RESEARCH PAPER The saga of the commons in Kuttanad: appropriations, contests, developments Mathew Kuriakose Ó Indian Institute of Management Calcutta 2014 Abstract The paper argues that the mutually enforc- ing processes of enclosure of land and entanglement of labour have been central to the development of state and capitalism in Kuttanad, a protected Ramsar site in the south Indian state of Kerala. The driving force of epochal changes in Kuttanad was the transformations of the commons; different regimes that ruled Kuttanad have actively engaged in the appropriation, distribu- tion and production of commons along with and for the dominant sections in the region. Reclamation and re-reclamation of backwater lands, spanning over one and half centuries, are thus carried out by the distributive state apparatus in collaboration with its constituent class sections. The resultant shifts in land, crop, labour, technology and resources are what define the crisis of commons in the region. Keywords Commons Á Primitive accumulation Á Governance Á Land appropriation Á Reclamation Á Rice cultivation Introduction There is no doubt that land contributes significantly to economic processes in society. However, there is no consensus over how land actually functions as a factor of production or more than a passive factor. The land cover of a region, as in paddyfields, backwaters, rivers and garden lands, not only constitutes the ecological commons but also functions as the key determinant of changes in livelihoods, society-nature interactions and region-specific governance strategies. This paper explores the tortuous interactions between colonial- ism, development and ecology in the Kuttanad region, in the south Indian state of Kerala in order to portray the labyrinthine redrawing of its colonial, develop- mental and ecological geographies. By examining two distinct phases in the history of this region—the backwater reclamation 1 phase in the colonial times and the re-reclamation phase of post-independence times, one can easily discern that transformation of the ecological commons, especially land was the single most important factor that decided the nature of the region’s economy. This myriad process of accumula- tive development led to transforming commons by appropriating, distributing and producing them in ingenious ways. As a result, new types of commons emerge which in turn redefines the contours of economic life. Most importantly, the transformation of commons through state intervention develops as M. Kuriakose (&) Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India e-mail: kurimat@iitb.ac.in 1 The large-scale land reclamation of the shallow parts of the Lake Vembanad was mostly carried out between1870 s and 1940 s. These lands were converted as polders for paddy cultivation with state subsidies. 123 Decision DOI 10.1007/s40622-014-0049-x Author's personal copy