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CWS is organising a seminar by Dr. Lipika Kamra

CWS is organising a seminar by Dr. Lipika Kamra

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CWS is organising a seminar by Dr. Lipika Kamra
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CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S STUDIES, JNU

 

Invites you to a Seminar on

 

Women’s Self-Help Groups and Counterinsurgency in Rural West Bengal

 

by
Dr. Lipika Kamra
(DPhil from the University of Oxford)

 

Abstract: This paper deals with state-directed collective enterprises for women in rural India known as self-help groups or SHGs. SHGs have become one of the key mechanisms for the state to disburse ‘development’ to women in rural India. This ‘development’ usually takes the form of providing loans, and training sessions for agricultural and non-agricultural livelihood options. I focus, in particular, on how SHGs become a means for the Indian state to win the hearts and minds of civilians within the context of counterinsurgency against the Maoists in the forests of eastern India.

In my fieldsites in West Midnapore district, to counter popular support for Maoist rebels, state officials announced special development programs since 2011. One among those, is a subsidised loan program for existing women’s SHGs to set up small enterprises. SHG women, even those who had earlier aligned with the Maoists, shifted allegiances, participated enthusiastically in the new loan programs, and wanted to build sustained relations with actors who represented the state. Despite having rebelled against the state earlier, they now actively sought it out. However, I discovered that this shift in attitude towards the state did not mean that the state necessarily won back its legitimacy. For SHG women, participation in the new loan programme was not only a means to gain access to public goods, but was also an opportunity to step out of their households, carve a space for themselves in the local public sphere, and make claims on officials to support new livelihood options. For these women, among whom I conducted my fieldwork, the state mediated their socio-economic aspirations and enabled them to challenge existing gender norms in village society. I argue, therefore, that SHGs in the context of counterinsurgency have, paradoxically, become spaces for women to imagine new forms of selfhood.

 

Bio: Dr. Lipika Kamra holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Her research interests crisscross political anthropology, gender studies, development studies, and South Asian history and politics. She is currently writing a book, based on her doctoral research, on the politics of counterinsurgency and development in the margins of modern India

 

Date: 22nd August 2017, Tuesday. Time: 2.00 to 4.00 PM
Venue: Committee Room No. 402, Fourth Floor, SSS-I

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.