Situating Knowledge Amidst Change: Political Analysis, Indian Politics, and the Rudolph Legacy

At a time when big data and sophisticated statistical models of causal inference dominate the social sciences, this project draws on the theories of Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph to explore the contributions and limits of "situated knowledge" in political analysis. The situated knowledge approach is based on the premise that local knowledge--understandings embedded in time, place, and circumstance--has an important role to play in the study of politics in developing societies such as India and in social science analysis more generally. On February 3, 2018, we will convene a conference that will gather an international group of scholars to present essays on these issues.