[Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: Subaltern Studies - Call for Papers

[ranita]

CALL FOR PAPERS

LIVES OF DEMOCRACY:
Peoples, Populations, Citizens in South Asia
A Subaltern Studies Conference

It has been acknowledged in recent times that the actual practices of
democracy and political mobilization are closely linked to and influenced
by the ways in which governmental practices define and classify populations
as targets of their policies. It has also been argued that political
mobilizations based on such identification and classifications have
promoted identity politics, with movements increasingly organized along
caste, tribe, language, gender, religion, ethnicity etc. On the other hand,
the workings of democracy have opened up new arena of mass politics that
often acquire their own logic and rhythm, producing outcomes that were
unanticipated by elite and governmental designs. The entry of untutored
masses into the democratic political arena thus opens up a whole series of
questions about the relationship between the institutional practices of
democratic governance and the 'people'. It is said that these movements
undermine the classical idea of democracy as the political participation of
citizens - as individuals or in the collective form of a people. Is this
charge correct? Is there a tension between the institutional practices of
democracy and popular politics, nurtured within a different set of beliefs?
Do identity-based mobilizations also carry the moral imprint of movements
of the people? Can popular democratic aspirations be pursued through the
politics of identity?

The Seventh Subaltern Studies Conference, to be held at the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies [CSDS], Delhi, on January 6,7, 8 and 9, 2004,
will be concerned with these issues. The conference is being organized
jointly by Lokniti, CSDS, and the Subaltern Studies Collective. Besides the
members of the Subaltern Studies Collective, about 15 scholars will be
invited to present their papers on the basis of their abstract. Students
and scholars without any institutional affiliation are also welcome to
submit an abstract. Papers may address the theme of the conference in
historical, theoretical or contemporary modes and may relate to the
national, the regional or the local. The abstract should not be more than
500-600 words and should be submitted by August 15, 2003 to Aditya Nigam,
CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054 India. Email: aditya at sarai.net. Scholars
invited to present papers should submit their final papers by November 15,
2003. The invited South Asian scholars will be paid their travel expenses
and provided accommodation and local hospitality for attending the
 conference.

Aditya Nigam
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road,
Delhi-110054

Tel: 2250 2784 (R), 2394 2199, 2395 1190 (O)

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