Living with Precarity: Ecological Organisation and Occupational Continuity of Potters in Majuli, Assam

Kumar Kalita, the potters of the river island Majuli, represents an occupational group living in a precarious and unique natural habitat. They produce and structure their craft with specific skills and techniques, thus balancing nature and social relations. Highlighting the case of Kumar Kalita, the article explores ecological organisation where life is vulnerable because of the precarious conditions caused by floods and erosion. With the data collected through ethnographic explorations in Majuli, the article historically locates the potters, analyses the gender relations, trading through the Brahmaputra and the relationships they forge with the hinterlands. The article argues that despite the ecological crisis and risks in the livelihood pattern, the potters continue to engage with their traditional occupation, providing a subjective connotation to both precarity and the habitat.