MONTHLY SEMINAR SERIES
SPECIAL CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES – BUILDING I
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI
BEYOND UNHOLY TRINITY:
NEXUS IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN MANIPUR
Raile Rocky Ziipao
Harvard University
Infrastructure has always been an act of power, which has at different times been leveraged at smoothening of relationships, (dis)connecting people, enabling trade, creating spaces of contestation, or diluting boundaries between varied ethnic groups. The paper argues that the nexus in building infrastructure is not only limited to politicians-bureaucrats-contractors; rather it also includes insurgents, elites, and even civil society in the web of corruption of varied kinds. This paper posits that political life of infrastructure, the non-human agency enveloped in a shadow of ethnic contestation, insurgency, steeped in corruption and nexus reveals the contemporaneous development practices. The intersection of human and non-human often forms a nebulous space of uncertainty and ambiguity coupled with dubious nexus embedded with injustice. This opens up new avenue to unfold the spaces of injustice, as well as site for protest and negotiation. In nutshell, Manipur’s development resonates to a scapegoat syndrome.
DATE: February 22, Friday, 2019
TIME: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
VENUE: Room no.324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU, New Delhi