A Case Study of Delhi

This paper makes three propositions on special economic zones as a site for production of new laboring subjects and the simultaneous spatial, social and cognitive reorganization that takes place. It is a contested phenomenon where both the state and the subject reconstitute and redefine themselves. While the state and the corporations want to have an ‘ideal’ laboring subject forged on the basis of their agenda, the subject is not an unquestioning agent. The state constantly strives to perfect its expertise on governing the new subject while the subject tries to preserve its autonomy and challenge the boundaries of the physical zone. In this piece, I build on the arguments made by Timothy Mitchell in Rule of Experts, where he analyzes how experts continue to reproduce the colonial discourse. I take the position that the laboring subject also accumulates knowledge and expertise by challenging the discourse of the experts.