When extractive and racial capitalism combine – Indigenous and caste based struggles with land, labour and law in India

Abstract

While the Government of India has made numerous statements about its ‘green’ credentials, extractive capitalism continues at an escalating pace across the country under increasingly brutal authoritarianism. This paper provides a case study of extractive capitalism in Adivasi and Dalit communities in Birbhum, West Bengal, in an area dominated by stone crusher industries. Through this example, this article argues that extractive capitalism combines with racial capitalism, resulting in devastating consequences in modern India. These effects can be seen in the concurrent violence enacted against Adivasi and Dalit land and labour under a law which is discriminatory and disciplinary. Drawing on Dalit feminist literature and the work of scholars on caste and racial capitalism, this paper illustrates that exploitation can only occur through mainstream disgust for Adivasis and Dalits – attempting to extract not only from their land, but from their bodies also. Yet these findings show that Adivasis and Dalits also clearly demonstrate resistance to psychological subjugation. This paper thus provides unique insights into the way that racial and extractive capitalism intersect in India.