Ethnography ( IF 1.322 ) Pub Date : 2020-07-16 , DOI: 10.1177/1466138120940755 Thomas Chambers 1
Through an ethnographic focus on Muslim neighbourhoods in a North Indian city, this article traces the effects of increasing digitisation of Public Distribution Systems (PDS) and ID provision in India by examining the implications for relations between the state, low-level political actors and local populaces. The article explores the practice of sifarish (leaning on someone to get something done) which, it is argued, cannot be seen within simplistic rubrics of ‘corruption’ but instead comprises a socially embedded ethical continuum. With one of the stated aims of digitisation being the displacing of informal mediation, the ethnographic material illuminates the efforts of low-level political actors to navigate emerging digital infrastructures. Digitisation, however, does not end mediation and carries with it ideological, political and economic interests. This, the article argues, enables state/people spaces of mediation to be commodified and marketized and further cements processes of marginalisation experienced by India’s Muslim minority.
中文翻译:
“靠我”:印度政府的官僚作风,调解和数字化
通过对北印度城市中穆斯林社区的人种学研究,本文通过研究对国家,低层政治角色和当地人之间关系的影响,追溯了印度公共分配系统(PDS)和身份证提供日益增加的影响人口。本文探讨了盗版的做法(依靠某人完成某事),有人认为,这在“腐败”的简单化定义中是看不到的,而是由一个社会嵌入的伦理学连续体构成的。由于数字化的既定目标之一是非正式调解的取代,人种志材料阐明了低层政治参与者为驾驭新兴数字基础设施所做的努力。但是,数字化并没有结束调解,而是伴随着意识形态,政治和经济利益。文章认为,这使国家/人民的调解空间得以商品化和市场化,并进一步巩固了印度穆斯林少数民族所经历的边缘化进程。