TÄ qat, Shakti or Empowerment(s)? Describing the Experience of Power: A Decade of Observations in one Informal Settlement of Patna, India

Hugo Ribadeau Dumas

Journal of South Asian Development, 2023, vol. 18, issue 2, 221-243

Abstract: What concepts are best suitable to describe the individual and collective experience of power? Leveraging primary empirical data collected over a decade, the study dwells on the idea of empowerment and puts it in perspective with competing vernacular terms such as tÄ qat or shakti [‘power’ in Urdu and Hindi]. The study relies on a case study of one woman, a resident of an informal settlement in Patna, India, who experienced a stellar political rise and an equally spectacular fall. The analysis illuminates the multidimensional character of power—one may enjoy a strong exercise of power at one scale and relative powerlessness at another. The ensuing reflection reveals that the concept of empowerment fails to capture the multi-sidedness of power. In contrast, alternative vernacular terms provide an avenue to grasp the contextuality of power. Yet they feature a limitation common with the idea of empowerment(s)—they are conceptually fluid and therefore subject to normative reinterpretations.

Keywords: Empowerment; informal settlements; gender; language; NGOs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:soudev:v:18:y:2023:i:2:p:221-243

DOI: 10.1177/09731741231151292

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