Radical politics of social change emerges from and is intricately intertwined with the struggles of the body. Social change as structural transformation necessitates the placing of the body on the line. To transform structures calls for the creation of conditions that make the status quo untenable. When it no longer is sustainable for the structure to continue in its existing form, the processes of social change start unfolding. The organizing for social change, therefore, is one of creating the conditions that enable social change. To create these conditions, communities and activists at the margins routinely place their bodies on the line. The "body on the line" narrates the oppressions written into the structure, witnessing the everyday forms of violence carried out by the structure. It accounts for, questions, and explores the fissures in hegemonic formations through the act of speaking. So what does "body on the line" look like? In culture-centered organizin...
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.