Configurations urbaines, Croissance régionale et réseaux globaux

Objectives

Tiruchengodu is a medium town of nearly 100.000 inhabitants in central Tamil Nadu. It has experienced a rapid period of economic growth during the last thirty years. Previous researches have attempted to identify the historical, social and cultural factors explaining the growth of this town in South India. The aim of the study was to find out what kind of interlinks, interdependencies, nexus of relationships has emerged overtime among the actors in the socio-economic scene. How these have changed during recent years has also been analysed.

This sub-project thus tried to understand

• How this networking of relationships ultimately results in integrating the town with the economies and societies at higher levels - the district, state, national and global economy
• How this process of development results in differentiations and inequalities within the urban space, with the emergence of posh colonies and slums and with a differential access to basic amenities.

Materials and Methods

The project gave great emphases to fieldwork and interdisciplinary approaches. Months have been spent in Tiruchengodu and its area by researchers belonging to several disciplines. Different kinds of enquiries have been conducted. The different actors of the local economy have been interviewed. Questionnaires have been filled by one fifth of the families in the entire town. Others questionnaires have helped to study different groups of entrepreneurs. All the information collected have lead to a systemic approaches, incorporating different points of view, and have autorised a social mapping of the town.

Partners

CEIAS, EHESS-CNRS under the Program ASP CNRS-ORSTOM " Entrepreneurship in Indian medium and small towns " funded by Ministry of Research and directed by Philippe Cadene and Denis Vidal.

Funding

• IFP
• CNRS
• Ministry of Research under the CEIAS.

Team

Researchers

• Dr Marie-Louise Reiniche, anthropologist, Directeur d’Etudes at the E.P.H.E., Paris (UMR CEIAS EHESS-CNRS), head of the project.
• Prof. Philippe Cadène, geographer, Professor at the University Paris 7 (UMR SEDET Paris 7-CNRS),
• Dr. Loraine Kennedy, socio-economist, Chargée de Recherches au CNRS, (UMR ADES TEMPOS, Université de Bordeaux-CNRS),
• Prof. Amitabh Kundu, economist, professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, CSRD.
• M. Jean-Marc Roda, forestry expert, CIRAD Forêt, Montpellier
• Dr. Brigitte Silberstein, geographer, (UMR CEIAS EHESS-CNRS)

Students

• Estelle Atlan, graduate in Agronomy, INAPG, Paris

Research Assistants

• Venkata Subramanian, Research Assistant at the IFP

Main Outputs

Chapters in books

• CADÈNE P., 1997. L’émergence de jeunes entrepreneurs. Les opérateurs de programmes télévisés diffusés par satellite à Tiruchengodu, petite ville du Tamil Nadu (Inde), In NETCOM, vol. XI, pp. 343-367.

• CADÈNE P., 1998. Industrial districts and integration of Indian space, In Cadène Ph. et M. Holmstrom (Eds.) Decentralized production in India. Industrial districts, flexible specialization and employment. New Delhi, Sage Publications

Articles

• CADÈNE P., & PRADES J., 2004. Economie sociale, technologie et territoire. Le cas de deux districts en Inde, Revue Terminal, n° 91

Workshops

• French Institute of Pondicherry, 25-26 March 1994. "Flexible specialisation in India. Towards a new model of Industrialisation ?"

• Humboldt University, Berlin. 23-26 September 1993. 12th Conference on Modern South Asian Studies. "Urban study group", organised by Philipe Cadène, at the 12th conference on Modern South Asian Studies". Debate about "Urban dynamics in South Asia at the time of liberalisation"

• French Institute of Pondicherry. 27-28 August 1993. Second Indo-French workshops "Urban Configurations in relation to commercial, industrial and social networks"

• French Institute of Pondicherry, 10 August 1990, First Indo-French workshops "Urban Configurations and merchants networks in South Asia : the case of Tiruchengodu, Tamil Nadu"