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Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 2012] Akhil Gupta
About the Book: Red Tape: Bureaucracy, Structural Violence, and Poverty in India Red Tape presents a major new theory of the state developed bythe renowned anthropologist Akhil Gupta. Seeking to understand thechronic and widespread poverty in India, the world's fourth largesteconomy, Gupta conceives of the relation between the state in Indiaand the poor as one of structural violence. Every year thisviolence kills between two and three million people, especiallywomen and girls, and lower-caste and indigenous peoples. YetIndia's poor are not disenfranchised; they actively participate inthe democratic project. Nor is the state indifferent to the plightof the poor; it sponsors many poverty amelioration programs. Gupta conducted ethnographic research among officials chargedwith coordinating development programs in rural Uttar Pradesh.Drawing on that research, he offers insightful analyses ofcorruption; the significance of writing and written records; andgovernmentality, or the expansion of bureaucracies. Those analysesunderlie his argument that care is arbitrary in its consequences,and that arbitrariness is systematically produced by the verymechanisms that are meant to ameliorate social suffering. What mustbe explained is not only why government programs aimed at providingnutrition, employment, housing, healthcare, and education to poorpeople do not succeed in their objectives, but also why, when theydo succeed, they do so unevenly and erratically. This book will be of interest to students and practitioners insociology, anthropology, politics, geography, economics,development studies, and literature. Its insights into bureaucracyand development will provide essential inputs to policy makers,administrators, and people who work in the non-governmentalsector. Contents Acknowledgments Part One. Introduction 1. Poverty as Biopolitics 2. The State and the Politics of Poverty Part Two. Corruption 3. Corruption, Politics, and the Imagined State 4. Narratives of Corruption Par
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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277 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 24, 2013
In Gupta’s ethnography, the state works to actively define poverty using its own statistical methods, contributing to the poor’s isolation and normalizing their lower-caste status, high infant morality rate, and the malnourishment of an entire social class of people in post-colonial India. By breaking down the problems of the state into corruption, inscription, and governmentality, Gupta can provide an original account and analyses of the bureaucratic structure in India. However, at times, the system appears too complex to effectively evaluate in a broad ethnography and one wonders how this in-depth analyses ultimately matters to the poor. That said, Gupta provides the reader with a series of effective episodic examples that are generally helpful in keeping all of his ideas cohesive. In Red Tape, Gupta evaluates the mechanisms for the enactment of structural violence that are intimately bound to the normalization of poverty by the state in India.
February 3, 2020
An eye opening, ethnographic deep dive into why our conceptualizations of the state may be the very thing holding our scholarship back. I definitely know I will be drawing upon this work for my thesis, but I also have a few points of contention with his theoretical framework. Mostly, his methodology is outstanding –something that is taken for granted now, but almost cost him his tenureship. (Ah, the open mindedness that is academia). However, his largest issue lies in the grainy expanse between his understanding of indifference and what, in my eyes, is simply watered down intention. These are the methodological k/nots I’ll try to untie in my research, but for now, it’s just good to acknowledge they exist!
November 6, 2014
Only read the intro and skimmed the rest. An awesome read! structural violence as a modern form of governmentality, systemic arbitrariness as the mechanism of structural violence; writing as another integral part of governmental violence; enthnographic studies add strength to the argument--how the subaltern experience the structural violence is the focus and kudos to Gupta!
weakness: didn't talk too much about the language problem, how to manage writing and communicating through media when your official languages are > 300?
weakness: didn't talk too much about the language problem, how to manage writing and communicating through media when your official languages are > 300?
December 27, 2022
I picked up thee book thinking it to be an ethnography of the infamous Indian Licence Raj or Red Tapism, something like little anecdotes that very often are found in works and talks of pro reform people. However the book is an attempt to study why Indian state "allows" people to be poor (or in the Foucaultian poststructuralist framework used here imposes structural violence and kills the poor) using tools of Biopolitics and some concepts from Subaltern studies. Actual narrative from the field work are present but too far and between.
Despite accusing the Bureaucracy of doing the same, the authors feels largely disconnected from India using terms like Freedom of Information, Federal Government, USD etc when local alternatives exists. Whether this is effect of prolonged stays at Stanford or writing primarily for a Western audience, I don't know. The author dislikes reforms of post 1991 era for, among other reasons, their "slow" rate of growth and them being "neoliberal orthodoxy." No alternative are mentioned however. The author also puts blackening of non Marathi langauge sign boards by Shiv Sena up their with Cross border terrorism and Naxalite as an existential threat to the nation.
Despite accusing the Bureaucracy of doing the same, the authors feels largely disconnected from India using terms like Freedom of Information, Federal Government, USD etc when local alternatives exists. Whether this is effect of prolonged stays at Stanford or writing primarily for a Western audience, I don't know. The author dislikes reforms of post 1991 era for, among other reasons, their "slow" rate of growth and them being "neoliberal orthodoxy." No alternative are mentioned however. The author also puts blackening of non Marathi langauge sign boards by Shiv Sena up their with Cross border terrorism and Naxalite as an existential threat to the nation.
April 22, 2015
"Red Tape" is a powerful ethnographic exploration into the baffling coexistence of a welfare state and abject poverty in the state of India. Through examination of three major themes, Corruption, Governmentality and Inscription, Gupta helps us understand how structural violence operates through the bureaucratic procedures of to perpetuate extreme poverty and inequality.
As a student of policy deeply interested in the practicalities of State and society, I have found most anthropological works dense and inaccessible, a pity since they have many important lessons to convey us. Akhil Gupta has succeeded in transcending the divide between esoteric anthropology and highly engaging narrative. It is a book that will engage the policy maker, citizens and the academics alike.
As a student of policy deeply interested in the practicalities of State and society, I have found most anthropological works dense and inaccessible, a pity since they have many important lessons to convey us. Akhil Gupta has succeeded in transcending the divide between esoteric anthropology and highly engaging narrative. It is a book that will engage the policy maker, citizens and the academics alike.
October 20, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. Methodologically is where it shined. Gupta's use of his own ethnographic work and triangulating it with novels and popular ethnographies was insightful and shows some of the strengths of anthropology as a discipline.
His 'intervention', I understand I'm speaking 8-years after its publishing, has become standard of the field: i.e. disaggregating the state; and calling into question its coherence. Not much to comment there; besides there needs to be a both/and approach. I think a turn to Philip Abrams, Radcliffe-Brown and Bourdieu are helpful in this regard. Gupta's rebuttal to Agamben is a good one; rather than the figure of homo sacer emerging out of the state of exception; this is the norm for how bureaucratic states function. The paradox he's trying to solve: why do states whose goals are development—and in some ways depend on the success of achieving development— fail to end chronic poverty which kills millions," ignores two key factors that are related: 'surplus labor' and 'urbanization without industrialization'. Or as Mike Davis describes "outcast proletariat." That is, in the development of India, there are structural limitations placed on the state that's a function of an uneven and integrated world-system. This is the limits of Gupta's fidelity to post-structuralism, tbh. Anyways, these are some immediate thoughts. He does touch on my critique in the epilogue, which makes me think this was brought up in reviews but who knows. A good book and worth to be read for theorists of the state; its limitations noted.
Despite his use of post-structuralist jargon (I counted discourse showing up on 75 out of 290 pages) lol; his writing was clear and crisp with each paragraph containing one thought unit. A true joy to read actually. Had his writing-style been more of a slog it would've been a 3-star.
His 'intervention', I understand I'm speaking 8-years after its publishing, has become standard of the field: i.e. disaggregating the state; and calling into question its coherence. Not much to comment there; besides there needs to be a both/and approach. I think a turn to Philip Abrams, Radcliffe-Brown and Bourdieu are helpful in this regard. Gupta's rebuttal to Agamben is a good one; rather than the figure of homo sacer emerging out of the state of exception; this is the norm for how bureaucratic states function. The paradox he's trying to solve: why do states whose goals are development—and in some ways depend on the success of achieving development— fail to end chronic poverty which kills millions," ignores two key factors that are related: 'surplus labor' and 'urbanization without industrialization'. Or as Mike Davis describes "outcast proletariat." That is, in the development of India, there are structural limitations placed on the state that's a function of an uneven and integrated world-system. This is the limits of Gupta's fidelity to post-structuralism, tbh. Anyways, these are some immediate thoughts. He does touch on my critique in the epilogue, which makes me think this was brought up in reviews but who knows. A good book and worth to be read for theorists of the state; its limitations noted.
Despite his use of post-structuralist jargon (I counted discourse showing up on 75 out of 290 pages) lol; his writing was clear and crisp with each paragraph containing one thought unit. A true joy to read actually. Had his writing-style been more of a slog it would've been a 3-star.
May 13, 2017
This treaty on corruption in India is an anthropological study, a great seminal work, singular of its kind with no alternative. An undeniable treasure for those working on the subject.
June 13, 2021
It is not a story about "why" but "how." Great explanation on why the modern bureaucracy cannot fully actualize well-intended welfare projects.
February 17, 2025
give me strength to write this essay
January 14, 2016
Hugely important read for anthropologists of the state, or those working on bureaucracy and social assistance in the context neoliberalism(s). Gupta interrogates the linkages between regimes of care, structural violence, and the production of arbitrariness through bureaucratic processes. He questions why the deaths of the poor in India are not considered a crisis or scandal, linking Agamben's "homo sacer" with the exposure of the marginalized to death.
"Importantly, such violence was enacted at the very scene of care. In stressing the intimate connections between violence and caring and in rejecting narratives of the indifference or inattentiveness of that state, I am trying to articulate the ethics and politics of care that is arbitrary in its consequences. I am arguing that such arbitrariness is not itself arbitrary; rather, it is systematically produced by the very mechanisms that are meant to ameliorate social suffering."
"Importantly, such violence was enacted at the very scene of care. In stressing the intimate connections between violence and caring and in rejecting narratives of the indifference or inattentiveness of that state, I am trying to articulate the ethics and politics of care that is arbitrary in its consequences. I am arguing that such arbitrariness is not itself arbitrary; rather, it is systematically produced by the very mechanisms that are meant to ameliorate social suffering."
February 14, 2016
Really interesting section contesting the automatic links between literacy/"empowerment"
Discussion of indigenous resistance in conclusion
Disaggregating the "state" to see multiple levels at which the state operates...good reminder for those who use "the state did x" easily
Biopolitics in Indian context, continuities in biopolitics before/after liberalization, also good summary of "bare life" and who is killed/allowed to die
Loved but wish had been a little shorter---some parts felt repetitive, but maybe b/c designed for academic skimming and not close reading front-back
Discussion of indigenous resistance in conclusion
Disaggregating the "state" to see multiple levels at which the state operates...good reminder for those who use "the state did x" easily
Biopolitics in Indian context, continuities in biopolitics before/after liberalization, also good summary of "bare life" and who is killed/allowed to die
Loved but wish had been a little shorter---some parts felt repetitive, but maybe b/c designed for academic skimming and not close reading front-back
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March 15, 2014Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews