The anthropology of neoliberal India

Abstract

This special issue brings together ethnographic accounts exploring local and regional effects of transformations in India that social scientists have described under the heading of ‘neoliberalism’ (Alternative Survey Group 2007; Oza 2006; Patnaik 2007). Chief among these transformations in India are the economic restructuring processes after 1991 when the Government of India launched far-reaching policies of economic liberalisation, arguably under the pressure of global financial institutions. Acknowledging this significant turning point, we aim to highlight, however, the variegation with which neoliberal ideas, policies and technologies are dispersed and experienced among different segments of the population. In doing so, the authors of this special issue pursue an ethnographically informed ‘grounding’ of large neoliberal transformations. In Michael Burawoy’s terms, such grounding is about ‘extending out from the micro-processes to macro forces, from the space–time rhythms of the site to the geographical and historical context of the field’ (2000a: 27).

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