The Biopolitics of Development: Life, Welfare, and Unruly

Populations
By
Calcutta Research Group, University of Lapland, and The Finnish Academy

Dates: 9-10 September 2010

Venue: Sabhaghar I, Swabhumi, Kolkata

9 September (Thursday)

3.00 – 3.30 pm Registration and Tea

3.30 – 4.00 pm Reporting on two Research Programmes and introduction to the

Symposium by Julian Reid, University of Lapland and Ranabir
Samaddar, Calcutta Research Group (CRG)
Chair: Samir Kumar Das, CRG and University of Calcutta

4.00 – 5.30 pm Session I: "Development as Freedom" and "Development as

Security" – The Common Language of Development – I

Perpetual War of Biopolitics by Manas Ray, Centre for Studies in Social

Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC)
Respondent: Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna

Biopolitics of Global Public Health by Lorna Weir, York University

Respondent: Anirban Das, CSSSC

Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Rights, Utility and Adaptive Capacity in

Peacebuilding by Suvi Alt, University of Lapland
Respondent: Paula Banerjee, CRG and University of Calcutta
Chair: Pradip Kumar Bose, CRG

5.30 – 6.00 pm Tea break

6.00 – 7.30 pm Roundtable Discussion on “Foucault’s Texts on the Problematic

of Biopolitics”

Participants:
Julian Reid
Sandro Mezzadra
Ranabir Samaddar
Manas Ray
Moderator – Kaushik Ghosh, University of Texas at Austin

10 September (Friday)

10.00 – 11.00 am Session II: Bio-political Governance

Deleuze and the Preemptive Logistics of Fascism by Geoffrey Whitehall,

Acadia University
Respondent: Bodhisattva Kar, CSSSC

Tentative Schedule; subject to change.

 The Halle Orphanage, Polizeiwissenschaft, Religion, Imperialism and
Development by Michael Dillon, Lancaster University
Respondent: Hari Sankar Vasudevan, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS)
Chair: Ranabir Samaddar

11.00 – 11.30 am Tea break

11.30 am – 12.30 pm Session III: "Development as Freedom" and "Development as

Security" – The Common Language of Development – II

Labour Migration – A Sign of Freedom or Insecurity? by Sandro

Mezzadra
Respondent: Arup K. Sen, Serampore College

Biological Citizens: Risk and Radiation in South West India by Itty

Abraham, University of Texas at Austin
Respondent: Jayanta Bandopadhyay, Indian Institute of Management
(IIM) Calcutta
Chair: Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, CRG and Rabindra Bharati
University

12.30 – 1.30 pm Lunch Break

1.30 – 2.30 pm Session IV: New Governmental Technologies in Orienting

Lives

The Unique Identification Project by Sahana Basavapatna, Lawyer

Respondent: Dipankar Sinha, University of Calcutta

Technologies of Standardisation by Vivek Kanwar, Jindal Global Law

School
Respondent: Ruchira Goswami, The WB National University of Juridical
Sciences (NUJS)
Chair: Suhit K. Sen, CSSSC

2.30 – 4.00 pm Session V: Roundtable Discussion on “Biopolitics and

Marginalisation in the Context of Urban Lives”

Participants:
Manish K. Jha, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
P.K. Shajahan, TISS
Mouleshri Vyas, TISS
Moderator - Byasdeb Dasgupta, University of Kalyani

4.00 – 4.30 pm Tea break

4.30 – 5.30 pm Session VI: Unruly Populations and the Problematic of

Resilience

Government, Law, and Kinship by Ranabir Samaddar

Respondent: Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya, CSSSC

Biopoliticized and Politically Degraded Subject of Resilience by Julian

Reid

Tentative Schedule; subject to change.

 Respondent: Itty Abraham
Chair: Manabi Majumdar, CSSSC

*Participants are requested to register prior to the event. We request to register by 30 August 2010.
For any clarifications please get in touch with sutirtha@mcrg.ac.in/ ishita@mcrg.ac.in.

Tentative Schedule; subject to change.