This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive... more This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive auto rickshaw fares as ‘high, and unfair’ and auto drivers as inherently ‘greedy and nonchalant’ people. I argue that the perception about this sector is simplistic and fuelled by the middle class’ need to shoot the messenger- or, the most visible part of that process- i.e. the auto-rickshaw driver. My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city, and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
This paper deals with rape adjudication in the American and Indian contexts, and analyses anomali... more This paper deals with rape adjudication in the American and Indian contexts, and analyses anomalies while unpacking consent, and understanding credibility of the victim.
The first three chapters deal with American adjudication, and the final chapters draws parallels and lessons from the Indian setting. In the first chapter, I lay the groundwork with a case study of Emma Sulkowicz's rape at Stanford University which I will continue to revisit throughout the first three chapters. I also establish that sexual assault is ubiquitous in American college campuses, and how a whole generation of young, American women are being denied access to justice. The second chapter lays, and weighs the different options available for recourse to a sexual assault victim in the American system, and why the criminal justice system may not be the best answer. The third chapter seeks to understand the genealogy of treatment of consent. It also establishes the legal system’s inordinate reliance on forensic evidence that only reveals physiological violence, and thus, erases psychological harm from the narrative. I question whether admissibility of Rape Trauma Syndrome is the answer to this marginalisation by the biomedical system. In the final chapter, I discuss how and why corroboration of the victim’s testimony in the Indian context holds minimal importance in a rape trial. I explain how honour and chastity come to be central tenets in, and are unique to the Indian context. I touch upon the Nirbhaya rape case, and why it catapulted into popular imagination, and discuss why the demands sought by protestors were of a legal nature.
I have drawn heavily from feminist jurisprudence, sociology of law, access to justice literature, feminist criminology, health anthropology, to an extent, post-colonialism, and social theory on gender, nationalism and Hindutva. This paper came about as an investigation into why law remains so resistant to feminist critique, and how legal knowledge, especially in post-colonial societies where it is the only legitimising discourse, disqualifies and marginalises other epistemologies.
This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive... more This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive auto rickshaw fares as ‘high, and unfair’ and auto drivers as inherently ‘greedy and nonchalant’ people. I argue that the perception about this sector is simplistic and fuelled by the middle class’ need to shoot the messenger- or, the most visible part of that process- i.e. the auto-rickshaw driver. My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city, and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive... more This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive auto rickshaw fares as ‘high, and unfair’ and auto drivers as inherently ‘greedy and nonchalant’ people. I argue that the perception about this sector is simplistic and fuelled by the middle class’ need to shoot the messenger- or, the most visible part of that process- i.e. the auto-rickshaw driver. My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city, and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
This paper deals with rape adjudication in the American and Indian contexts, and analyses anomali... more This paper deals with rape adjudication in the American and Indian contexts, and analyses anomalies while unpacking consent, and understanding credibility of the victim.
The first three chapters deal with American adjudication, and the final chapters draws parallels and lessons from the Indian setting. In the first chapter, I lay the groundwork with a case study of Emma Sulkowicz's rape at Stanford University which I will continue to revisit throughout the first three chapters. I also establish that sexual assault is ubiquitous in American college campuses, and how a whole generation of young, American women are being denied access to justice. The second chapter lays, and weighs the different options available for recourse to a sexual assault victim in the American system, and why the criminal justice system may not be the best answer. The third chapter seeks to understand the genealogy of treatment of consent. It also establishes the legal system’s inordinate reliance on forensic evidence that only reveals physiological violence, and thus, erases psychological harm from the narrative. I question whether admissibility of Rape Trauma Syndrome is the answer to this marginalisation by the biomedical system. In the final chapter, I discuss how and why corroboration of the victim’s testimony in the Indian context holds minimal importance in a rape trial. I explain how honour and chastity come to be central tenets in, and are unique to the Indian context. I touch upon the Nirbhaya rape case, and why it catapulted into popular imagination, and discuss why the demands sought by protestors were of a legal nature.
I have drawn heavily from feminist jurisprudence, sociology of law, access to justice literature, feminist criminology, health anthropology, to an extent, post-colonialism, and social theory on gender, nationalism and Hindutva. This paper came about as an investigation into why law remains so resistant to feminist critique, and how legal knowledge, especially in post-colonial societies where it is the only legitimising discourse, disqualifies and marginalises other epistemologies.
This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive... more This paper tries to demystify the political economy that motivates commuters in Delhi to perceive auto rickshaw fares as ‘high, and unfair’ and auto drivers as inherently ‘greedy and nonchalant’ people. I argue that the perception about this sector is simplistic and fuelled by the middle class’ need to shoot the messenger- or, the most visible part of that process- i.e. the auto-rickshaw driver. My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city, and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
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Papers by Ishita Trivedi
My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city,
and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
The first three chapters deal with American adjudication, and the final chapters draws parallels and lessons from the Indian setting. In the first chapter, I lay the groundwork with a case study of Emma Sulkowicz's rape at Stanford University which I will continue to revisit throughout the first three chapters. I also establish that sexual assault is ubiquitous in American college campuses, and how a whole generation of young, American women are being denied access to justice. The second chapter lays, and weighs the different options available for recourse to a sexual assault victim in the American system, and why the criminal justice system may not be the best answer. The third chapter seeks to understand the genealogy of treatment of consent. It also establishes the legal system’s inordinate reliance on forensic evidence that only reveals physiological violence, and thus, erases psychological harm from the narrative. I question whether admissibility of Rape Trauma Syndrome is the answer to this marginalisation by the biomedical system. In the final chapter, I discuss how and why corroboration of the victim’s testimony in the Indian context holds minimal importance in a rape trial. I explain how honour and chastity come to be central tenets in, and are unique to the Indian context. I touch upon the Nirbhaya rape case, and why it catapulted into popular imagination, and discuss why the demands sought by protestors were of a legal nature.
I have drawn heavily from feminist jurisprudence, sociology of law, access to justice literature, feminist criminology, health anthropology, to an extent, post-colonialism, and social theory on gender, nationalism and Hindutva. This paper came about as an investigation into why law remains so resistant to feminist critique, and how legal knowledge, especially in post-colonial societies where it is the only legitimising discourse, disqualifies and marginalises other epistemologies.
My argument is presented in five sections- a brief introduction of the auto financier’s mafia-like credit systems, and monopoly of permits that allows total control over the operation of three-wheelers on-road; underlining the post-colonial roots of Delhi’s Global City aspirations and how that translates in a regulatory system that is discriminatory to drivers; how the drivers, as a collective, participate in the democratic politics of the city,
and relate to the state; the ubiquity of the auto-rickshaw on Delhi roads, and the consequent ramifications of being politically visible; finally, I turn the spotlight on the middle-class milieu, their activism, and the bourgeoisie environmentalism of the Indian Supreme Court.
The first three chapters deal with American adjudication, and the final chapters draws parallels and lessons from the Indian setting. In the first chapter, I lay the groundwork with a case study of Emma Sulkowicz's rape at Stanford University which I will continue to revisit throughout the first three chapters. I also establish that sexual assault is ubiquitous in American college campuses, and how a whole generation of young, American women are being denied access to justice. The second chapter lays, and weighs the different options available for recourse to a sexual assault victim in the American system, and why the criminal justice system may not be the best answer. The third chapter seeks to understand the genealogy of treatment of consent. It also establishes the legal system’s inordinate reliance on forensic evidence that only reveals physiological violence, and thus, erases psychological harm from the narrative. I question whether admissibility of Rape Trauma Syndrome is the answer to this marginalisation by the biomedical system. In the final chapter, I discuss how and why corroboration of the victim’s testimony in the Indian context holds minimal importance in a rape trial. I explain how honour and chastity come to be central tenets in, and are unique to the Indian context. I touch upon the Nirbhaya rape case, and why it catapulted into popular imagination, and discuss why the demands sought by protestors were of a legal nature.
I have drawn heavily from feminist jurisprudence, sociology of law, access to justice literature, feminist criminology, health anthropology, to an extent, post-colonialism, and social theory on gender, nationalism and Hindutva. This paper came about as an investigation into why law remains so resistant to feminist critique, and how legal knowledge, especially in post-colonial societies where it is the only legitimising discourse, disqualifies and marginalises other epistemologies.