Democracy from Below: Writing Women Back into Indian Politics

Most Indian women live increasingly precarious lives as they hustle for work and to sustain families in a changing India, and are rarely represented in official narratives. Drawing on her recent book, The Many Lives of Syeda X, and over a decade of reporting, award-winning writer Neha Dixit will discuss how marginalized Indian women navigate migration, neoliberal economic reforms, gendered surveillance and majoritarianism, and what it takes to tell their stories amidst shrinking media freedoms and democratic backsliding. She will also discuss how public interest journalism can bring hidden struggles back into the national conversation, document human rights violations, and revitalize democracy, with implications for India and other political contexts.