Jan Breman, born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1936. Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. Professor Emeritus at the University of Amsterdam.
Fellow (1 September 2003 – 31 January 2004)
STATE OF POVERTY IN GUJARAT: LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD
Over the last five decades in Gujarat, with the changes in the agrarian economy and the adoption of a market economy, the proportion of the poor, particularly those below poverty line has steadily declined. My NIAS Fellowship was based on the research I carried out with my colleague Ghanshyam Shah: documenting the state of the poor in Gujarat looking back and ahead. Our collaboration started long ago and we used our fellowships here at NIAS to discuss the content and methodology of our research project. In addition we both immersed ourselves in the literature on the subject to be able to put our future fieldwork into a wider theoretical framework. Towards the end of my stay I made a number of questionnaires and interview schedules which will be used for my fieldwork in South Gujarat over the next few months.
The following forthcoming publications are the fruits of my stay at NIAS: ‘Sociaal-darwinisme als de leer van sociale ongelijkheid; een terugblik die met een vooruitblik eindigt’ in Socialisme en Democratie and ‘Poverty, Social Equality and Human Rights’, which will appear in a UNESCO publication. I also gave a number of lectures at conferences both in the Netherlands and abroad.