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UID:0-1695@hmc.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251117T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251117T163000
DTSTAMP:20251104T212747Z
URL:https://www.hmc.edu/calendar/events/hsa-science-technology-and-society
 -candidate-research-talk-pariroo-rattan/
SUMMARY:HSA Science\, Technology\, and Society Candidate Research Talk\, Pa
 riroo Rattan
DESCRIPTION:Finalists for the position of assistant professor of science\, 
 technology\, and society will present a research talk.\n\nPariroo Rattan\,
  PhD in public policy\, Harvard University\, will discuss "A Marketplace f
 or Populism: The Moral Politics of Digitization in India's Informal Econom
 y."\n\nWhy do citizens in democracies accept technological governance syst
 ems that break down\, discriminate against them and fail at many levels? D
 igital India is a flagship policy of the Government of India to foster “
 economic growth combined with social inclusion.” Central to Digital Indi
 a is the Aadhaar card\, a biometric identification now distributed to 1.3 
 billion Indians\, and a real time mobile payment technology\, Unified Paym
 ents Interface (UPI)\, that has significantly replaced cash transactions. 
 This technological transformation was imagined and implemented against the
  social backdrop of India's large informal economy. Prior scholarship has 
 shown that technological promises to improve governance and economic oppor
 tunities are often not fully realized and create new sources of friction\,
  especially for marginalized communities. Nevertheless\, digital technolog
 ies have been taken up by actors in the informal economy\, such as street 
 vendors in urban cities like New Delhi. How do street vendors rationalize 
 breakdowns in techno-economic promises? In what ways is the introduction o
 f technology in modern governance systems changing the relationship of mar
 ginalized citizens in India to the nation-state\, and with what consequenc
 es for contemporary populist politics? I draw on multi-year ethnography in
  New Delhi on the uptake of digitization and its political discourse by st
 reet vendors to explore on-ground tensions in the nature of the Indian nat
 ion-state and how ordinary citizens relate to it through technology. This 
 has stakes for the nature of contemporary democracy. Unlike postcolonial I
 ndia where a large bureaucracy was set up to facilitate the nation's growt
 h\, I show how digitization is morally justified and accepted by citizens 
 through a recasting of mediating institutions like the traditional bureauc
 racy as a threat to the nation’s progress.
CATEGORIES:Faculty,Staff,Students
LOCATION:Shanahan Center\, 320 E. Foothill Blvd.\, Claremont\, CA\, 91711\,
  United States
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=320 E. Foothill Blvd.\, Cla
 remont\, CA\, 91711\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Shanahan Ce
 nter:geo:0,0
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