Kurtz The conflict between two major ideal types of Indian leather production – the “historic” and the “global capital” has created a classic case of sociological ambivalence in recent decades. This dissertation relies on interviews, content analysis of leather industry journals, and secondary data on Indian society to examine the sources and consequences of this ambivalence and the ways in which key actors in the industry are trying to address it. First, I outline the characteristics of what I call the “historical type,” that is, the leather industry of the past through 1990 following Max Weber’s comparative historical method of the “ideal type,”. Next, I explore the characteristics of the “global capital” model of leather production emerging as India becomes increasingly integrated into the global economic system. These industry journals present an image of the new global capital type of leather industry. They provide a mechanism for socializing the industry’s managers into the world of contemporary industry by providing the reader with information about the latest fashion trends and technological innovations that a successful global exporter must understand if their company is going to survive the sea change occurring in the global scene. The journals also present to their prospective markets, the new face of Indian leather: a sophisticated, rational, and creative industry that parallels the well- known quality of the Indian IT industry, in contrast to the small-scale, village industry where much of the production takes place in small facilities. The final chapter explores the implications of the structured ambivalence created by the clash between these two models: the industry’s managers who are caught between a labor-pool rooted in rural India and the winds of global capitalism and how they mediate between the two. It examines the inevitable oscillations between a historic India with its kinship-based, small-scale village oriented culture that protects the cow, and the fast-paced world of global capital with its rational-bureaucratic large-scale social organization and a corporate culture that protects the generation of profit. This study provides an up-close look at the consequences of global economic change for local cultures and the daily lives of individuals who face it. ix Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................... xvi List of Figures ..................................................................................................... xvii List of Illustrations ............................................................................................. xviii Chapter 1 Introduction and Background ..................................................................1 Introduction .....................................................................................................1 The People ......................................................................................................5