Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how different kinds of migration, and the devaluation of older agrarian identities, has affected agrarian relations and the dominance of the Patidar caste in central Gujarat.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how different kinds of migration (rural to urban, labour and professional, national and international) influence agrarian relations, with a particular focus on the Patidar caste of central Gujarat. In Sundarana, a village that was studied by David F. Pocock in the 1950s and that I re-studied in 2012, most young Patidar today aspire to migrate abroad. The ability to acquire an education and to secure a job away from the land (ideally in a foreign country) constitute the new markers of status in an extremely hierarchical society. Most studies of the Patidars have focussed on the ways in which this caste has historically moved from being labourers and farmers to becoming entrepreneurs and international migrants. However, these instances of success have overshadowed the ways in which young Patidar at the 'lower' level of the caste struggle to find a place for themselves in the village and the world. Education and migration often fail to transform into social mobility. Considering both 'higher' and 'lower' layers of the caste, this paper explores how the devaluation of older agrarian identities has affected intra-caste relations and the the dominance of the Patidar in central Gujarat.