New Politicians and Low Caste Democratization in Uttar Pradesh, India

20世纪最后25年见证了许多国家从独裁统治到民主统治的显著转变。然而，这种形式民主的高涨往往是在政治机会的分配没有发生重大变化的情况下发生的。本项目考察了民族志研究的可能性，以理解印度北方邦（UP）的正式民主化（概念上是采用各种民主程序）和实质性民主化（定义为扩大选举舞台，将以前被剥夺公民权的人包括在内）之间的关系，并为人们表达想法和竞争社会商品提供更广泛的机会。该项目有助于地理学、政治学和人类学中关于政党政治变化如何影响社会边缘群体（如印度的达利特人）的持续辩论。2007年5月，一个低种姓政党——社会主义社会党（BSP）在北方邦选举中赢得了压倒性的胜利。为了研究BSP的崛起是否提高了达利特人的政治权力，PI将对一群自称为“新政治家”的青年政治企业家进行采访。在之前的研究中，私家侦探采访了许多这样的人。目前的项目涉及PI采访北方邦农村和城市地区的新政治家，并参与他们的日常生活。他还将组织非正式的焦点小组，讨论政治观点。访谈和参与者观察将使我们能够考察在最近BSP选举胜利的背景下出现的达利特政治企业家精神，新政治家的文化生活，以及新政治家反思其政治活动的转变方式。该项目将通过调查青年政治领袖在戏剧性政治变革后的活动，为政治地理学、青年地理学和民主的跨学科辩论做出贡献。许多学者认为，印度北部正在发生一场“达利特革命”。但关于这个问题的基层研究很少。该项目还将通过揭露青年作为关键的政治行动者，为对实质性民主化的地理和人类学理解提供信息；强调“抵抗”的局限性，考察政治的话语、主观和空间维度；展示了民族志方法对民主化的价值。此外，这项研究可能表明，在地方一级存在一组政治促进者，他们可能在设计和实施发展方案时充当合作伙伴。各国政府、国际组织和积极分子团体敏锐地意识到青年，包括失业青年男子，在制订和执行发展项目方面可能发挥的作用，但他们缺乏关于基层青年领导人已经开展的工作的详细材料。该项目还将教育公众了解印度达利特人，特别是边缘化男性所面临的困难。

The last quarter of the twentieth century witnessed a remarkable shift in many countries from authoritarian to democratic rule. Yet this upsurge of formal democracy has often occurred in the absence of a significant change in the distribution of political opportunities on the ground. This project examines the possibilities of ethnographic research for understanding the relationship in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) between formal democratization, conceptualized as the adoption of various democratic procedures, and substantive democratization, defined as an expansion of the electoral arena to include previously disenfranchised people and a broader opening up of opportunities for people to express ideas and compete for social goods. This project contributes to on-going debates within geography, political science and anthropology about how party political change is affecting marginalized sections of society, such as India's Dalits (ex-untouchables). In May 2007 a low caste political party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), won a landslide victory in the UP elections. To examine whether how the rise of the BSP has improved Dalits' political power, the PI will conduct interviews with a cohort of youth political entrepreneurs who refer to themselves as 'new politicians'. The PI has conducted interviews with many of these men during previous research. The current project involves the PI interviewing new politicians in a rural and urban area of UP and also participating in their everyday lives. He will also organize informal focus groups during which political ideas will be discussed. Interviews and participant observation will enable the examination of the kinds of Dalit political entrepreneurship that are emerging in the context of the recent electoral victory of the BSP, the cultural lives of new politicians, and the shifting ways in which new politicians reflect on their political activity. This project will contribute to political geography, youth geography, and interdisciplinary debates on democracy through investigating the activities of youth political leaders in the wake of dramatic political change. Many scholars are arguing that a 'Dalit Revolution' is occurring in north India. But there has been little ground-level research on this issue. The project will also inform geographical and anthropological understandings of substantive democratization by exposing youth as key political agents; highlighting the limits of 'resistance' examining discursive, subjective and spatial dimensions of politics; and showcasing the value of ethnographic approaches to democratization. Additionally, the research may demonstrate the existence of a set of political facilitators at the local level who might serve as partners in the design and implementation of development programs. Governments, international organizations and activist groups are keenly aware of the role that youth, including unemployed young men, might play in the formulation and implementation of development projects, but they lack detailed material on the work already being carried out by youth leaders at the grassroots level. The project will also educate the public on the difficulties facing Dalits in India, especially marginalized men.