- Department of Geography, University of North Texas.
1155 Union Circle # 305279
Denton, TX 76203-5017
Email: Waquar.Ahmed@unt.edu
Waquar Ahmed
University of North Texas, Geography, Faculty Member
- Economic Geography, Development Studies, Social Theory, Political Economy, Critical Theory, India, and 36 moreSocial Movements, Neoliberalism, Social Geography, Development Economics, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Political Ecology, Geopolitics, David Harvey, India (Anthropology), History of India, Marxist theory, Karl Marx, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Michel Foucault, Neoliberalisms and the Transformation of the Cultural Sphere, Human Geography, Urban Geography, Urban Planning, Energy and Environment, Energy, Wind Power, Renewable Energy, Distributed generation & energy storage systems, Communication Networks, Optic-Photonic Communication Networks, Laser Communication Networks, Signal and Image Processing, Control Systems, Electrical Power Distribution, Thermal Power Plants, Post-Colonialism, Globalization, Power, and Social Exclusionedit
- Ph.D. (Clark University); Master of Philosophy (Jawaharlal Nehru University)edit
I am fascinated by Marx’s openness to learning and engagement with diverse intellectual traditions—political economic, German and Greek philosophy, utopian socialist tradition, and English literature to name a few. Marxism for me, hence,... more
I am fascinated by Marx’s openness to learning and engagement with diverse intellectual traditions—political economic, German and Greek philosophy, utopian socialist tradition, and English literature to name a few. Marxism for me, hence, is engagement and conversations with eclectic ideas, with fidelity to the communist manifesto, and in turn, its commitment to equality and justice. In this paper, while highlighting my own journey as a student of Marx’s scholarship, I examine the key role hegemony plays in our society. Formal education, I argue, is hegemonic to the extent that it is geared at producing docile individuals, particularly from oppressed sections of the society, that internalize theories and concepts favorable to elites: it should not surprise us when the oppressed act or vote against their own interest. Yet some centers of learning are also epicenters of counter-hegemonic praxis—one such place is Jawaharlal Nehru University where I unlearn and re-learned my Marxism and ...
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Research Interests: Business, Human Geography, Economics, Development Economics, Economic Geography, and 14 moreInternational Relations, Political Economy, Development Studies, International Studies, Radical Geography, Corporate Governance, Political Science, WTO Trade Topics, Critical Geography, World Bank, IMF, Multinational Corporations, Multilateral Organisations, and role of World Bank and IMF in international politics
Since the initiation of the New Economic Policy in 1991, India’s power policy illustrates the crystallization of a form of situated rationality that relies on capitalist competitiveness and foreign investment for growth and development.... more
Since the initiation of the New Economic Policy in 1991, India’s power policy illustrates the crystallization of a form of situated rationality that relies on capitalist competitiveness and foreign investment for growth and development. This paper, using critical discourse analysis, examines the resettlement of the Enron/Dabhol Power Project to highlight how this situated rationality represents power/knowledge that “legitimizes” prioritization of international capital, erosion of national sovereignty, and facilitates capitalist exploitation.JEL Classification: F65
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Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Botany, Human Ecology, Geography, Anthropology, and 15 moreEthnobotany, Conservation Biology, Conservation, Environmental Ethics, Indigenous Knowledge, Louis Althusser, Ecology, Michel Foucault, Ethnobiology, Biodiversity, Cultural Anthropology, Hegemony, Ethnoecology, Biological Conservation, and Biocultural conservation
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This paper examines the tensions and contradictions within the Indian state in its production of socio-economic policies. Pressure of global governance institutions, multinational corporations, and neoliberal states of the global North... more
This paper examines the tensions and contradictions within the Indian state in its production of socio-economic policies. Pressure of global governance institutions, multinational corporations, and neoliberal states of the global North that back such corporations, have been instrumental in the production of -friendly economic policy in India. Additionally, in representing the interest of the national bourgeois, the Indian state has been receptive to ideas that favor marketization of the economy. However, public pressure, where the poor constitute the majority of the Indian population, has compelled the Indian state to also strengthen welfare. In examining this contradiction of the simultaneous production of neoliberal and welfare policy, we analyze the case of the public distribution system (which is being marketized) on the one hand, and the employment guarantee scheme (that demonstrates strengthening of welfare) on the other.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Economics, Economic Geography, Anthropology, Development Studies, and 15 moreMarxism, International Development, Border Studies, Corporate Governance, Governance, Anthropology of the State, Food Security, India, Marketization, Entitlement, Bourgeoisie, Contradiction, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Impact assessment of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and Marxist Theory
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted... more
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted neoliberal policies. The forms in which neoliberalism has unfolded, however, have been contingent upon the countries’ and utility sector’s historical-geographical context. In this paper we attempt to provide a comparative perspective demonstrating similar processes of neoliberalism in South Africa and India. We examine the contradictory nature of neoliberalism with respect to particular sections of the population – the poor in particular. A broadly political-economy approach is adopted. The paper reveals that there is particular state-market logic driving the delivery of basic services such as water and energy. It is this logic which has undermined the states’ attempts at providing basic services to the poor in particular.
Research Interests: Sociology, Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, African Studies, Economic Geography, and 15 moreAnthropology, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, Development Studies, Globalization, International Development, Political Science, Water resources, Energy, Neoliberalism, India, South Africa, Journal of Asian and African Studies, and Public Policy
Since 1991, the city of Delhi in India has become a focal point of economic liberalization. Economic liberalization has been accompanied by local government efforts to attract both foreign and domestic investment, particularly in the... more
Since 1991, the city of Delhi in India has become a focal point of economic liberalization. Economic liberalization has been accompanied by local government efforts to attract both foreign and domestic investment, particularly in the service sectors of the economy. The attraction of investment has been achieved by spatial reconfiguration, pitting the interest of global and domestic capital against the interest of deprived populations. I herein analyze the unfolding of the neoliberal economic regime in India, the production of space in Delhi, and the ways in which planning and governance in Delhi, geared to attracting foreign investment, have affected slum and industry location and public transport networks. Such spatial reconfiguration has been carried out as part of an effort to make Delhi cleaner. I argue, however, that the current environmental agenda has been co-opted by neoliberals to assert class power by militarizing space to the detriment of the poor.
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Introduction Waquar Ahmed, Amitabh Kundu and Richard Peet 1. Neoliberalism, Inequality and Development Richard Peet 2. From Mixed Economy to Neo-liberalism: Class and Caste in India's Policy Transition Waquar Ahmed 3. Urban System in... more
Introduction Waquar Ahmed, Amitabh Kundu and Richard Peet 1. Neoliberalism, Inequality and Development Richard Peet 2. From Mixed Economy to Neo-liberalism: Class and Caste in India's Policy Transition Waquar Ahmed 3. Urban System in India: Trends, Economic Base, Governance and a Perspective of Growth under Globalization Amitabh Kundu 4. New Urbanism, Neoliberalism and Urban Restructuring in Mumbai Swapna Banerjee-Guha 5. Economic Liberalization and Urban Governance: Impact on Inclusive Growth Shipra Maitra 6. The Right to Waste: Informal Sector Recyclers and Struggles for Social Justice in Post-Reform Urban India Bharti Chaturvadi and Vinay Gidwani 7. From Red Tape to Red Carpet? Violent Narratives of Neoliberalizing Ahmedabad Ipsita Chatterjee 8. Neoliberalism, Environmentalism and Urban Politics in Delhi Rohit Negi 9. Coping with Challenges to Food Security: Climate Change, Biofuels and GMOs Suman Sahai 10. Imperialism, Resources and Food Security, with Reference to the India...
Research Interests: Sociology, Geography, Human Geography, Economics, Development Economics, and 13 moreEconomic Geography, Anthropology, Political Economy, Development Studies, Globalization, Political Science, International Political Economy, Economic Development, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, India (Anthropology), India, and Power
Martin J. Haigh's India Abroad is ill-informed and misleading in multiple ways. It presents a romanticized view of ‘Indian’ culture and, what the author calls, Hindu or Hinduism. The article represents misreading of post-colonial... more
Martin J. Haigh's India Abroad is ill-informed and misleading in multiple ways. It presents a romanticized view of ‘Indian’ culture and, what the author calls, Hindu or Hinduism. The article represents misreading of post-colonial praxis, and in turn, post-colonial comradery. Post-colonialism, as an intellectual movement, examines the impact of colonialism on the cultures of colonizing and colonized people. Post-colonialists, sometimes drawing upon Marxian traditions, have mapped exploitative and dependent relations between the metropolitan and colonial societies (Gregory et al. 2009, Blaut 1993). Post-colonial theorists tend to be sensitive to the political implications of the ways the history and cultures of colonial societies are represented. And I bring up post-colonial theory precisely because this post-colonial call to sensitivity, that the author highlights by citing Kumar (2005) has morphed into romanticization and celebration of this category called Hindu, and in turn In...
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Rationalities endemic to modernity entail an implicit spatial imaginary of networks. Additionally, modernity envisages nature as an external domain that is discoverable by science and domesticable through technology in order to drive... more
Rationalities endemic to modernity entail an implicit spatial imaginary of networks. Additionally, modernity envisages nature as an external domain that is discoverable by science and domesticable through technology in order to drive economic productivity. This article examines Grapevine Reservoir as an artifact of modernity. Through an examination of Dallas-based representations of Denton Creek space, we seek to demonstrate that the area was discursively produced as a distal node of the Dallas network: as nothing more than a point-source for urban water. And as water flowed into Dallas, the city flowed outward to Grapevine along the same conduit. We draw on archival data from a major local newspaper during the proposal and construction phases of the reservoir (1921–1954), as well as key government documents prepared by the US Congress and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the 1940s. Texts were subjected to discourse analysis, to examine how urban interests rationalized Denton C...
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The BRIC economies, that refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China, symbolize the apparent shift in global economic power away from the USA and Western Europe. India is one of the prominent members of the BRIC economies. India’s annual... more
The BRIC economies, that refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China, symbolize the apparent shift in global economic power away from the USA and Western Europe. India is one of the prominent members of the BRIC economies. India’s annual growth rates of net national income at constant market price during the eighth ((1992–1997), ninth (1997–2002), tenth (2002–2007) and eleventh (2007–2012) Five-Year Plans have been as high as 6.5%, 5.4%, 7.6% and 7.5% respectively. In 2014–2015, the advance estimates of the annual growth rate of net national income at constant price were reported at 7.4%. In other words, India’s economy has grown at a relatively high rate since the initiation of the free market or New Economic Policy in 1991. The benefits of India’s new economic policy and foreign investment friendly climate, however, have been slow or negligible for the large majority of the poor. Only five countries outside Africa (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Yemen) have lower “youth female literacy rates” than India, only four countries (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Myanmar and Pakistan) do worse than India in terms of child mortality rates and none has a higher proportion of underweight children (World Development Indicators 2011). Hence, the question arises, how does the new economic policy gain acceptance in a democratic India? And how does a democratic state gain legitimacy in the face of such uneven development?
... nation-states. Though copious, existing research on neoliberal urban governance tends to focus on cities of the Global North (for exceptions, see Chatterjee 2009; Banerjee-Guha 2006; Briggs and Mwamfupe 2000). This paper ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Urban Geography, Economics, Anthropology, Political Economy, and 15 moreGlobalization, Poverty, Political Ecology, Political Science, Urban Planning, Gentrification, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Environmental movements, India, Economy, Power, Investment, ENVIRONMENTAL POLUTION, and Post Colonialism
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted... more
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted neoliberal policies. The forms in which neoliberalism has unfolded, however, have been contingent upon the countries’ and utility sector’s historical-geographical context. In this paper we attempt to provide a comparative perspective demonstrating similar processes of neoliberalism in South Africa and India. We examine the contradictory nature of neoliberalism with respect to particular sections of the population – the poor in particular. A broadly political-economy approach is adopted. The paper reveals that there is particular state-market logic driving the delivery of basic services such as water and energy. It is this logic which has undermined the states’ attempts at providing basic services to the poor in particular.
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Dialectical materialism, we argue is a philosophical praxis that guided Marx's critique of capitalist political economy. In this article, we have attempted a self-critique of human geography by explicating that dialectical materialism has... more
Dialectical materialism, we argue is a philosophical praxis that guided Marx's critique of capitalist political economy. In this article, we have attempted a self-critique of human geography by explicating that dialectical materialism has been largely used as a metaphor within the discipline. The article has been inspired by the overwhelming use of the terms 'dialectics' and 'dialectical' in human geography. The purpose has been to lay down some of the basic tenets of dialectical materialism in Marx's work, and then lay down some human geography research that engages with dialectical materialism. We believe that philosophical introspection on methodology, particularly within the Marxist circles, is scarce. We argue that to develop a truly dialectical materialist human geography we must push dialectal materialism from metaphor to methodology. We also think that methodology and philosophy are inseparably tied and therefore, choice of research methodology is a reflector of the researcher's philosophy about reality and hence research praxis should be an important matter of discussion and introspection.
Research Interests: Social Theory, Human Geography, Social Geography, Marxism, Radical Geography, and 12 moreQualitative methodology, Marxist theory, Critical Geography, Dialectical Materialism, David Harvey, Causality, Karl Marx, Dialectics, Marxist Geography, Geographical thought, Anti Essentialism, and Spatial Dialectics
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Rationalities endemic to modernity entail an implicit spatial imaginary of networks. Additionally, modernity envisages nature as an external domain that is discoverable by science and domesticable through technology in order to drive... more
Rationalities endemic to modernity entail an implicit spatial imaginary of networks. Additionally, modernity envisages nature as an external domain that is discoverable by science and domesticable through technology in order to drive economic productivity. This article examines Grapevine Reservoir as an artifact of modernity. Through an examination of Dallas-based representations of Denton Creek space, we seek to demonstrate that the area was discursively produced as a distal node of the Dallas network: as nothing more than a point-source for urban water. And as water flowed into Dallas, the city flowed outward to Grapevine along the same conduit. We draw on archival data from a major local newspaper during the proposal and construction phases of the reservoir (1921-1954), as well as key government documents prepared by the US Congress and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the 1940s. Texts were subjected to discourse analysis, to examine how urban interests rationalized Denton Creek space.
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Since the initiation of the New Economic Policy in 1991, India's power policy illustrates the crystallization of a form of situated rationality that relies on capitalist competitiveness and foreign investment for growth and development.... more
Since the initiation of the New Economic Policy in 1991, India's power policy illustrates the crystallization of a form of situated rationality that relies on capitalist competitiveness and foreign investment for growth and development. This paper, using critical discourse analysis, examines the resettlement of the Enron/Dabhol Power Project to highlight how this situated rationality represents power/knowledge that " legitimizes " prioritization of international capital, erosion of national sovereignty, and facilitates capitalist exploitation.
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Research Interests: Human Geography, Economics, Development Economics, Economic Geography, International Relations, and 12 morePolitical Economy, Development Studies, International Studies, Radical Geography, Corporate Governance, WTO Trade Topics, Critical Geography, World Bank, IMF, Multinational Corporations, Multilateral Organisations, and role of World Bank and IMF in international politics
Conventional scholarship on energy and geopolitics focuses on energy supply and energy security. Quantity and location of energy resource, more often than not, are viewed in geologically deterministic terms. A focus on geological limits... more
Conventional scholarship on energy and geopolitics focuses on energy supply and energy security. Quantity and location of energy resource, more often than not, are viewed in geologically deterministic terms. A focus on geological limits makes competition for energy resources, particularly oil, a competition for the control of geographies in which it is located or through which it is transported to consumers. While such an approach remains important among experts in the field of geopolitics and policymakers, the political economic approach has gained tremendous currency among academics, particularly geographers. Drawing on a relational perspective, they argue that it is not energy resource geology that produces geopolitical contestations but rather the production of space in the process of competition that is crucial to producing the finiteness of energy resources, and in turn, geopolitical contestations. Thus, the notion of scarcity is related more to technology, markets, and diplomacy. In other words, scarcity or abundance of energy resource are not absolute concepts but rather relational and social constructs. Additionally, concerns about climate change have created another layer of complexity vis-à-vis energy security and has intensely politicized debates around low emission technology, particularly nuclear energy. (co-authored with Reed Underwood and Travis Lee)
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Ethnobiology is increasingly recognized from within and outside of its boundaries as interdisciplinary. The Society of Ethnobiology defines the field as “the scientific study of dynamic relationships among peoples, biota, and... more
Ethnobiology is increasingly recognized from within and outside of its boundaries as interdisciplinary. The Society of Ethnobiology defines the field as “the scientific study of dynamic relationships among peoples, biota, and environments.” Ethnobiologists are able to skillfully assess challenges of biocultural conservation across the divides of political ecology. They are situated to mediate between conservation programs that target biodiversity preservation with little concern for the needs of human communities, and those (such as the New Conservation movement) that privilege those needs. Ethnobiology also transcends the pervasive assumption in these fields that Western knowledge and economic goals should guide change. Because of ethnobiology's importance as a bridging discipline, it is important to ask what unifies ethnobiology. Is it common subject matter? Or, is there an underlying emphasis representing an “ethnobiological perspective?” Answers to these questions are explored here using content analysis and discourse-and-ideology analysis. We use the results to identify the unique roles ethnobiologists play in biocultural conservation. This analysis also proved useful in the systematic identification of four salient themes that unify ethnobiology—ethics in ethnobiology, shared environmental and cultural heritage, interdisciplinary science and non-science, and ecological understanding. How ethnobiologists conceive of themselves is critical for further enrichment of the field as interdisciplinary human-environmental scholarship, particularly in reference to biocultural conservation. Self-definition makes explicit the unique strengths of the field, which by its very nature integrates a sophisticated understanding of political ecology with appreciation of the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), social science, and the biological sciences.
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The Indian economy suffered a balance of payment crisis in 1991, which provided the context for the rolling out of neoliberal policies, also referred to as the New Economic Policy in India. This paper examines the national and global... more
The Indian economy suffered a balance of payment crisis in 1991, which provided the context for the rolling out of neoliberal policies, also referred to as the New Economic Policy in India. This paper examines the national and global causes and context of India's economic crisis and adoption of neoliberal policies. While grounding my analysis in historical-geographical materialism, I argue that India's economic crisis was a product of certain contingent conditions. I draw attention to India's pre-neoliberal economic regime and analyse how the earlier-established relationship between revenue generation and expenditure ran into trouble; what changes occurred in the organization and management of revenues and capital; nature of interventions of the state in the circulation of capital; changes in the physical aspects of circulation of commodities, together with foreign trade and the formation of the ‘world market’; and the rise of the United States as the only global superpower. I conclude that India's economic crisis of 1990–91, and the neoliberal policies that followed, are products of contingent historical and geographical conditions. A teleological approach towards examining global capitalism and production of economic crisis often neglect such contingencies and provide a set of causalities that may, at best, be classified as incomplete.
Research Interests: Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Social Geography, Economics, Development Economics, and 13 moreEconomic Geography, Political Economy, Development Studies, Geopolitics, Indian studies, Capitalism, Marxist theory, Neoliberalism, Historical Materialism, Political Geography, Global Financial Crisis, Economic Crisis, and Indian economy
This paper examines the tensions and contradictions within the Indian state in its production of socio-economic policies. Pressure of global governance institutions, multinational corporations, and neoliberal states of the global North... more
This paper examines the tensions and contradictions within the Indian state in its production of socio-economic policies. Pressure of global governance institutions, multinational corporations, and neoliberal states of the global North that back such corporations, have been instrumental in the production of -friendly economic policy in India. Additionally, in representing the interest of the national bourgeois, the Indian state has been receptive to ideas that favor marketization of the economy. However, public pressure, where the poor constitute the majority of the Indian population, has compelled the Indian state to also strengthen welfare. In examining this contradiction of the simultaneous production of neoliberal and welfare policy, we analyze the case of the public distribution system (which is being marketized) on the one hand, and the employment guarantee scheme (that demonstrates strengthening of welfare) on the other.
Research Interests: Sociology, Social Theory, Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Social Geography, and 31 moreEconomics, Economic Geography, Anthropology, Political Economy, Social Policy, Development Studies, Marxism, International Development, Welfare State, Transnationalism, Border Studies, Political Science, Migration, Governance, State Theory, Marxist theory, Neoliberalism, Political Economy of Development, Political Geography, Anthropology of the State, Public Policy - Social Welfare Policy, Food Security, India, State, Public Distribution System and Food Security, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Workfare, Impact assessment of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Obamacare, economics, unemployment, Sociology of the State, and Public Policy
This article examines the role of Enron, an American corporation, in its promotion of the electric power sector in the Dabhol Power Project in India. Under the new economic regime in India, policy changes were followed by nine fast-track... more
This article examines the role of Enron, an American corporation, in its promotion of the electric power sector in the Dabhol Power Project in India. Under the new economic regime in India, policy changes were followed by nine fast-track private electric power projects in different parts of the country with foreign companies as primary promoters or major collaborators. The new, privately promoted power projects brought into focus the power of foreign capital and neoliberal discourse. Neoliberalism is not about free markets, nor about freedom, nor development of the global South or postsocialist economies but rather a form of power that creates congenial spaces for the extraction of revenue by corporations in countries that were, until recently, relatively less accessible to capitalist exploitation. The research is based on interviews with key informants and archival data. Este artículo examina el papel de Enron, una corporación norteamericana, en la promoción del sector de energía eléctrica del Proyecto Dabhol de Energía, en la India. Bajo el nuevo régimen económico de ese país, sobrevinieron cambios de política en nueve proyectos energéticos privados, en diferentes partes del país, en los que compañías extranjeras figuran como promotores primarios o colaboradores principales. Los nuevos proyectos energéticos promovidos desde el sector privado colocó en primer plano el poder del capital foráneo y el discurso neoliberal. El neoliberalismo no se refiere a mercados libres, ni es acerca de la libertad, ni del desarrollo del Sur global o de las economías possocialistas; en vez de eso es una forma de poder que crea espacios congeniales para que las compañías obtengan ingresos en países que hasta hace poco tiempo eran relativamente poco accesibles a la explotación capitalista. La investigación se basó en entrevistas con informantes claves y datos de archivos.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Sociology, Social Theory, Sociology of Culture, and 31 moreEconomic Geography, Anthropology, Political Economy, Social Policy, Development Studies, Cultural Policy, Feminist Theory, Globalization, Political Theory, Marxism, Sociology of Knowledge, Political Science, Energy, Language and Power, Energy Policy, Nationalism, Foreign Direct Investment, Capitalism, Marxist theory, Michel Foucault, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Political Geography, Epistemology of the Social Sciences, India, Power, Cultural Globalization, Classical and Contemporary Social Theory, Historical and Comparative Sociology, Sociology of the State, and Public Policy
Neoliberal transformation is not simply a top-down process. Neoliberal hegemony at the global level has an ally in the Indian elite in producing class-biased economic growth at the national scale. This paper examines the social... more
Neoliberal transformation is not simply a top-down process. Neoliberal hegemony at the global level has an ally in the Indian elite in producing class-biased economic growth at the national scale. This paper examines the social contestations around India’s economic policy regime, its reproduction and transformation. It shows how the coercive power of global governance institu- tions has worked in tandem with the interest of the local elite to produce neoliberal changes in India. But class elites are not a homogeneous group. Fractures in class power affect the nature of political-economic change. Post-independence, the rural bourgeoisie, i.e., the quasi- feudal landlords and the medium-size landowners, at different stages of political-economic history, were the main social forces influencing economic policy, and the Tatas and Birlas, India’s big business houses, were their urban counterparts. 1980s were witness to the rise of a “new breed of entrepreneurs” in India with foreign business collaborations, who have now emerged as the dominant class-relevant force, constantly nudging India in the neoliberal direction. Additionally, neoliberalism has the support of the Indian upper caste since the new economic regime has created avenues for re-assertion of upper-caste power. Thus, the Indian economic space continues to be contested through endogenous politico-democratic contestations, fractured and continually reorganizing class power, caste assertions, global policy discourses and coercive power of global governance institutions.
Research Interests: Sociology, Economics, Development Economics, Economic Geography, Anthropology, and 17 morePolitical Economy, Sex and Gender, Development Studies, Globalization, Political Science, Class, International Political Economy, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Caste and Untouchability, Political Geography, Marxist political economy, India, Power, Race, Dalit studies, Scheduled caste issues, and Indian economy
This paper applies a number of social theories to understand contestation between labor and capital in India in the neo-liberal era. Examining the role of the state in redefining what is social and anti-social in the context of activism... more
This paper applies a number of social theories to understand contestation between labor and capital in India in the neo-liberal era. Examining the role of the state in redefining what is social and anti-social in the context of activism on the part of labor, this paper analyses the relationship between state and society in facilitating the embedding of a neoliberal regime in India on the one hand, and the opposition posed by labor to such processes, on the other...to read more, click on the PDF file.
Research Interests: Social Movements, Human Geography, Social Geography, Economic Geography, Labor Economics, and 29 morePolitical Economy, Ethics, Development Studies, Feminist Theory, Globalization, Marxism, Governmentality, Feminist Philosophy, Political Science, Sexuality, Governance, Gender, Sigmund Freud, Judicial Politics, Michel Foucault, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Neoliberal Economies in the Postcolony, Social Movements, Political Ecology, Indigeneity, Cultures of Disposession, Urban Form in Asia, Non-Linear Systems, Fieldwork and Disruptive Epistemologies, Biopolitics, India, Work and Labour, Political Geography, Social and Political Philosophy, Solidarity Economy, Neoliberalism (Anthropology), India, Power, Theories of Socialism, Revolts and protests, Antiglobalization Social Movements, and Latin American feminisms
Research Interests: Sociology, Urban Geography, Economics, Anthropology, Political Economy, and 16 moreGlobalization, Poverty, Political Ecology, Political Science, Urban Planning, Gentrification, Urban Studies, Post-Colonialism, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Neoliberal Economies in the Postcolony, Social Movements, Political Ecology, Indigeneity, Cultures of Disposession, Urban Form in Asia, Non-Linear Systems, Fieldwork and Disruptive Epistemologies, Biopolitics, India, India (Anthropology), Environmental movements, India, Power, and ENVIRONMENTAL POLUTION
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted... more
South Africa and India are viewed as incipient economic powerhouses of the developing world – South Africa is the biggest economy on the African continent and India a rising star in the global economy. Both countries have adopted neoliberal policies. The forms in which neoliberalism has unfolded, however, have been contingent upon the countries’ and utility sector’s historical-geographical context. In this paper we attempt to provide a comparative perspective demonstrating similar processes of neoliberalism in South Africa and India. We examine the contradictory nature of neoliberalism with respect to particular sections of the population – the poor in particular. A broadly political-economy approach is adopted. The paper reveals that there is particular state-market logic driving the delivery of basic services such as water and energy. It is this logic which has undermined the states’ attempts at providing basic services to the poor in particular.
Research Interests: Sociology, Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Economic Geography, Anthropology, and 13 moreComparative Politics, International Relations, Political Economy, Development Studies, Globalization, International Development, Political Science, Water resources, Energy, Neoliberalism, India, South Africa, and Public Policy
The memorandum of understanding between Enron and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, signed on 20 June 1992, set in motion the Dabhol Power Project, the largest corporate-led venture in Indian history. But even while the project was... more
The memorandum of understanding between Enron and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, signed on 20 June 1992, set in motion the Dabhol Power Project, the largest corporate-led venture in Indian history. But even while the project was gaining official clearance, it attracted considerable local opposition on environmental and livelihood related grounds. Additionally, the fact that Enron was awarded the contract by the Congress Party led state government of Maharashtra, in the absence of procedural transparency and open bidding, entangled the project in deep controversy. This paper, based on fieldwork, examines opposition to the Dabhol Power Project. I particularly focus on the relevance of militant particularism, and the importance of counter-hegemony of the working class and/or the subaltern counter-public in the context of multi-scaled manifestations of neoliberal power.
Research Interests: Cultural History, Sociology, Social Movements, Social Theory, Geography, and 30 moreHuman Geography, Cultural Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Social Geography, Economic Geography, Anthropology, Political Economy, Marxism, Critical Geopolitics, Radical Geography, Political Ecology, Political Science, International Political Economy, Neoliberalism, Postcolonial Theory, Neoliberal Economies in the Postcolony, Social Movements, Political Ecology, Indigeneity, Cultures of Disposession, Urban Form in Asia, Non-Linear Systems, Fieldwork and Disruptive Epistemologies, Biopolitics, India, Environmental Justice, 20th Century British Literature, Environmental movements, Raymond Williams, Philip Larkin, India, Labor Movements, Critical Development Studies, Popular Music and Culture, Morrissey, Enron, Climate Politics, Global (North/South) Environmental Politics, and Modernism and Postmodernism As Literary Styles
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Conventional interpretations of the New Economic Policy introduced in India in 1991 see this program of economic liberalization as transforming the Indian economy and leading to a substantial increase in the rate of India’s economic... more
Conventional interpretations of the New Economic Policy introduced in India in 1991 see this program of economic liberalization as transforming the Indian economy and leading to a substantial increase in the rate of India’s economic growth. But in a country like India, growth is not enough. Who benefits from the new growth regime, and can it significantly improve the conditions of livelihood for India’s 800 million people with incomes below $2.00 a day? This edited volume looks at international policy regimes and their national adoption under strategic conditions of economic crisis and coercion, and within longer-term structural changes in the power calculus of global capitalism. The contributors examine long-term growth tendencies, poverty and employment rates at the national level, regional level and local levels in India; the main growth centers; the areas and people left out; the advantages and deficiencies of the existing policy regime, and alternative economic policies for India. Bringing together the leading figures in the discussion on India’s economic policy, this volume is the authoritative critical study of India’s New Economic Policy.
Research Interests: Sociology, Geography, Human Geography, Economics, Development Economics, and 14 moreEconomic Geography, Anthropology, Political Economy, Development Studies, Globalization, Political Science, International Political Economy, Economic Development, Neoliberalism, Social Exclusion, Neoliberal Economies in the Postcolony, Social Movements, Political Ecology, Indigeneity, Cultures of Disposession, Urban Form in Asia, Non-Linear Systems, Fieldwork and Disruptive Epistemologies, Biopolitics, India, India (Anthropology), India, and Power
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Research Interests: Islamic Law, Political Economy, Intellectual Property, Development Studies, Corporate Law, and 16 moreInnovation statistics, Political Ecology, Sustainable Development, Biotechnology, International Political Economy, Business Law, Intellectual Property Law, Public Health, International trade law, Copyright Law, Patent Law, Pharmaceutical Law, Preferential Trade Agreements, WTO/GATT, Arab countries' integration into the global trading system, and Finance and banking law
Research Interests: Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, International Relations, Terrorism, Human Rights, and 12 morePolitical Science, Pakistan, India, Insurgency, Kashmir, Indian Muslims, Hindutva, Hindutva Terrorism, Indian Army, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, ARTICLE 370 OF INDIAN CONSTITUTION, and Kashmiri Pandits
I was invited on the Voice of America’s (Urdu) news show on September 26, 2015 to provide expert opinion on the Kashmir issue in the context of the ongoing UN general assembly, US-Iran talks to address violence in Syria and the refuge... more
I was invited on the Voice of America’s (Urdu) news show on September 26, 2015 to provide expert opinion on the Kashmir issue in the context of the ongoing UN general assembly, US-Iran talks to address violence in Syria and the refuge crisis, and the influence of ISIS/Daish in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
On the Kashmir issue, I argued that nothing substantial will emerge out of the ongoing UN general assembly debates and discussions, and both India and Pakistan were merely using the UN platform to speak to, and energize their respective domestic political base or carder.
I welcomed the US secretary of state, John Kerry’s effort to involve Iran in US’s effort to counter unrest and refuge crisis in Syria. I argued that a broader coalition involving not only Saudi Arabia, but also Iran could facilitate peace in that region.
On ISIS, I argue that regions that have historically, since the time of Cold War, been influenced by the Wahabi/Salafi brand of political Islam, are more scriptable to the ISIS/Daish influences. Since Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan saw a huge influx of Saudi money into Wahabi endeavors during the Cold War, they remain susceptible to the Al Qaeda, Taliban, and now ISIS/daish, posing a real threat. Despite some differences between these three groups, the kinds of following they attract are somewhat similar. On the other hand, India’s Islam is influenced more by Sufi ideas; hence I cannot see the ISIS attracting any real support in that country. But Muslims in India have been particularly threatened by the rise of political Hinduism (Hindutva) and the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, symbolizes and represents the relegation of Muslims in India as marginalized second class citizens – a sense of hopelessness amongst Muslims in India could push some of them in the direction of extremism, yet, I don’t see ISIS gaining much support.
On the Kashmir issue, I argued that nothing substantial will emerge out of the ongoing UN general assembly debates and discussions, and both India and Pakistan were merely using the UN platform to speak to, and energize their respective domestic political base or carder.
I welcomed the US secretary of state, John Kerry’s effort to involve Iran in US’s effort to counter unrest and refuge crisis in Syria. I argued that a broader coalition involving not only Saudi Arabia, but also Iran could facilitate peace in that region.
On ISIS, I argue that regions that have historically, since the time of Cold War, been influenced by the Wahabi/Salafi brand of political Islam, are more scriptable to the ISIS/Daish influences. Since Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan saw a huge influx of Saudi money into Wahabi endeavors during the Cold War, they remain susceptible to the Al Qaeda, Taliban, and now ISIS/daish, posing a real threat. Despite some differences between these three groups, the kinds of following they attract are somewhat similar. On the other hand, India’s Islam is influenced more by Sufi ideas; hence I cannot see the ISIS attracting any real support in that country. But Muslims in India have been particularly threatened by the rise of political Hinduism (Hindutva) and the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, symbolizes and represents the relegation of Muslims in India as marginalized second class citizens – a sense of hopelessness amongst Muslims in India could push some of them in the direction of extremism, yet, I don’t see ISIS gaining much support.
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GEOG 5160, foundations of geographical thought, is a seminar offered by the Department of Geography at the University of North Texas. Foundations of geographical thought address the history, and ontological and epistemological aspects of... more
GEOG 5160, foundations of geographical thought, is a seminar offered by the Department of Geography at the University of North Texas. Foundations of geographical thought address the history, and ontological and epistemological aspects of explanation in geography. We examine explanation from the standpoint of various philosophies of science, reviewing dominant explanatory forms, as well as alternatives, such as those from the positions of positivism, phenomenology, structuralism, realism, Marxism, poststructuralism, postmodernism and feminism. We also try to improve basic graduate skills of writing, editing, oral presentation, and argument.
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Development means progress, advancement, and a better life for everyone. In this highly uneven world, where inter-regional, inter-class, inter-group, and inter-gender differences in development are expanding, this course will critically... more
Development means progress, advancement, and a better life for everyone. In this highly uneven world, where inter-regional, inter-class, inter-group, and inter-gender differences in development are expanding, this course will critically examine what constitutes progress, advancement, or betterment, and conceptually explore whether and how equality can become a goal for all societies. This course will debate global policy regimes produced by organizations like Word Bank, IMF, and WTO to understand how the geography of global development, and in turn development in the Global South, is shaped.
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This is an introductory course in Economic Geography. This course examines how factors of production like land, labor and capital; economic activities like consumption, trade, production, investments; and institutions like state, markets... more
This is an introductory course in Economic Geography. This course examines how factors of production like land, labor and capital; economic activities like consumption, trade, production, investments; and institutions like state, markets and corporations alter economic space. With globalization, these processes acquire greater intensity producing cultural impacts like “MacDonaldization,” environmental impacts like waste dumping, and political impacts like weakening of the nation-state. Economic geography makes sense of these changes by understanding how economic processes work, how they change spaces, and how they differentially impact the global North and the South.
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GEOG 1200: Global Societies, is an introductory human geography course offered by the Department of Geography, University of North Texas at Denton. It focuses on geographical characteristics, major problems and role of major world regions... more
GEOG 1200: Global Societies, is an introductory human geography course offered by the Department of Geography, University of North Texas at Denton. It focuses on geographical characteristics, major problems and role of major world regions in producing a global society. This course satisfies the cross-cultural, diversity and Global Studies requirements of the University Core Curriculum. Students will be introduced to a wide selection of themes, but particular emphasis will be placed on regionally specific economic, political, social, environmental and cultural processes that combine to make our world. We incorporate theoretical, historical and critical approaches in examining world regions.
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GEOG 4420: Critical Resource Geography: Population, Nature, Food and Energy is a course offered by the Department of Geography, University of North Texas at Denton. The purpose of this course is to provide students of geography a roadmap... more
GEOG 4420: Critical Resource Geography: Population, Nature, Food and Energy is a course offered by the Department of Geography, University of North Texas at Denton. The purpose of this course is to provide students of geography a roadmap through the important literature on theories and empirical research on nature, natural resource, resource development, resource allocation and geopolitics. This course is geared to unravel the political economy of resources, particularly human resource/population, energy, and agro-food, and in turn, understand the material basis of conflicts. We focus on resource development for the global “market” and for relatively large-scale use systems (not subsistence systems). The production of and competition for the control of key natural resources, by corporations, societies, and states, are critical processes in constructing the global economy. These processes materially transform the conditions of societies, as well as contribute to the shaping of those societies, politically and economically. Since most resources are place specific, we examine how globalization of consumption of resources has produced contestations, including wars. We will also examine how we are implicated in the production of resource wars on account of our life-style and consumption.