Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Sanjeev Routray
(Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, USA)
Will be presenting a paper on
Law and Urban Displacements: Everyday Negotiations of the Judicial System in Delhi
Date & Time: August 24, 2017 (Thursday), 3.00 pm
Venue: CSSS Committee Room (Room No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: Drawing on two court cases (one against demolition and one for resettlement), I consider the contingent circumstances that shape the negotiation of law and legal outcomes in Delhi. Through an analysis of legal negotiations in everyday contexts, I explore how poor people navigate the judicial system by rejecting legal and social classifications, building social relationships and alliances, and contesting existing land use and class relations. An ethnographic study of the judicial system sheds light on case-by-case instances of successful and unsuccessful demolitions and resettlement. In other words, the dynamic aspects and intersection of planning, legal, and political regimes allow us an understanding of how law is lived, encountered, and challenged in low-income neighbourhoods in Delhi.
Bio: Dr. Sanjeev Routray is an Urban Studies Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Prior to this, he taught at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. He is currently revising his PhD dissertation titled, “Between Eviction and Existence: Urban Restructuring and the Politics of Poverty in Delhi” into a book manuscript. He is also carrying out new ethnographic research as part of his postdoctoral project, “The Plumbers of Delhi: Migration, Caste Sociality, and Citizenship in an Occupational Community.” His article titled “The Postcolonial City and its Displaced Poor: Rethinking ‘Political Society’ in Delhi” appeared in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and he has published reviews in Pacific Affairs.