Modelling Development: Kerala on the Global Stage by Ritty Lukose

Описание: In political debates about development and the economy in India, choices available to voters have been cast as a choice between the "Gujarat versus Kerala" models. This discourse partakes of a long-standing construction of Kerala's development trajectory, often called "the Kerala Model", as one pole in "growth versus redistribution" policy arguments both within India and internationally. In more recent times, the idea of the “Kerala Model” has been revived given the state’s management of the pandemic. This model came into being in the mid-1970s, linking the region to the international development apparatus, just as the transformations we currently associate with "neoliberalism" were taking shape. What was this "model" an alternative to in the mid-1970s? What is it an alternative to now? This paper addresses these questions as part of a larger exploration of how trajectories linking gender and development have shifted from the 1970s to the present moment.

Bio: With a background in anthropology, Ritty Lukose’s current work explores the rise of the gender and development paradigm within the international system starting in the 1970s, exploring how it came to prominence in the fluid trajectories of decolonization and the rise of neoliberalism. Her book, Liberalization's Children: Gender, Youth and Consumer Citizenship in Globalizing India, was published by Duke University Press in 2009 and co-published in India by Orient Blackswan in 2010. A co-edited book, South Asian Feminisms was published by Duke University Press (2012) and Zubaan.