Migrations, Identities and Democratic Practices in India

Migrations, Identities and Democratic Practices in India by Samir Kumar Das, published by Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group in 2018, offers a detailed exploration of the complex interplay between identities, migration, and democratic practices within the context of a globalizing India. This 231-page book draws on extensive ethnographic research to examine one of the oldest migratory routes in eastern India, highlighting the region’s historical significance and the ongoing struggles for separate statehood.
Readers will find an in-depth analysis of the ‘North Bengal’ region as a dynamic space for migrant populations, focusing on movements such as Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Kamatapuri, Siliguri, and Greater Cooch Behar. The book presents the politics of identity not merely as a response to a lack of belonging but as an everyday practice that navigates the complexities of borders and boundaries. It also engages with broader themes in political theory, including concepts of home, sovereignty, and democracy, making it relevant for scholars in political science, South Asian history, sociology, and migration studies.
Official synopsis Publisher
This book explores contesting identities, international politics, migration and democratic practices in the context of globalizing India. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, it looks at one of the oldest migratory routes across a volatile region in eastern India which is fraught with violent claims of separate statehood.
The book offers an account of how the ‘North Bengal’ region has acted as a gateway to migrant populations over time and points to why it must be understood as a shifting and liminal space through a study of Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Kamatapuri, Siliguri and the Greater Cooch Behar movements. It shows the region’s politics of identity or quest for homeland not as a means of compensating for the lack or absence of identity, but as an everyday practice of living that very absence, across borders and boundaries, without arriving at any definitive and stable identity, along with impacts and manifestations in democratic political processes.
A major intervention in modern political theory – shedding new light on concepts such as home and homeland, space and self, sovereignty, nation-state, freedom and democracy – this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political science, modern South Asian history, sociology and social anthropology, and migration and diaspora studies.
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