publications

2024

1. Kaam: Youth, religiosity, and the cultural production of work in a North Indian Madrasa

   Shantanu Kulshreshth

   Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Nov 2024

   Abs DOI

   Drawing from year-long ethnographic fieldwork in a North Indian Madrasa, this paper looks at how young Madrasa students are navigating socio-economic precarity in their everyday lives. I primarily focus on young people’s navigation of neoliberal and Hindu Nationalist discourses surrounding work and employment. In doing so, I draw on the recent turn in critical work geographies by de-emphasising a wage-centric approach to studying practices of work. At the same time, I show how work is locally constructed and mobilised in relation to a variety of social and cultural resources by focusing on young people’s articulation of work through the Hindustani word kaam.

2. In Chandrashekhar Azad’s win in Nagina, Mayawati and the BSP’s tale of decline

   Shantanu Kulshreshth

   Jun 2024

   Abs

   It remains to be seen how effectively Azad and the ASP can capitalise on this win to expand beyond Western UP and take up the space left by the BSP

2023

1. ‘Social Media Is the Second Ambedkar’: Bhim Army and Social Media Mobilisation in North India

   Shantanu Kulshreshth

   South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Sep 2023

   DOI
2. “The State is the Biggest Goonda”: Civic Masculinity, Radical Victimhood, and Power in Bhim Army Discourse

   Shantanu Kulshreshth

   South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, Dec 2023

   Abs DOI

   This paper explores the emergence of the Bhim Army, a Dalit-led social movement in North India that has gained significant political influence in recent years. In doing so, it develops the idea of “boss power” as a cultural repertoire in North India through which marginalized actors negotiate and engage with the state and society. It shows how the organization creates new identities based on masculinity, civic duty, and radical victimhood to enact power in response to caste marginalization and state capture. However, despite its attempts to build a diverse base, the Bhim Army’s appeal remains limited in terms of gender and class.

2022

1. Democratizing the Digital Space: Harnessing Technology to Amplify Participation in Governance Processes in the Global South

   Rahul Verma and Shantanu Kulshreshth

   Dec 2022

   DOI