The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi in cooperation with the Timely Histories Project at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, invites proposals for papers to be presented at a workshop on ‘Rhythms of Livelihood: Past and Present’ to be held in November 2025 at CSDS.
The workshop seeks to inspire innovative perspectives on how the rhythms of livelihood were structured in South Asia from the 18th to the 20th centuries. By shifting focus from the traditional concept of labour to the broader notion of livelihood, which encompasses spatial, temporal, and environmental dimensions, the workshop aims to uncover more nuanced patterns and shifts in the daily life of South Asian societies related to work. A focus on livelihood allows us to break free from sectoral insularity to privilege actors’ perspectives on how they devise their strategies of work and survival through acquiescence and resistance towards powerful structures imposed from above. The emphasis on rhythms—recurring dynamic temporal patterns that structure various facets of everyday experience and practice—provides a framework for examining the intricate relationships between human activities and their surroundings which otherwise may remain hidden under static snapshots of macro-analytical categories. We propose to use the framework of rhythms to unearth the deep temporal foundations of the relationship between livelihood and the everyday life on the one hand and multiple and intersecting regimes of livelihoods and power on the other.
Work and avenues of livelihood span across various aspects of life, scattered across multiple sites of production, reproduction, and consumption. Broadly focussing on what is readily identifiable as the modern and the contemporary periods, that is the period from the eighteenth century to the present, we remain interested in exploring how different types and means of livelihood—based upon the pursuit of independent or mixed vocations such as agriculture, industrial, peripatetic, domestic, official, gig, and so on—emerged and transformed in this time period. How, in each of these and across these sites, did a set of stable, dynamic, contested, and disruptive rhythms of livelihood emerge and change?
We propose adopting the framework of a ‘rhythmic notion of livelihood’ as a multifaceted approach that moves beyond a purely human-centred analysis to one encompassing interspecies relationships and networks within its fold. We further emphasise the complex web of interactions between humans, other species, and their environments, recognizing that livelihoods are not isolated human activities but are deeply intertwined with ecological systems. By examining these interconnections through the lens of various social factors such as class, caste, gender, religion, and cultural practices, we can better understand how the rhythms of life and work have evolved. Time, seasons, weather, and spaces in which livelihood activities are organized influence the rhythm of work, without necessarily determining it. The workshop thus invites reflections on how environment and space have impacted the forms and structure of livelihood activities. Equally, we invite reflections on how human and non-human labour have modulated environments and spaces to organize various forms of livelihood.
The comparison between historical and contemporary rhythms of livelihood in South Asia further offers a rich area for exploration. Traditional livelihoods, often allegedly closely tied to natural cycles and local ecosystems, may have operated on different temporal scales compared to modern practices influenced by global finance, digital technology, and remote work. One of the leading questions of investigation could be: How far were the pre- and early-modern formations of work and livelihood dependent on natural rhythms, or how far was such characterization an outcome of theoretical models to explain the ‘abstract’ modern time? Do the newer rhythms, shaped by factors like banking systems, creative industries, infrastructure and technologies, and digital connectivity, represent a significant departure from established historical patterns? Investigating the templates provided by contemporary activities and cultural practices related to the expansion of gig work, platform economy, and dismantling of eight-hour work shifts can shed light on the mechanisms of change and adaptation in livelihood strategies. Furthermore, analyzing the disjunctions and continuities between past and present rhythms may reveal important insights into transformations in South Asian societies, providing a deeper understanding of how livelihoods are embedded in and shaped by the broader social and ecological contexts.
The topics may include but are not limited to:
• Forms of commuting, movements, displacements, and migration to strategize livelihoods;
• Intersection of regimes (legal, ecological, financial, for instance) in structural formations of work/livelihood rhythms;
• Rhythms of domestic and household chores and work and the impact of external pressure
points in their transformation;
• Role of new technologies (railways, telegraph, telephone, electricity, digital apps) in creating nodes of shifts and mutations in work rhythms;
• Exploration of independent sites of work (such as factory, office, peripatetic, home, for
instance) and their interaction and conflicts, displaying temporal regulation and resistance as the main sites of reconfiguration;
• Role of social markers of identity such as religion, caste, gender, and race together with the temporality of ecological settings (non-human animate and inanimate worlds) in defining livelihood rhythms.
We invite abstracts of max. 1000 words by 10 July 2025. Please send your abstract, together with one page C.V., to timely.histories@gmail.com. Please mention ‘Rhytms of Livelihood’ in the subject headline.
In collaboration with the Timely Histories project at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, the conference will be held at CSDS, New Delhi. Tentatively, we plan to do it early November 2025. The exact dates will be decided at the earliest convenience.
Concept note by: Nitin Sinha, Nitin Varma, Amrita Chattopadhyay, Prabhat Kumar, Awadhendra Sharan.
Please direct your queries to:
Amrita Chattopadhyay, timely.histories@gmail.com
Prabhat Kumar, prabhat@csds.in
