Join us for a discussion about this new book by L.N. Venkataraman, including a Q&A with Dr Rosie Peppin Vaughan. There will also be a chance for the audience to ask questions.
Is an equitable distribution of opportunities possible within a stratified social system in which caste-based socio-economic privileges are inherited and social mobility constrained? The Social Construction of Capabilities in a Tamil Village answers this question by analysing the intersections between caste, class and education, and argues that capabilities—that is, the competence or life skills one acquires through education—are socially constructed and not an inherent trait of the individual.
L. N. Venkataraman is a Faculty at the Department of Policy Studies in TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI SAS). Before joining TERI SAS, he worked as an Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Education in Universität Bielefeld, Germany; and, at the Centre for Development Support in the University of the Free State, South Africa. His academic works can be consulted in the Economic and Political Weekly, Development in Practice, and Indian Journal of Human Development among others.
Dr Rosie Peppin Vaughan conducts interdisciplinary research around the topics of gender, education, and global governance. Her most recent work has been on the post-2015 development agenda, and transnational advocacy on girls’ and women’s education. Her theoretical work includes using the capability approach and the concept of human development to think about gender, educational equality and social justice.