Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

At the heart of CCA is ‘praxis’, or ‘doing social change’, for a lack of better terminology. However in any given context, what kind of change we seek to make could differ on the basis of what the community we engage in wants or lacks. The oppressive conditions that CCA seeks to change, with the use of communication, are tied to the neoliberal processes that believe in free-market economy. In Communicating Social Change Dutta (2011) writes ‘The neoliberal logic is fundamentally an economic logic that operates on the basis of the idea that opening up markets to competitions among global corporations accompanied by minimum interventions by the state would ensure the most efficient and effective political economic system’ (p.1). How then do these neoliberal processes affect specific contexts is crucial in identifying the change a CCA-practitioner aims for. Below I discuss the example of agricultural crisis in India. Kumar and Mittal (2009) in their article ‘Role of Agricultural

Ellen Gruenbaum's "Culture Debate over Female Circumcision: The Sudanese are arguing this one out for themselves" is as fascinating a read as it must be contentious. At once there are so many "maladaptive" parallels to female circumcision that one can think of, all varying in degrees - sati in India, foot binding in China, use of the burqa and extreme restrictions put on the movement of women in central Asia to even the high prevalence of type B diabetes in India which some experts have linked to how women are traditionally apportioned food in their households. Gruenbaum takes us through the interviews she conducted with Sudanese women who have lived with circumcision in all its forms and how these women regarded as arrogant outsiders' hegemonic perception of this practice. She also puts the practice under the dual test of "what functions does it serve" and "who benefits", and eventually gathers that the women are not the ones served no

In ‘Dialogue Theory in Marginalized Settings: A Subaltern Studies Approach’, (Dutta and Pal, 2010) propose that dialog in marginalized settings can be used to question the co-optation of subaltern populations into neoliberal agendas, and secondly dialogue can be used as a resistive strategy to engage the subaltern with the spaces of knowledge production that are inaccessible to them. The authors emphasize the importance sincerely listening to subaltern voices, finding the alternative knowledge claims that disrupt neoliberal hegemony and building solidarity with the subaltern. This approach to dialogue theory in marginalized settings has immense potential to bring about change in the ways knowledge is created and practiced in the academe as well as in society where the Eurocentric civil society maintains hegemony over public opinion and public discourse. Yet, when operationalizing this approach to dialogue theory, certain peculiar issues occur. The subaltern, traditionally mar

The paragraph “Theorizing about resistance offers opportunities for conceptualizing and enacting social change in the global arena, challenging the dominant structures of power that create and sustain the conditions of marginalization” from Pal and Dutta’s ‘Theorizing resistance in a global context’ instantly reminded me of the article “India's highway of death creates village of widows” by BBC on 28th September, 2015. This story highlights the resistance of the marginalized tribal south Indian villagers against the neoliberal forces of the state and its aftermath. It was published during the same period when the slogan of ‘Digital India’ peaked; a sheer contrast to the booming ‘Digital India’ agenda. The ongoing craze of ‘Digital India’ has gained spectacular attention from different spheres. People are showing their solidarity by flaunting their facebook profiles in the tricolor. One of the goals of the ‘Digital India’ project is to to empower 60,000 villages with broa

While reading about the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas and marveling at how the Zapatistas have been able to resist the onslaught of neoliberalism since 1990, I am reminded once more of how violent globalization can be by just looking out of the window. The deadly haze enveloping Singapore and Malaysia is now into its third week. And I do not use the word "deadly" lightly. There is plenty of documented evidence showing that the tiny particulates that make up the haze coming from deliberate slash-and-burn fires started in Indonesia can give rise to asthma, allergies, premature death to people with underlying lung and heart conditions and even stunt lung development in infants. And who is behind the burning? Of late, commentators and the local media have called attention to not only the farmers, but to the large transnational corporations (TNCs) that buy these raw materials, such as wood, pulp and palm oil. These TNCs include producers and traders such as

It is suggested that women in farming households are separately impacted by the adoption of genetically modified cotton in India, and not just by a trickle-down effect caused by increase in family income. Subramanian, Kirwan, Pink and Qaim (2010) have said that Bt cotton technology contributes to higher income of female laborers because harvesting of cotton is primarily female activity in India. Higher the yield gained by Bt cotton, higher is the employment for female laborers and therefore higher income for them. The additional income acquired due to Bt cotton leads to withdrawal of in-house females from farming activities and raises their quality of life. These arguments obviously side with the argument that genetically modified crops yield economic benefits for he agriculture.   A different argument comes from a separate faction. Pionetti (2005) for example has suggested that women farmers’ practices of saving seeds contributes to self-reliance in seed, crop, nutrition, and di

“Hegemony is conceptualized as noncoercive relations of domination in which subordinated groups actively consent to and support belief systems and structures of power relations that do not necessarily serve—indeed, may work against—those groups' interest”- This powerful statement made by Mumby in "The problem of hegemony: Rereading Gramsci for organizational communication studies" aroused my interest to juxtapose it with the current upheaval in India with beef ban. Hindutva, one of the hot topics of India, has brought India into the lime light globally. One of the recent disrupts was the ban on cow slaughter to bulls and oxen, and the sale of beef as punishable. This law has affected the livelihood of thousands of butchers, vendors, restaurants etc. This law has been implemented in several states like Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh. Hindu fundamentalist groups are celebrating their victory. Their aspiration is to bring India back to its religious values. Cow is sacred. Bu