Seminar on Development Beyond the State

• What would adequate social, cultural, religious development be like if imagined beyond the overarching figure of state driven planning and development agendas, their language, drive and limits?
• How should we begin to comprehend what development means when it applies to ourselves and other privileged groups, and not to some poor soul whose life needs to be uplifted?
• What would be a norm or ideal of development which is appropriate to our concrete situation as thinkers and activists?
• How do we understand and conduct ourselves with respect to the nation/development/crises around us today?
• What are the changes in society that are invisible to us because of our own academic/ideological blinkers?

These questions don’t imply that state led development plans have failed, or that the development of the poor is not an issue.  They only suggest that while the development of the state and the populations addressed by it are the subject of widespread critical discussion, how we as academics, administrators and activists need to hone our own perspectives remains in the shadow.  This seminar turns the light back on us.

There will be presentations by ​senior academics and activists ​who have been called upon to reflect on their perspectives regarding the dimensions of development that go beyond state programmes and administrative welfare.  These presentations will be followed by discussions.

We are glad to announce that there has been a heartening response from the fields of education, minority politics, religion, language and culture.  The aim is to have a good discussion of the papers.

The ​concept note ​ may be accessed here, the tentative schedule may be seen here, for the informal report click here

You are invited to attend, and please inform others who may be interested in these academic deliberations.