Everyday prefiguration: Youth social action in north India

Abstract

There has been a recent resurgence of what is often termed “prefigurative politics”: activity in which people channel political effort into demonstrating in the present the types of social relations and practices sought at a future point in time. This paper engages with literature on prefigurative politics through reference to everyday forms of political and social action in the north Indian village of Bemni, Uttarakhand. We show that young people who migrated between urban centres and Bemni village played important roles as mentors, political activists and social helpers. They served as exemplars, seeking to alter the behaviour and attitudes of those around them at the everyday level. We ma..