Education, Elites and Public Sphere: Exploring Inequality and Change in Bikaner

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the contemporary dynamics of the educational field and its relation with the wider public sphere in Bikaner town of Rajasthan. Existing researches have focused on educational development mainly in rural areas and hence there is a lack of such research in urban contexts. This study looks at how this relationship between the education field and the public sphere is mediated by the status and role of elites in such urban locations. The initial growth of educational institutions in princely towns corresponds to the social and economic changes happening in the city. The institutionalization of public education in the post-independence period contest and complicate the relation between elites, public sphere, and education. This study, based on empirical research, shows that elites tended to control the public sphere in colonial Rajasthan and it is only with public education in the post-independence period that this sphere has acquired a democratic character. Besides, it would also examine the position of the field of education in the larger field of power of Bikaner town to map the changes in the elite structure as well. It concerns with position and role of traditional elites in the changing educational field and to what extent they can shape and control the dynamics of the contemporary public sphere in Bikaner’s context.