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Violent Castes', 'Left Wing Extremists' and Mall Workers: Rethinking 'Emotional Labour' and 'Neo-liberalism' in the Context of New Labour

Violent Castes', 'Left Wing Extremists' and Mall Workers: Rethinking 'Emotional Labour' and 'Neo-liberalism' in the Context of New Labour

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Event Title
Violent Castes', 'Left Wing Extremists' and Mall Workers: Rethinking 'Emotional Labour' and 'Neo-liberalism' in the Context of New Labour
Event Details
<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems</strong> <strong>School of Social Sciences </strong> <strong>CSSS Colloquium </strong> <strong>Prof. Sanjay Srivastava </strong> (Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU) a talk on <strong>Violent Castes', 'Left Wing Extremists' and Mall Workers: Rethinking 'Emotional Labour' and 'Neo-liberalism' in the Context of New Labour</strong> Date : <strong>August 6, 2015</strong> <strong>Abstract- </strong>This paper is a first attempt to organise recently gathered field-work material within an analytical framework. It will address material from three sites, one each in Dausa (Rajasthan), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Delhi. Field-work in Dausa and Ranchi was conducted at government funded but privately-run 'skills development' centres that aim to train young men and women for employment as sales and hospitality professionals , whereas in Delhi I worked with a prominent 'Personality Development' company that began as a training centre for airline crew but has branched out into other areas. In this paper, I will outline the training provided by these companies, which is seen as an indispensable part of acquiring a 'cosmopolitan' personality, and one that is necessary for economic as well as social advancement. The presentation will explore ideas of transformation among state functionaries, trainers and young people in the context of traditional structures of family, gender norms, caste and 'tribal' identities, and the putative powers of corporatism vis a vis 'left wing extremism'. The discussion also seeks to interrogate certain ideas around 'emotional labour' and 'neo-liberalism' that have been widely discussed in recent social science literature. <strong>Bio-Data: </strong>Sanjay Srivastava is Professor of Sociology. His publications include Constructing Postcolonial India: National Character and the Doon School (1998), Asia: Cultural Politics in the Global Age (2001, co-authored), Sexual Sites, Seminal Attitudes. Sexualities, Masculinities and Culture in South Asia (2004, contributing editor), Passionate Modernity, Sexuality, Class and Consumption in India (2007), Sexuality Studies (2013, contributing editor), and Entangled Urbanism: Slum, Gated Community and Shopping Mall in Delhi and Gurgaon. Professor Srivastava is also co-editor of Contributions to Indian Sociology.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.