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CSLG organises a seminar by Narendra Subramanian

CSLG organises a seminar by Narendra Subramanian

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CSLG organises a seminar by Narendra Subramanian
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

SEMINAR SERIES

 

Narendra Subramanian

Professor of Political Science at McGill University and

Visiting Professor at the Hertie School of Governance

 

On

 

From Bondage to Citizenship: Dalit and African American Mobilization in Two Southern Deltas

 

Abstract :  The talk will explore mobilization to reduce the deepest inequalities in the two largest democracies, those caste lines in India and along racial lines in the United States. These inequalities have proven durable although the groups at the bottom of these ethnic hierarchies, Dalits and African Americans, have had political rights for over half a century. The mobilization of these groups from the 1940s to the 1970s for full citizenship (the franchise, civil rights such as freedom from agrarian bondage, and social rights such as entitlements to higher incomes and education) is compared. The effects of mobilization on political representation and policy benefits are also considered. The experiences in two regions of historically high ethnic and class inequality (the Mississippi delta in the US and the Kaveri delta in India) are compared and placed in the context of the respective national trends. Taking certain similarities in demographic patterns, group boundaries, socio-economic relations, regime type, and enfranchisement timing as points of departure, I demonstrate that important differences in nationalist and civic discourse, social classification, and group identification influenced the two groups’ mobilization, interethnic alliances, relationship to political parties, representation, and social rights. These factors helped Dalits build more favorable interethnic alliances, and made polity insiders and dominant elites more resistant to inclusion in the US and especially in the Deep South, including Mississippi. As a result, subordinate group representation increased and democracy was enhanced sooner in India and specifically in the Kaveri delta.

  

3.00 PM, Monday, 2 April 2018

Conference Room, CSLG, JNU

 

 

About the Speaker: Narendra Subramanian is Professor of Political Science at McGill University and Visiting Professor at the Hertie School of Governance. He studies the politics of nationalism, ethnicity, religion, gender, and race in a comparative perspective, focusing primarily on India. Subramanian’s first book (Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization: Political Parties, Citizens and Democracy in South India, Oxford University Press, 1999) examined why the mobilization of intermediate and lower status groups through discourses of language and caste reinforced democracy and tolerance in Tamil Nadu. His second book (Nation and Family: Personal Law, Cultural Pluralism, and Gendered Citizenship in India, Stanford University Press, 2014) traced the course of the personal laws that govern family life among India’s major religious groups, in comparison with experiences in other countries with laws specific to religious group, sect, or ethnic group. He is currently engaged in a project comparing the effects of political rights on the socio-economic status of two historically bonded groups, titled From Bondage to Citizenship: The Enfranchisement and Advancement of Dalits and African-Americans. Subramanian got his B.A. in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

 PLEASE JOIN US FOR TEA AFTER THE SEMINAR. 

ALL ARE WELCOME. 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.