The Right to be Counted: The Urban Poor and the Politics of Resettlement in Delhi by Sanjeev Routray and published by Stanford University Press, is reviewed for JCA by Naomi Hazarika of the Department of Geography, University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
The reviewer argues that Routray’s discussion of “numerical citizenship” as a “form of performative politics grounded in vernacular cultural idioms and quotidian practices of residents of informal settlements to demand recognition, legibility, and entitlements” is a welcome addition to an already “rich scholarship on citizenship and politics in Delhi.”
The reviewer highly recommends this book:
The Right to be Counted is an ethnographic masterpiece on how politics “actually” works in Delhi’s informal settlements. Sanjeev Routray’s analysis and arguments skilfully cover the multi-scalar and relational practices, agents, and sites that shape and realise citizenship for residents of these settlements.
She commends the author for his innovative approach.
JCA 