Indian Discourse Research Articles

Research And Teaching In Political Communication: Ideological Asymmetries Determining Media Discourse In India

Research And Teaching In Political Communication: Ideological Asymmetries Determining Media Discourse In India

Deep care: The COVID-19 pandemic and the work of marginal feminist organizing in India.

In this paper, we adopt a Southern feminist epistemology to critically appraise the ways in which media discourse on gendered organizing during the Indian COVID‐19‐induced migrant crisis resists or reinforces hegemonic caste hierarchies. To contextualize this work, we briefly historicize scholarship on feminist organizing around land rights, hunger, and violence, while noting the politics of contagion and pollution narratives plaguing the pandemic discourse in India. After conducting a qualitative content analysis (QCA) followed by a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of media discourses across three tiers (international, national, and local), we found that international and national tiers of discourse largely deployed a savarna gaze that worked to 1) Reinforce brahminical and technocratic pandemic narratives and 2) Delegitimize Dalit marginal organizing feminist work and Dalit sensibilities through seven overlapping metrics of erasure. On the other hand, local tier of discourse confronted the savarna gaze, amplified voices of Dalit and Muslim women by centering their narratives of resistance, and tackled the exacerbation of casteist oppression under the pandemic in the service of emancipation. Local discourses also highlight how marginal organizing during the first pandemic lockdown involved provision of essential resources and services (food, medical care, security) for mostly Dalit and Muslim migrant workers, and women intersectionally facing domestic violence and savarna violence. Despite the brahmininal structural oppression, Dalit feminist praxis' emblematic resistance of oppressive structures, during and beyond times of crisis, constitutes what we call the work of deep care.

The Dominant Post-constitutional Indian Feminist Discourse: A Critique of its Intersectional Reading of Caste and Gender

The dominant post-constitutional Indian feminist discourse is a product of diverse movements born from different histories. These diverse feminist movements continue to inadequately provide a comprehensive and inclusive theorisation of the relationship between caste and gender. Dalit feminist movements have successfully made ‘Dalit women’ a critical part of the dominant feminist discourse and have confronted it for including a caste framework as imperative to understanding the women’s question. But the question of caste within the dominant feminist discourse has largely remained confined to reading and understanding the Dalit woman through the intersectional framework. Intersectionality is useful in providing a framework for categorising the Dalit woman and for highlighting the lacunae in understanding the intersections of caste and gender in existing discourses. Yet, when framed through the overarching lens of difference, it occludes the contingent co-construction of the Savarna woman and Dalit woman as categories, as well as the complicated relationality between these two categories. Treating intersectionality as difference, also ironically posits the Dalit women as a homogenous and essentialised category. This category is over-determined by vulnerability, exploitation, and, violence. Thus, the entire spectrum of experiences inhabited collectively by women placed under this category is erased. This article attempts to elucidate these arguments by focusing on West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. As two researchers from different locations, both disciplinary and socio-political, one a Savarna-feminist-ethnographer, the other a Dalit-feminist-legal-researcher, we then seek to understand what adopting a holistic anti-caste methodology rather than simply ‘doing intersectionality’, means while inhabiting both these locations.

Global and local discourses in India’s policies for early childhood education: policy borrowing and local realities

ABSTRACT The Indian Government released the latest version of its National Education Policy (NEP) on 31 July 2020 – a document last revised in 1986. The Early Childhood Education (ECE) section of this new policy urges a Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) approach incorporating ‘play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based learning’ (NEP [2020]. “Ministry of Human Resource Development.” Government of India. New Delhi, India, 6). The purpose of this article is to examine the policy’s core recommendations for early childhood education, analyse the language and content borrowed from the global ECE discourse and identify the constraints posed by the local realities of the Indian school system.

Quality of Public Services in the Era of Guaranteed Public Service Delivery

The provision of public services is one of the important functions performed by a government as it ensures the growth of a nation and promotes welfare and justice in society. Public services are characterised by timeliness, quality and grievance redressal in the course of service delivery. Quality is an important component of public service delivery and determines citizens’ satisfaction and trust in the government. The debates on governance during the 1990s were focused on service delivery as the most important component in the governance process. Public services were seen as a medium for interaction between the citizens and the government through street-level agents of the state to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the people. Developments like the Citizen’s Charter formulation and implementation, social audit, e-Governance programme, Public Service Guarantee Act, and so on have shaped the governance discourse in India. This essay highlights the significance of quality in public service delivery in India, its need the quality-satisfaction-trust triad, barriers to quality in public service delivery, tools to ensure the quality of public services in India and international best practices.

Representation of Feminism in African American and Dalit Literature

Mainstream feminism has remained an elitist concept in India with much less attention and significance in comparison to the feminism conception in western countries. The Indian feminist movement failed to represent the perspectives of the Dalit women that have been subjected in the Indian society since ages. Subsequently, the Dalit women were forced to initiate a separate movement to gain sustenance and representation in the mainstream social conduct. The theoretical representations of the Dalit women could also be drawn from American and African literature that shares experiences of Dalit feminism and subjection on a broader scale. Further, the research reflects Dalit feminism in terms of inclusive feminism that confronts domination of female community in India and elsewhere. Considering the Dalit woman’s writing, the glimpses can be found in the Indian vernaculars in the form of short stories. It is present in the form of Telugu Dalit writing that have been translated into English to reflect the perceptions of the Dalit women and their experiences in Indian discourse.

Securitization of Intellectual Property: Legal Recourse in India

Capital has been a major cause of concern amongst entrepreneurs across the globe. Not everyone enters the professional setting with a bag full of money, neither did the Ambani’s nor did the TATA group. It was not just investments into fruitbearing funds but also loans that have made them superpowers in the market, today. A loan requires one to offer collateral against the principal amount, this collateral is often referred to as security in common parlance. We most often offer tangible assets such as gold, land, car, etc. as security, however, can an intangible asset such as intellectual property also be offered as bank security? This question is dealt with at length by the authors while discussing the legal discourse in India and other developed countries.The authors have collected insights from theearlier cases where intellectual property was offered as security (more specifically as collateral) and analyzed its legal implications in the long run.

Veritable evaluation and inspection of PCOS and its apropos medicaments

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a vastly familial, prevalent yet complicated endocrine disorder seen in 5 to 15% of premenopausal women. An estimated one in five ~ 20% Indian women suffer from PCOS. In India, PCOS is a tabooed disorder; If neglected, the condition can prove fatal. However, the past decade has seen the changing discourse in India. PCOS negatively affects reproduction, general health, sexual health, and quality of life. Genetic predisposition of hormonal and non-hormonal factors influence ovary functioning and are responsible for the onset of the syndrome. Hormonal imbalance, metabolic abnormality, and insulin resistance are characteristic features that significantly increase the risk of anovulatory infertility, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The underlying cause of the path physiology of PCOS is still under the radar, but the derangement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis could be the sweeping reason for the same. PCOS management should address on healthy lifestyle with symptomatic medical therapy and psychological bearing with special emphasis on far reaching side effects and long-term metabolic consequences This review article gives a comprehensive overview of PCOS and the morbidities hooked up with it. It has a notable emphasis on the PCOS guidelines, diagnosis, non-pharmacological, and pharmacological treatments.

Bimal K. Matilal's Philosophy: Language, Realism, Dharma, and Ineffability

The article considers the theoretical and practical consequences of the so-called "soft" version of epistemological realism in Bimal K. Matilal's philosophical project. The author offers an analytical view on Matilal's philosophy, which helps to understand it in a broader prospective, comparing his arguments on perception and objectivity with contemporary arguments in Western analytical philosophy; in fact, it is possible to view Matilal not only as the proponent of revised Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika approach, but also as the follower of realistic view on language, following L. Wittgenstein, W. Quine, H. Putnam and M. Dummett. Despite the fact that such interpretation may sound diverse or multivocal, it nevertheless helps to better understand both lineages of argumentation: the critical review of the impossibility of private language can be compared in both Western and Indian philosophical discourses, which leads into the domain of social epistemology. The second part of the article discusses the ethical arguments on the vulnerability of moral virtues, and the place of Dharma as a term in moral philosophy. Poetical and metaphorical language appears to be a fruitful strategy to discover the ineffable - and also via negativa and catuṣkoṭi - which is shown by Matilal on the example of the unacceptability of lying. The ethical ineffability and its interconnection with Matilal's commentaries on practical wisdom play the crucial part in the interpretations of Dharmaśāstra texts.

Of Other Spaces and Others' Memories: Reading Graveyards in Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and Regina Scheer's Machandel

Abstract This article probes the relationship between spatial belonging and memorialization in Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) and Regina Scheer's Machandel (2014), examining how the focus on graveyards in both novels ties in with their equally shared emphasis on social outsiders forming communities in (formerly) partitioned nations. It reassesses Michel Foucault's idea of heterotopias—exceptional spaces that reflect back on the rest of society—and shows how both texts position the perpetually shifting nature of such “other spaces” in contrast to the fixed and exclusionary notions of belonging that buttress contemporary right-wing nationalist discourses in India and Germany alike. Scrutinizing the memorializing function of the depicted graveyards in light of Michael Rothberg's concept of multidirectional memory, the article then demonstrates how Ministry and Machandel connect differently marginalized groups' histories and propose present-day solidarity between them. Reading heterotopia through multidirectionality and vice versa, this analysis showcases how Foucault's and Rothberg's respective concerns with discourse-destabilizing spaces and despatialized memory discourses productively complicate and complement each other. It is through the interplay of alternative material spaces and connective approaches to memory that Roy's and Scheer's novel develop visions of community centering on those otherwise marginalized.

Uncovering the impediments to successful built heritage management using stakeholder analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand various organizational and operational impediments to successful built heritage management at a regional level from the perspective of stakeholder theory.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory study was conducted in Jammu city of India wherein total of 16 interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire were done with officials (N = 6), organization members (N = 7), local organization heads (N = 3) and 30 local residents. Thematic analysis and stakeholder analysis were used to identify themes and examine the relationships between stakeholders.FindingsSix themes were derived from thematic analysis. The results from stakeholder attribute analysis and studying stakeholder interactions show that lack of trust, skewed power relation and lack of communication among stakeholders are some of the factors that hinder successful heritage management at the Mubarak Mandi heritage complex. The study emphasizes the dimension of “authenticity” be added to existing discourse of heritage management in India ensuring commoditization does not override authenticity and integrity of heritage site.Originality/valueThe results of this study are useful in understanding challenges of heritage management in India at regional level. Using stakeholder analysis the study adds a managerial perspective to the existing heritage management discourse in India by providing empirical insights into developing stakeholder collaboration.

Beliefs and Networks: Mapping the Indian Climate Policy Discourse Surrounding the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015

ABSTRACT The media represents a discursive site with actors trying to influence the discourse on a particular subject. The paper delves into an exploratory analysis of the policy discourse around climate change in India during the 2015 Paris Agreement by tapping into the data from the print media. Employing Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) and drawing theoretical insights from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), the paper aims to highlight the dominant policy beliefs and the prominent actors in the Indian climate policy sphere. The findings exhibit a firm agreement on the scientific reality of climate change, along with a continued emphasis on the historical responsibility of the developed countries. The transition to renewable energy is widely accepted, but coal phase-out and sustenance of nuclear power is a contentious issue. The study uncovers a consistent belief system underlying the climate change discourse in India and the challenges in the path towards future energy transition.

Negotiating ADHD: Pragmatic medicalization and creolization in urban India

Although a growing number of studies have demonstrated differences in responses to ADHD-like behaviours, very few studies have focused on theorizing diversity in the way ADHD is framed and approached globally. To contribute to the study of medicalization in a global context, this study examines the discursive field in which care professionals explain and treat ADHD among children in metropolitan India and addresses the need for an analytic framework to grasp the variations in the way ADHD is understood and approached. Building on the concepts of pragmatic medicalization and creolization, we study ADHD discourses in India asking ‘What is at stake’ and ‘What matters most’?In this mixed methods study, 64 care professionals regularly involved in assessing ADHD-like behaviour completed an online Q-sort, and 21 professionals participated in face-to-face interviews. The Q-data were subjected to factor analysis. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analyses.Our study identified six distinct ADHD discourses, which showed that care professionals combine explanatory and treatment models. Professionals adapt their explanations and treatments of ADHD to parents’ worries regarding academic performance, family prestige, stigma and side effects of allopathic medicine. Our findings indicate that an awareness of local concerns and adjustments to structural opportunities can diversify how ADHD-like behaviour is framed and responded to.This study demonstrates that medicalization operates between the emerging institutions of care and the everyday concerns of families and care professionals and reveals the need to examine conflicting stakes as drivers of diverse responses to ADHD diagnosis and treatment in India and the rest of the world.

Teacher quality discourse in India: A national reform agenda content analysis

National education systems worldwide focus on the effects that teacher quality has on the overall quality of education. In response to this global discourse, India, which represents one of the largest education systems in the world, adopted several teacher-quality-focused reform agendas in the early 21st century. The purpose of this qualitative discourse analysis is to investigate the development of teacher quality in India through the National Curriculum Framework 2005, National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education 2009, and Some Inputs for Draft National Education Policy 2016. Results suggest each national education document's agenda focused on differentiated elements of teacher quality, including both traditional and non-traditional measures of teacher quality. This discourse analysis provides a systematic framework for policymakers to further improve teacher quality in India.

Reconceptualising the (in) visible aging self of women in select Bengali films

ABSTRACT For several decades now, the incidental category of ‘woman’ has been systematically analysed through a pluralistic lens where race, class, and sexuality have cohesively positioned women as discursive subjects. Yet, age persists to be one such integral variable, which women across all cultures strive to cope with as it emerges as a potent threat to the Other’s subjective identity, her embodied experience and feminine desirability. In the Indian context, the body of an aging woman is usually situated within a contested and complex nexus, where senescence is a multi-layered experience often getting shaped by the dynamics of power. The old female selves find themselves reduced to a sheer condition of abjection and are often displaced from their former state of belonging and engulfed by the socially scripted embrace of denial. Indian cinematic discourses often represent the aged woman as a pathologised body surfacing as familial/societal burden, forcing us to address the double marginalization associated with gender and age. This paper analyses how in two Bengali films- Pather Panchali (1955) and Sonar Pahar (2018), the directors focus on the social predicament of sexageism and subvert the dominant narratives treating feminine age as a ‘crisis’. The select films attempt to deconstruct the aged ‘problem body’ through an alternative lens and refigure it as an agentic identity with an embodied presence.

Legislating Right, Contemplating Duty: Parliamentary Debate on RTE Second Amendment Bill

The study is an attempt to understand the prevailing discourse in India on education as a right by closely reading the parliamentary debates on The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017. Prior to the passing of the above-mentioned amendment bill The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 had debarred schools from detaining or expelling a child till the completion of her elementary education. This provision was amended by the Indian Parliament by passing the bill. When the bill was moved in the Indian parliament it generated debate on the various aspects of education and schooling. The study critically analyses the texts of two proceedings of the parliamentary debate: one from the lower house (Lok Sabha) and the other from the upper house (Rajya Sabha). The study concludes that the deliberation on the bill turned the right-based approach on elementary education almost upside down. The 86th amendment in the Indian constitution and subsequent enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 had recognized children in the age group of 6–14 years as ‘right holders’ while the Indian state had been identified as the ‘duty bearer’. The discourse emerged in the Indian Parliament during the debate on the Amendment Bill, 2017 constituted Indian children of school-going age, their parents and teachers as groups accountable to the state for achieving the goals for universal elementary education, while the Indian state was constituted as an entity with the right to demand compliances from children, parents and teachers.

Identity Crisis: An Analysis of V. S Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas

The Indian diasporic writings de signate the multi-cultural space of immigrants and extend a genre of a divergent Indian cultural discourse which depicts their struggles. The concept of rootlessnes, dislocation, fragmented thoughts and memories of homeland and their longing to go back to their motherland all could be the theme of disporic writings. The diasporic writers or immigrant writers stand in-between two cultural scenarios in the process of moving from one culture to another and the same dual culture drives a wedge between the nation and the self. Even though they are profoundly associated with their hereditary customs, traditions, language and religion, they also focus on alienation, hybridisation, marginalization and local community life from the margins.

Women’s ‘Retrieval’ from Pakistan: ‘India’s Daughters’ and the Emotional History of Partition

The Partition of 1947 remains an important reference point for Hindu nationalist political discourse in India, defining its relationship with Pakistan and Muslims in South Asia. This article investigates the use of the label ‘India’s daughters’ by the BJP-led NDA government (2014–15), a term originally used to describe Hindu and Sikh women retrieved from Pakistan in 1947. It offers an example of the emotional power wielded by Partition metaphors and demonstrates the BJP’s attempts to insert itself into the emotional history of Partition by transforming the meanings of its terms. The case of Uzma Ahmad’s retrieval from Pakistan acts as a case in point, illustrating the BJP’s increasing attempts to harness Partition semantics.

Nation branding, soft Hindutva, and ecotraditionalism in anti-plastics discourses in India

ABSTRACT A recent dimension of India’s nation-branding project, by which it aims to attract investment, trade, human resources, and tourists to the country, has been a focus on a ‘green’ India as a global leader in sustainable development. As part of this strategy, messages aimed at a national and external audience are aligned, and a line is drawn between the country’s putative ecologically sensitive past and a green future. Such messages highlight selective, sanitised, and idealised Hindu texts and praxis related to the environment as evidence of India’s innate ecological sensitivity. The environment thus becomes a domain for the permeation of a seemingly apolitical strand of Hindutva rhetoric, which emphasises the civilisational wisdom of Indian (coded as Hindu) thought and presents it for consumption by national and global audiences. In this article, using anti-plastics discourses as a lens, I investigate the cultural politics of this emerging stream of Hindutva-linked ‘ecotraditionalism’.

Feminist reclamation of Ambedkar in Indian discourse

Feminist reclamation of Ambedkar in Indian discourse