This book explores the relationship between culture and democracy which is being challenging day by day due to constant resettling of societies. This discourse is evolved in this book through the three lectures of eminent academicians of worlds- 'Constitutional Morality and the Imagination of Justice' by Kalpana Kannabiran, 'Idea of the Hindi Heartland' by Shaibal Gupta and 'Cultures in Contact : Acculturation and Change' by John W. Berry. These lectures delivered under Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Lectures organized by Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, create a story of culturally plural societies. G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, a constituent institute of Central University Allahabad, is a premiere research and development institute in India. The Institute is unique in its concerns with both theoretical and applied research in social and management sciences, particularly in the fields of socio- economic development, popular culture, public policies and social technologies of modernity. As part of its diversification and specialization of functions, the Institute undertakes studies and research on various aspects of socio-economic change and development of Indian states. These themes and socio-academic concerns of the institute also reflects on the topic of the G.B. Pant memorial lectures selected by scholars every years. G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Prayag Raj has a plan to publish these lectures in a series of volumes evolved around various themes. Vani Book Company will bring out this series of publication in collaboration with GBPSSI. The volume named Mapping Social Gaze : A Discourse on Culture and Democracyis first in the series.
Badri Narayan is a social historian and cultural anthropologist and currently Director at the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj. His wide ranging interests cover culture, memory and politics, contemporary histories, ethno-graphy of marginalized politics, social and anthropological history, dalit and subaltern issues and identity formation, language and the question of power. He was a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Fellowship (September 2005-April 2006) and the Smuts Fellowship, University of Cambridge (February 2007— October 2007). He has been a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1998-99), Visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Asian Studies, University of Leiden, The Netherlands (2002) and HGIS Fellow at the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam (2001). He has also been Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Visiting Professor in The South Asian Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. Besides having written a number of articles both in English and Hindi, he has authored Kanshiram: Leader of the Dalits, 2014, The Making of the Dalit Public in North India: Uttar Pradesh 1950-present, 2011, Fascinating Hindutva – Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisation, 2009, Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India, 2006, Documenting Dissent, 2001. He has recently edited a volume on languages of Uttar Pradesh- Uttar Pradesh kiBhashayien, 2016 by People''s Linguistic Survey of India. Due to his academic and literary contribution he has been the recipient of many prestigious literary awards. Dr. K.N. Bhatt is an economist by profession with several years of research experience in development, environment, educational planning and management studies. A Ph.D. from the University of Allahabad, has been working with the Institute since 1984. He has completed a number of research projects relating to education, development and environment decentralization and disaster management. He has authored several research papers, written project reports and published four books. K. N. Bhatt is a professional researcher in social sciences. He is an environmental economist and has worked on several developmental issues. He has authored, edited and co-edited several books including System of Rice Intensification 2017, Child Labor in India: Empirical Evidence from Glass and Bidi Industries 2015, Agrarian Change and Small Farmers: Super Markets, Viability and Food Policy 2014, Consumers, Consumerism and Consumer Protection: Indian Context 2010, Disaster Risk Management Programme in Uttar Pradesh: Learning from Some Case Studies 2009, Population, Environment and Health: Emerging Concerns 2008, Social Development 2002, Uttarakhand: Ecology, Economy and Society 1997 and has published about four dozen papers in various journals and edited volumes. Dr. K.N. Bhatt is a Professor of Economics at G. B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad Central University, Allahabad.
