Mukulika Banerjee, a Professor at the London School of Economics, delves into the intricacies of democracy in rural India. She reveals how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values through everyday practices like cooperation and rituals. The conversation highlights the experiences of marginalized groups in the electoral process, the transformative impact of land reforms, and the connection between village dynamics and broader political outcomes. Banerjee's insights challenge traditional views, making democracy a lived experience rather than a mere institutional framework.
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insights INSIGHT
The Genesis of Cultivating Democracy
Mukulika Banerjee's interest in political anthropology started with her research on non-violent political action in Pakistan.
This led her to study voting patterns in India, where she noticed the higher voting rates of socially disadvantaged groups.
insights INSIGHT
Cultivating Democracy: Beyond Elections
Cultivating democracy involves studying both formal institutions and everyday practices.
Banerjee emphasizes the importance of understanding the lived experiences of democracy beyond elections.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Land Reform and Social Change
In West Bengal, land reform under the Left Front government led to upper-caste Syeds having to learn farming from lower-caste sharecroppers.
This rebalanced the social hierarchy and improved agricultural output.
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Mukulika Banerjee's "Cultivating Democracy" offers a nuanced perspective on democracy in India, moving beyond formal institutions to explore its everyday manifestations. The book challenges conventional understandings of democracy by examining how democratic values are cultivated within agrarian communities. Banerjee's ethnographic research in two Bengal villages reveals how daily practices, from farming and religious rituals to conflict resolution, contribute to the cultivation of democratic values. The work highlights the resilience of these practices even amidst political and economic pressures. Ultimately, "Cultivating Democracy" provides a compelling argument for understanding democracy as a lived experience rather than an abstract ideal.
The Other is Muslim: Portraits, Everyday Lives in India
The Other is Muslim: Portraits, Everyday Lives in India
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Mukulika Banerjee
The Pathan, Unarmed, Opposition and Memory in the Northwest Frontier
The Pathan, Unarmed, Opposition and Memory in the Northwest Frontier
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Mukulika Banerjee
Why India Votes
Mukulika Banerjee
Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India(Oxford UP, 2021) by Dr. Mukulika Banerjee offers a groundbreaking rethinking of democracy, moving beyond its institutional frameworks to focus on its lived, everyday dimensions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the villages of Madanpur and Chishti in India, the book examines how agrarian communities cultivate democratic values—solidarity, reciprocity, and ethical citizenship—through practices embedded in their daily lives. Dr. Banerjee challenges conventional notions of democracy as confined to elections and state institutions, instead presenting it as a process deeply rooted in cultural-social practices and values. She highlights how rural communities, through cooperation in agriculture, rituals, festivals, and even moments of conflict and repair, create and sustain the democratic spirit. In doing so, the book underscores the resilience of these practices, even as procedural democracy faces erosion under broader political and economic pressures. At its core, Cultivating Democracy compels us to reimagine democracy not as an abstract ideal but as a lived and ongoing project shaped by the rhythms of everyday life. Through its rich ethnographic detail and theoretical insight, the book offers profound lessons on the fragility and strength of democracy, making it both a deeply scholarly and urgently relevant work.
Rounak Bose is a doctoral student in History at the University of Delaware. His research explores the intersections of caste, religiosities, performances, sacred geographies, and the state, as informing/informed by colonial and postcolonial mobilities and circulatory regimes across South Asia and Indian Ocean networks. Besides these specific research interests, his disciplinary interests revolve across anthropology, linguistics, literature, and the digital humanities. When not reading or writing in the university library, Rounak can be found running along Newark's trails and petting the canines he meets along the way.
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