Resisting Development, Promoting Dignity: Challenging the Postcolonial Informal Empires of China and India

A talk by Dr  Dibyesh Anand   

 22/02/2012, 5pm, Room 250, Regent Street. 

Is development a mechanism of control deployed by powerful states to discipline their people? Can development resolve conflicts between the state and ethonational groups who don't see themselves represented within the state and have their own aspirations for a separate identity? Or does it exacerbate the conflict? Taking the example of Chinese-controlled Tibet where protests, including in the form of self-immolations, are ongoing  and Indian-controlled Kashmir - where security apparatus of the state subverts most democratic processes, this lecture will argue that China and India are Postcolonial Informal Empires that promote development but deny dignity. The focus will be mainly on Tibet that is witnessing a repressive policy of the Chinese government that mixes total political control with rapid development and protests against China resulting from this policy