| By: |
Sanyal,Paromita;
Rao,Vijayendra;
Prabhakar,Umang |
| Abstract: |
In democracies, innovative political institutions have opened up scope for
direct public participation often in the form of talk: citizens talking to the
state and mutual talk among citizens on matters concerning community
development. A prominent example is the Indian gram sabha, or village
assembly, which occurs in a highly stratified context. This paper undertakes a
talk-centered analysis of the gram sabha with a focus on examining the oral
participation of women in general and women affiliated with microcredit
self-help groups who have access to an associational life. The qualitative
analysis of 255 gram sabha transcripts from four South Indian states finds
that women associated with microcredit self-help groups employ a wider variety
of narrative styles and utilize a more multilayered structure to convey their
messages compared with all women taken together. Thus, the difference is not
so much in the numerical instances of talking or in the types of issues
raised, but rather in the quality of participation. The paper makes an
important theoretical contribution by proposing the concept of oral democracy
as an alternative to deliberative democracy, and urges an analytical focus on
the oral or oratory competency of subordinated groups as they participate in
these important institutions. |
| Keywords: |
Parliamentary Government,Access to Finance,National Governance,Governance Indicators,Primary Education |
| Date: |
2015–09–21 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7416&r=all |