Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Recent research has suggested that voting may be a habit forming endeavor. These authors present compelling evidence that regardless of the legal barriers and the individual attributes a large number of citizens eventually move from being habitual nonvoters to habitual voters. In this paper I argue that though the habitual voting framework is a persuasive theory, it is incomplete because it ignores attitudinal and environmental factors that can influence an individual’s decision to cast a ballot regardless of one’s previous behavior. In fact, a significant number of individuals are better classified as sporadic voters. Sporadic voters differ from their habitual counterparts in that factors such as their attitudes toward the political parties, interest in the campaign, and contact by political parties will determine if they participate in any given election. Using NES panel data, I present evidence that sporadic voters differ systematically from habitual and nonvoters. I also demonstrate how changes in perceptions between presidential elections can influence when a sporadic voter will cast a ballot.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines electoral behavior of Seattle voters who supported a monorail costing $1.75 billion in November, 2002 with no state or federal support. This paper tests voter behavior using spatial analytic techniques

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper is drawn from an ethnographic dissertation, “Shadows of the State, Subalterns of the State: Alternating Legitimacies and Contested Authorities of the Police in Contemporary India.” It considers law enforcement personnel in Uttar Pradesh as shadows cast, i.e., an animate representation of the State that would seem to be thrown off by the light of the Law, and yet in fact reveals the contestable authority of State practitioners, and of the State itself as an idea. Police in India are often spoken of as being “shadows” of the legitimate authority of the government, who at times may “run amok” and self-aggrandizingly feel that they outsize the “real” powers, i.e., elected executive and legislative officials. This evinces a kind of insubstantiality of the police, which, I argue, is different from the “force of law” as residing in the “invisible everywhere” spectrality of police, as argued by Walter Benjamin (“Critique of Violence” 1978[1922]) and Jacques Derrida (“Force of Law,” 2002[1991]). The police are not the genuine stuff of the State that “make law” through their practice, but rather a visible automaton presence, the mere appearance, or refraction, of so-called real authority. This thesis will be illustrated, and in keeping with the LSA/CLSA/ACDS theme, “Les Territoires du Droit: Placing Law,” through a discussion of what is called “the transfer industry.” This is a local category in India that indexes the constant and hyper-politicized—though it is officially justified as “routine bureaucratic procedure”—shuffling of officers and personnel to different posts and locations, rendering these subjects placeless and replaceable.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines how gender, caste, class, ethnicity, and kinship operate and function inside the world of carpet factories in Nepal. The paper is based on the research "Women in Factory-based and Home-based Carpet Production in Nepal: Beyond the Formal and Informal Economy.” The paper looks at the ways gender, caste, class, ethnicity, and kinship networks influence the factory work culture, labor recruitment practices, and interpersonal relations among the workers. This paper illustrates how weavers' visual appearances, their engagement in certain practices, and their carrying of certain symbols reflect their demographic and cultural backgrounds.