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Saturday, March 27, 2010

POLITICS OF PROTEST MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

GAYATHRI O

LECTURER IN POLITICAL SCIENCE,GOVT. COLLEGE MADAPALLY



The Course proposal approved and financed by Kerala State Higher Education Council to be designed by Gayathri O.

Section 1: Target Group

This course is offered to students who undergo undergraduate programme in Political Science as well it can be offered as complementary course for students of Economics, Sociology, History and English.


Section 2: Learning Objectives


The course will be particularly concerned with the social and political context of protest in India, focusing on basic questions, such as: under what circumstances do social movements emerge? how do dissidents choose political tactics and strategies?; and, how do movements affect social and political change? By the end of the course, students should have sufficient mastery of the theoretical literature to ground their own research.

The course aim for the following course objectives. Please note your progress on each one throughout the semester: it will make you feel good to realize that you're learning.

1.Acquaint students with the meaning ,theories,and operations of civil society ,public sphere and social movements in India and the political context in which it emerges.

2.To apply basic skills in political theory and research to the field of collective behavior/social movements

3.Introduce students civil society ,public sphere and various social classes, in India.

4.To sharpen analytical skills through reading, writing, class discussion and experiments..

5.To develop a skill of social understanding among students

6.To emerge at the end of semester with a significantly greater understanding of the forces affecting social change in the modern world than you had upon entering the class;


Section 3: Outline of the topics to be covered


This course provides a more political understanding of 'civil society' by examining social movements in relation to civil society and public sphere.For the last few decades, mainstream discourse has adopted the notion of 'civil society' and public sphere as simultaneously the site of 'citizens' collective action'. It begins by current theories of ‘civil society' ‘public sphere’ and 'new social movements'. It then assesses the impact of nationalist movements on shaping the development agenda of nineteenth-century colonial India and how social movements from the 1950s onwards interacted with national governments in blocking, changing or advancing the development agendas.

It offers a detailed analysis of the ideological framework of the social and political movements and familiarizes the conceptual theories and typologies.Focus is laid on the study of case studies of Dalit movements, Environmental and Ecological Movements,Working Class Movement,Agrarian Movements,Religious and Communal Movements,Regional Movements,Women’s Movements,Ethnic Movements with Special Reference to Tribals,Backward Class Movement,Dalit Movement,etc.


Section 4: Course transactions; proposed activities


1.Apply the macro-level theories of civil society,public sphere and socio-political movements from the class room activities to micro-level problems identified in the panchayath and native place and make an assignment report.

2.Assign each student in the class to identify the forms of protest politics in local areas and organize an exhibition of such reports in the college and invite students of the college and public to watch it.

3.Organize a seminar programme , inviting activist and participants of protest politics in the local areas and have an interaction with such people who are victims of flawed development in such areas.

4.Assign each student create blogs and social networks in cyber space and organize polls and discussion forums to spread ideas and ideologies of protest politics in local areas, nationally and globally.

5.Always try to tell yourself that I think globally and act locally.


Section 5: Method of assessment/evaluation


Evaluation is based on grading and the evaluation scheme contain two parts:

Grading: 1. Internal evaluation,2. External evaluation.

Weightage of Internal and External evaluation.

Evaluation Weightage-Internal 1 (or 25 %) External -3 (or 75 %)

Both internal and external evaluation shall be carried out using Direct Grading System.


Internal evaluation


Component of internal evaluation-Components Weightage

a. assignments 1,b. seminars 1,c.Test papers 2,d .Attendance 1


External Evaluation


The external evaluation is to be conducted with question papers set by external experts. The evaluation of answer scripts shall be done by examiners bases on welldefined scheme of valuation.

Direct Grading System: Direct grading system based on a 5 point scale is used to evaluate the performance (External and Internal) of students.

A. Excellent 4. 3.5 to 4.00

B .Very Good 3. 2.5 to 3.49

C .Good 2. 1.5 to 2.49

D .Average 1. 0.50 to1.49

E .Poor 0. 0.00 to 0.49

Each course is evaluated by assigning a letter grade (A, B, C, D and E) to that course by the method of direct grading. The internal (weightage 1) and external (weightage 3) components of a course are separately graded and then combined to get the grade of the course after taking into account of their weightage. An aggregate of C grade is required in each course for a pass and also for awarding a degree.


Section 6: Relevance of the proposed course


Social and political problems are endemic to India as we live in a time where there is no order in society.Bringing about an order in society based on social justice requires utmost importance.The role of education is of paramount interest in this respect.Curriculum frame works should always focus this aspect of social engineering in India.The new generation should be fostered and taught about societal problems and must always should have a compassion and sympathy for fellow beings around.The relevance and credibility of the proposed course lie in this aspect of building a new India.The course can provide incentive to young generation in India to have a sense of social understanding in which we can be proud .


Section 7: Reading List


1.Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics,

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Second Edition, 1998.

2.Raka Ray,Fields of Protest: Women’s Movements in India. Minneapolis and London:

University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

3.Rajiv Bhargava and Ashok Acharya,Political Theory:An Introduction,New Delhi:Pearson Education,2008,pp.188-204

4.Sumi Krishna, , Environmental Politics, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 1996

5.Leif Ohlsson,(Ed.)Hydro Politics: Conflicts over Water as a Development Constraint,Dhaka: The University Press Limited. 1996

6. Vandana Shiva, Ecology and Politics of Survival: Conflicts and Natural Resources in India, New Delhi: SAGE, 1991,

7.Rajeev Bhargava and Helmut Reifeld,Civil Society,Public Sphere and Citizenship:Dialogue and Perceptions,New Delhi:Sage,2005

8.Dwaipayan Bhattacharya and et.al,Interrogating Social Capital:The Indian Experience, New Delhi:Sage,2004

9.Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani,Civil Society;History and Possibilities,New Delhi:Cambridge University Press,2001

10.IGNOU,Social Movements and Politics in India,New Delhi:School of Social Sciences,2005

11.J. Hasan, S.N. Jha & R. Khan. The State, Political Process and Identity, Sage, New Delhi, 1989.

12.Iqbal Narayan (ed.) State Politics in India, Meenakshi Meerut, Meerut, 1967

13.Doug McAdam and David A. Snow, eds. Social Movements: Readings on their Emergence, Mobilization, and Dynamic. Los Angeles, Roxbury, 1997.

14.Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward. Poor People's Movements. New York: Vintage, 1977

15.Rajni Kothari, Democratic Polity & Social Change in India, Delhi, allied, 1976.

16.S. Kothari, Social Movements and Redefinition of Democracy, Boulder Colorado, Westview Press, 199 .

17.T. K. Oomer, 'Protest and Change, Studies in Social Movement', New Delhi, Sage , 1990

18.K. Jones, 'Socio -Religious Reform Movement in British India, Cambridge

19.N. Subramaniam, Ethnicity & Populist Mobilization:Politial Parties, Citizens, Democracy in South asia, Delhi, Oxford Uni. Press, 1999.

20.Valerie Jenness and Kendal Broad. Hate Crimes: New Social Movements and the Politics of Violence. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1997

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