Globalisation lived locally : new forms of control, conflict and response among labour in Kerala, examined through a labour geography lens

With the support of the labour geography framework, this study tries to analyse how the economic geography of capitalism is shaped by the spatial practices of labour. We look into a model, not upon a global scale but at a very local scale of organisation and show how organising locally can, in fact, be an effective strategy during confrontation with social actors organised at the global and other extra-local scales. The study raises the need for going against the grain by questioning global stereotypes with regard to expected economic responses to globalisation. The position I seek to hold is that labour has been actively involved in the very process of globalisation itself and the expansion of capital in general. In this paper I take up this particular thread of argument and empirically show how it is important and relevant in the globalisation literature. I deal specifically with one region – Kerala – and particularly the processes in its labour markets, taking the case of apparel workers in two units in an export promoting industrial park in Kerala. Keywords: Globalisation, Kerala, Labour Geography, Local-Global Tensions, Space-Place Conflicts. JEL Classification: J01, J51, J52, J8