George Carothers B.Es. (Hons), MSc

PhD Student, Gonville and Caius College

George's research investigates the role of 'state competition' and 'state boosterism' in re-imagining the function of local democracy and development within South India.

Biography

Qualifications

PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2010 – present)
MSc International Planning, University College London, United Kingdom (2009)
BEs (Hons) Urban Planning, Minor in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada (2007)

Career

Planner, Urbanist in Residence developing and directing urban research and community planning projects at URBZ, Mumbai, India. (Feb. 2010 – Aug. 2010)
Research Assistant investigating planning processes and civic engagement in Toronto, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. (Sept. 2007 – Aug. 2008)

Awards and scholarships

Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship (2010 – 2013)
William Vaughn Lewis Fund Award, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2011)
Mary Euphrasia Mosley, Sir Bartle Frere & Worts Travel Award (2011)
Gonville and Caius College Travel Award (2010, 2011)
University College London Research Images as Art Award, 1^st Prize (2009)

Research

My current research investigates the role of different groups in mediating processes of development through Kerala's decentralized political apparatus. It seeks to critique, contest and re-imagine the state's Leftist locale amidst a changing landscape of competition between Indian states. In theorizing discursive transitions of intranational state posture, I draw upon the notion of boosterism in competitive cities literatures to parallel and mould a similar concept entrenched between competitive states in India. Framing itself around Kerala's decentralized system of local democracy, this research explores the emerging role of 'state boosterism' in leading the hand of development. It intends to observe how this emerging phenomenon of boosterism manifests itself within Kerala's unique structures of governance and planning, through investigations of the class-configuration, motivation and positionality of different groups involved in mediating the development process. The notion of boosterism as a driver of development has implications for Kerala's model of decentralization, and by extension local democracy: intranational-oriented boosterisms escape the directive domains of 'local' political and social institutions, thereby contesting respected notions of Kerala's model of local democracy and development. This research structures an appraisal of Kerala's political landscape around broader notions of India's liberalization and intranational competition for investment. It therefore seeks to re-imagine Kerala's development method, appreciating the role of India's aggressive economic posture in reshaping state-level social, political and economic identities.

External activities

Department of Geography Urban Reading Group (Founder)
Contemporary South Asian Studies Reading Group (Member)
Royal Town Planning Institute (Student Member)
Regular Contributor to The Polis Blog