Generations of Constitutional Studies

A paper on the Indian Constitution and its working is de rigueur in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in political science across Indian universities. When the two of us exchanged notes comparing what we read on the Indian Constitution at similar points of time in our educational journey, we realized that studying the constitution has been a lively area of interest, and there has been an impressive increase in scholarly work over the years. In the last decade, it has been approached from a variety of disciplinary paths causing a veritable explosion almost as if constitutional studies are the most fashionable field of research. This massive accumulation has created a conundrum of mixed feelings. On the one hand, these studies from scholarly discussions in different spheres have substantially enriched our knowledge and understanding of the constitution and its working. On the other hand, the cumulation of knowledge can also be overwhelming for both students and teachers alike. What was basic or essential reading two decades ago is one of the many texts in the field. While we cannot discard or ignore the scholarship that comes earlier in chronological time, we cannot, at the same time, cover the literature in the field given the time constraints. Moreover, these studies also approach the field from various disciplinary angles underlining multiple pathways to a topic. How do we then get over this dilemma caused by an embarrassment of riches? We attempt to map a framework that could serve as a teaching-learning framework to make sense of the vast corpus of work. We divide the literature in the field into four generations.2 The term ‘generation’ here denotes a collective identity in terms of ideas, approaches, methods and a sequence. A generation Studies in Indian Politics 9(1) 124–131, 2021 © 2021 Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies Reprints and permissions: in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india DOI: 10.1177/2321023021999240 journals.sagepub.com/home/inp