Paradoxes of the Popular: Crowd Politics in Bangladesh

Abstract

In this talk, Nusrat S. Chowdhury discusses her new book, Paradoxes of the Popular: Crowd Politics in Bangladesh, in which she makes a compelling case for the crowd as a defining feature and a foundational force of democratic practices in South Asia. She ultimately argues that crowds are a true political pharmakon in the sense that they are both solutions and scapegoats in performances of popular politics. 

Presenter

Nusrat S. Chowdhury is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Amherst College, USA. She writes on popular sovereignty and political communication, mostly in relation to Bangladesh.