FASS Brown Bag Seminar by Dr Carly Nichols | Chemical labor: the gendered political ecologies of herbicide adoption in the rainfed rice belt of India

Dear all,

You are cordially invited to the first session of the FASS Brown Bag Seminar Series in Semester 2 of AY24/25. Dr Carly Nichols (NUS Geography) will be presenting on “Chemical labor: the gendered political ecologies of herbicide adoption in the rainfed rice belt of India”.

Date: 22 Jan, 12pm – 1pm
Register: Zoom

Chemical labor: the gendered political ecologies of herbicide adoption in the rainfed rice belt of India
Recently herbicide use has grown in India, largely driven by smallholder farmers in the rainfed rice-belt of eastern India. I present ethnographic data on weedicide adoption in subsistence areas of eastern Madhya Pradesh to argue adoption is cause and symptom of a broader reshuffling of socio-ecological relations. While demographic shifts and social entitlements have (ever-so-slightly) emboldened agricultural labor to demand more dignified wages and treatment, I find the gendered implications are ambiguous. I trace out three ways gendered relations are impacted by weedicide use via knowledge, social differentiation, and solidarity, then envision how weeding labor might be revalued more justly.

Dr. Carly Nichols is a feminist geographer and political ecologist who investigates the politics of development, agrarian socio-ecological relations, and farmer health and wellbeing. Her research often uses a justice lens and has focused on Central/Northern India for nearly 15 years, with more recent work in the US Midwest.