Unpacking epistemic diversities in grassroots social innovation and enterprises in India: a critical agenda for re-centering people

Grassroots innovations reflect a people centric approach in social innovation which not only helps in integrating the epistemic diversities located in the context and intersectionalities of people's lived experiences but also has the potential for epistemic inclusion. This chapter aims at an analytic unpacking of grassroots social innovation with various concepts, perspectives and empirical evidences that aims to challenge the dominant notions of both social innovation and grassroots social innovation. The chapter concludes by charting a critical agenda for future research and practice in Social Innovation by highlighting alternatives that centre-stage people's participation within grassroots contexts and social innovations. The focus thus shifts from macro and instrumental perspectives of change to micro and transformative perspectives that re-centers people, their diversities, agency and knowledges that emerge from the everyday realities of their intersectional lifeworld.