Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

The political economy of Singapore, a neoliberal authoritarian state that sustains itself by offering an uber-business-friendly gateway to Asia for global capital through techniques of surveillance and control, thrives on the continual branding and circulation of the "Singapore Model."  The mantra of governance for nation states across the globe is "follow what Singapore does."  Authoritarian management and neoliberalism Copy its authoritarian technocratic mode of state management, and you will effectively discipline your population, generate growth, support capital flow, and effectively address emergent crises. This mode of authoritarian administrative crisis management forms the backbone of the Singapore model, seductive to the transnational capitalist class for its ability to produce a disciplined ready-made workforce for global capital, and sold as the recipe for tackling global challenges.  Technocratic authoritarianism safeguards the free

On February 28th, 2020, Janet Napolitano, the President of University of California fired 54 UC Santa Cruz graduate students for going on a strike for a Cost of Living Adjustment to address untenable living conditions (Based on popular demand from colleagues in academe, I am going to translate some of my academic writing on communication and engagement in a series of blog posts. In these blog posts, I will set up a fictitious academic organization, the Engagement University, and use the context of the University to unpack my thoughts. Of course, the analyses connects well with various industries, NGOs, political processes, social-cultural processes. At the end of each post, I will provide links to some of my published articles as anchors for further conversations). The neoliberal University, driven by its accelerated managerial turn toward profits, efficiency, markets, and rankings, pursues a wide range of strategies of financialization and commoditization. The mission of the

My daddy once told me socialism will come one day, in this land, One day, among the people, on these streets. As we walked And occupied them And raised the slogans, My daddy once told me socialism will come. My daddy once told me the war machine will be dismantled, Because people will rise and call for the end To violence, the senseless killings. Here and there, everywhere The profiting from death will have to stop Because the people will have risen In this land. My daddy once told me That healthcare will be free That education will be free That housing will be free one day, in this land. Because people will have risen raised their hands And proclaimed We will be free We will own our democracy.

I have often wondered this in carrying out our ongoing research on racism and its effects on health and wellbeing in global contexts. Much like a lot of other things, the scholarship on racism within academia is structured within the logics of Whiteness. On one hand, to research racism, intersectionality, and forms of inequality is a seductive brand positioning. On the other hand, to commit to dismantling racism in the broader society and in the university structures is a threat to the status quo. The neoliberal university loves the identity games, what with addressing inequality codified into one of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You will even contribute to your university's rankings and global "coolness quotient" when you publish on racism. One will even witness many White scholars studying racism, opining on the presence and extent of racism in society. It is an altogether different story though when you, as an academic o

Image credit: Julio Etchart as part of CARE's campaign on poverty When the poor speak, the stories of poverty disrupt the carefully crafted propaganda of the regime. When the poor speak, the regime's natural legitimacy to govern is brought to question. When the poor speak, the rationality of authoritarianism as the method of efficient governance is disrupted. When the poor speak, questions such as, "Why are everyday citizens deprived of their basic rights to housing, food, and health?" "If governance is so efficient and effective, why do the poor struggle with shelter?" "If the governance of the regime is so efficient and effective, why do the poor struggle with food?" are brought to the forefront. When the poor hold control over the narrative, the corrupt strategies of manipulating narratives to retain the power of the regime lie exposed. Narrative control in the hands of the poor disrupt the expert-driven poverty pornography that sust

When the scavenging was done, And the vultures had landed one by one, eating away at the scraps, peeling the left-over flesh that had been rotting, the soul, still renewing itself from the blows of death, rising little by little one day at a time, knew all too well That one day it will rise. Knowing deep inside That it will live to tell the stories of the violence and games of death. That one day the rogues of the regime will be held to account in the court of justice. That one day it will sing again the songs of joy of hope and truth looking the regime in the eye.

Without an axis in political economy, without an anchor in materiality, postcolonial politics is often the site for reproducing elite power and control, consolidating the power of capital. I have expressed my skepticism toward postcolonial theory over the years, keenly aware of the ways in which an air ride to the US often serves to erase the oppressive positions that postcolonial academics often occupy within postcolonial societies and yet turn to playing the identity card as it conveniently works toward making careers. I have personally found apolitical postcolonial politics to be rife with back-biting, self aggrandizement, sheer careerism, and the worst kind of opportunism. "Look I am so marginalized" is often the trope deployed by postcolonial academics to erase their oppressive positions that are rife with caste, class, and linguistic privilege (most postcolonial academics, because of class access, secure access to convent education left behind by the British). I