Oral Democracy and Women’s Oratory Competency in Indian Village Assemblies : A Qualitative Analysis

Sanyal, Paromita ; Rao, Vijayendra ; Prabhakar, Umang

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: SKILLS;    PUBLIC OFFICIALS;    EMPOWERMENT;    FINANCIAL SERVICES;    VILLAGES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7416
RP-ID  :  WPS7416

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In democracies, innovative politicalinstitutions have opened up scope for direct publicparticipation often in the form of talk: citizens talking tothe state and mutual talk among citizens on mattersconcerning community development. A prominent example is theIndian gram sabha, or village assembly, which occurs in ahighly stratified context. This paper undertakes atalk-centered analysis of the gram sabha with a focus onexamining the oral participation of women in general andwomen affiliated with microcredit self-help groups who haveaccess to an associational life. The qualitative analysis of255 gram sabha transcripts from four South Indian statesfinds that women associated with microcredit self-helpgroups employ a wider variety of narrative styles andutilize a more multilayered structure to convey theirmessages compared with all women taken together. Thus, thedifference is not so much in the numerical instances oftalking or in the types of issues raised, but rather in thequality of participation. The paper makes an importanttheoretical contribution by proposing the concept of oraldemocracy as an alternative to deliberative democracy, andurges an analytical focus on the oral or oratory competencyof subordinated groups as they participate in theseimportant institutions.