How to make a difference - election campaigning and the politics of identity in India
Elections in India’s northeastern state Meghalaya are increasingly characterized through the regionalization and ethnicization of politics. In this context, national parties like the Indian National Congress (INC) have to navigate between the invocation of equality and unity on the national level and the affirmation of difference and distinctiveness on the regional level. This dilemma the INC faces in Meghalaya during elections not only reflects the diversification of the Indian party system but also the “contemporary global passion for difference” (Becker 2010: 77), confronting politicians in democracies worldwide with the question of how to make a difference between affirming equality and administering difference. This PhD project will analyze the strategies implemented by campaign actors navigating between the different and, partially contradictory requirements of national and local politics during Lok Sabha elections 2014 with special reference to Meghalaya.
Embedding electioneering in the larger academic debate about politics of difference, the research approaches election campaigns as social practice in which campaigners act as brokers between the aspirations of politicians and voters. The project expands common discussions of political communication through introducing anthropological approaches and qualitative methods suited to grasp the complex micro-macro interrelations of campaign strategies. Adding election communication to the field of anthropological research the PhD project enables insights on how political actors deal with the fundamental dilemma of Indian politics and – in a larger perspective – with the paradox politics of difference and equality.