Paper short abstract:

This paper narrates the life of voluntarism of the citizens of a small town Howrah, in eastern India, where engagement with politics is co-terminous with participation in the arts, philanthropy and various community activities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper concerns the ethico-political culture of citizens of a small town Howrah, in eastern India. These citizens enact politically meaningful stances, purporting them to be on a wider historical stage. Engagement with politics, here, takes place alongside one's participation in the arts, philanthropy, community activities and so on. Expressions of expectation of the new harbingers of opportunity, find ways into the rhetoric of public-mindedness, collective effort and reflection, voluntarism and protest - a vocabulary that the postcolonial socialist machine has taught its subjects to speak. Protagonists of this life of voluntarism certainly do not see themselves as the small voice of history. They assert their distance from the narrative of the rebellious peasant or tribal subject fighting the oppressors of feudalism and colonial capitalism. They seek to reconcile their daily community activities with religion, ethics, good governance and civic-mindedness. A higher humanism that rises above 'petty politics', is enacted through blood donation camps, little magazines, sports tournaments, artistic initiatives, charity activities, morning marches. Through these activities, a certain 'pristine' humanism is nurtured and practiced. It is pitted in a battle against the domains of politics and market - those which supposedly house self-interest-driven negotiation of the world. It is this ethical divide that forms the focus of the paper, as it narrates the life of voluntarism in a small town in eastern India. This paper draws from ethnographic insights gathered in the course of fieldwork in Howrah.