[Reader-list] Seminar in Honor of Rajni Kothari: Call for Abstracts

[Praveen Rai]

*‘The Question is Democracy’*

*A Seminar in Honor of Rajni Kothari*



For Rajni Kothari, one of the most influential political analysts of
postcolonial India, the idea of democracy remained central to his
intellectual concerns and to his political engagements as an
intellectual-activist. He did not offer any fixed meaning of democracy and
instead attempted to capture those context-specific ideas and practices,
which are often described as *democracy*. In his* The State against
Democracy* he expresses several of his ideas and concerns on democracy.
Things have changed drastically since the publication of the book.
Increasingly,
‘democracy’ gets defined almost on daily basis by various actors and at
multiple levels. The advent of new technologies, phenomenal expansion of
mass media and civil society organizations, unprecedented proliferation of
non party political formations, rapid politicization of society, uses of
innovative modes of political and cultural campaigns and mobilization of
citizenry have not only transformed the political landscape but also have
changed the coordinates and ecology of democracy. This analytical openness
provokes us to unpack our meanings and understandings of democracy because
for him as well for us: *the question is democracy*.



There are seven rubrics around which we hope to explore the question of
democracy in India today.



·     *Constitutions, Institutions, Organizations*

·     *Censorship, Bans, Vetoes*

·     *Democracy, Market, Technology *

·     *Dissent, Disputes, Violence *

·     *Campaigns, Movements, Non-party political formations*

·     *Rights, Dignity, Livelihood*

·     *Corporations, Growth, Distribution*


 The seminar is planned for mid March 2016. We plan to have seven sessions
around the above rubrics. Each session will have 2-3 papers of about
5000-7000 words which will if found suitable result in an edited volume. We
invite prospective paper givers to send us a 500-600 word abstract of the
presentation by 30th November 2015, indicating rubric under which it could
be considered so that we can send list of those accepted by 14th December
2015. CSDS will meet travel (2nd AC train fare) and stay expenses. The
seminar will be at CSDS Delhi.



The convener of the Seminar is Peter Ronald deSouza. Abstracts should be
sent to desouza at csds.in



A detailed note setting out the themes and questions is available at CSDS
website: www.csds.in


Praveen Rai
Academic Secretary
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29, Rajpur Road
Delhi - 110054
Phone: 91-11-23942199
http://www.csds.in/praveen.rai