Today, CARE Fellow Kang Sun presented part of his dissertation work on identity, space, and materiality among Chinese peasant workers in manufacturing units. It was a stimulating CARE presentation, one that opened up the discursive space for multiple questions regarding the role of identity at the intersections of the symbolic and the material. Kang is a master storyteller, one who draws you into his stories by connecting to his personal experiences. As he re-crafted the many stories that he has partaken in during his fieldwork, what I found striking about his stories was the amazing connection between stories and the need to draw attention to injustices. Stories became ways for giving voice to certain forms of injustices. It was through the many stories that Kang weaved along with his participants that we got to listen to the possibilities of change. The many stories planted in our hearts and spirits the seeds of hope and the ideas for possibilities. I came away enthused
This blog offers Mohan Dutta's reflections on the theoretical framework of the culture-centered approach, examining the interplays among Structure, Culture, and Agency in shaping marginalisation and the ways in which communities at the margins challenge structures. Writings on the blog are continually being revised to reflect the organic analysis of structure and agency.