Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Lecture on ‘The Idea of an Indian’

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
invites you to a CSDS Dialogue on Democracy
The Idea of an Indian
Lecture by Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Chair: Prathama Banerjee
Friday, 11 August 2023, 4.30 pm IST
Seminar Room and Zoom
Link: bit.ly/3KhBKGM
Meeting ID: 81964935031
Passcode: csdsdelhi
The idea of citizenship today conveys a static dullness, a clerical certification and a fixed sense of identity. By re-examining the relationship between citizenship and nationality, this lecture will redefine the multiple sources of identity of ordinary people to create new imaginaries of citizenship and democracy. Citizenship becomes a critical theatre where diverse identities crisscross to construct new forms of meaning and interaction. It will foreground the perspectives of marginalised Indians and their everyday negotiations to carve out a place in their own country. Built on multiple personal accounts, it shall persuade to rethink the dominant imaginations of ‘Indianness’ and bring back a sense of plurality to the idea of an Indian.
Kishalay Bhattacharjee is Dean and Professor, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication, O. P. Jindal Global University and author most recently of Where the Madness Lies: Citizen Accounts of Identity and Nationalism (Orient BlackSwan). Formerly with NDTV, his research is multidisciplinary covering conflict and post conflict situations.
Prathama Banerjee is Professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.