Dynamics of Caste and Law: Dalits, Oppression and Constitutional Democracy in India

Dynamics of Caste and Law: Dalits, Oppression and Constitutional Democracy in India PDF Author: Dag-Erik Berg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108489877
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
The book explains how questions of caste and law involve persistent challenges concerning inequality and democracy in India's postcolonial state.

Paper Tiger

Paper Tiger PDF Author: Nayanika Mathur
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107106974
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Book Description
Paper Tiger shifts the debate on state failure and opens up new understanding of the workings of the contemporary Indian state.

From Anthropology to Social Theory

From Anthropology to Social Theory PDF Author: Arpad Szakolczai
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108423809
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
A rethinking of contemporary social theory that provides a vision about the modern world through key ideas developed by 'maverick' anthropologists.

Caste Matters

Caste Matters PDF Author: Suraj Yengde
Publisher: India Viking
ISBN: 9780670091225
Category : Caste-based discrimination
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
In this explosive book, Suraj Yengde, a first-generation Dalit scholar educated across continents, challenges deep-seated beliefs about caste and unpacks its many layers. He describes his gut-wrenching experiences of growing up in a Dalit basti, the multiple humiliations suffered by Dalits on a daily basis, and their incredible resilience enabled by love and humour. As he brings to light the immovable glass ceiling that exists for Dalits even in politics, bureaucracy and judiciary, Yengde provides an unflinchingly honest account of divisions within the Dalit community itself-from their internal caste divisions to the conduct of elite Dalits and their tokenized forms of modern-day untouchability-all operating under the inescapable influences of Brahminical doctrines. This path-breaking book reveals how caste crushes human creativity and is disturbingly similar to other forms of oppression, such as race, class and gender. At once a reflection on inequality and a call to arms, Caste Matters argues that until Dalits lay claim to power and Brahmins join hands against Brahminism to effect real transformation, caste will continue to matter.

A History of Prejudice

A History of Prejudice PDF Author: Gyanendra Pandey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110731125X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Book Description
This is a book about prejudice and democracy, and the prejudice of democracy. In comparing the historical struggles of two geographically disparate populations - Indian Dalits (once known as Untouchables) and African Americans - Gyanendra Pandey, the leading subaltern historian, examines the multiple dimensions of prejudice in two of the world's leading democracies. The juxtaposition of two very different locations and histories, and within each of them of varying public and private narratives of struggle, allows for an uncommon analysis of the limits of citizenship in modern societies and states. Pandey, with his characteristic delicacy, probes the histories of his protagonists to uncover a shadowy world where intolerance and discrimination are part of both public and private lives. This unusual and sobering book is revelatory in its exploration of the contradictory history of promise and denial that is common to the official narratives of nations such as India and the United States and the ideologies of many opposition movements.

Indian Politics and Society since Independence

Indian Politics and Society since Independence PDF Author: Bidyut Chakrabarty
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134132689
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Book Description
Focusing on politics and society in India, this book explores new areas enmeshed in the complex social, economic and political processes in the country. Linking the structural characteristics with the broader sociological context, the book emphasizes the strong influence of sociological issues on politics, such as social milieu shaping and the articulation of the political in day-to-day events. Political events are connected with the ever-changing social, economic and political processes in order to provide an analytical framework to explain ‘peculiarities’ of Indian politics. Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that three major ideological influences of colonialism, nationalism and democracy have provided the foundational values of Indian politics. Structured thematically and chronologically, this work is a useful resource for students of political science, sociology and South Asian studies.

The Caste Question

The Caste Question PDF Author: Anupama Rao
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520943376
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Book Description
This innovative work of historical anthropology explores how India's Dalits, or ex-untouchables, transformed themselves from stigmatized subjects into citizens. Anupama Rao's account challenges standard thinking on caste as either a vestige of precolonial society or an artifact of colonial governance. Focusing on western India in the colonial and postcolonial periods, she shines a light on South Asian historiography and on ongoing caste discrimination, to show how persons without rights came to possess them and how Dalit struggles led to the transformation of such terms of colonial liberalism as rights, equality, and personhood. Extending into the present, the ethnographic analyses of The Caste Question reveal the dynamics of an Indian democracy distinguished not by overcoming caste, but by new forms of violence and new means of regulating caste.

Dalits in Modern India

Dalits in Modern India PDF Author: S. M. Michael
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761935711
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
This second, revised and enlarged edition looks back at the aspirations and struggle of the marginalised Dalit masses and looks forward to a new humanity based on equality, social justice and human dignity. Within the context of Dalit emancipation, it explores the social, economic and cultural content of Dalit transformation in modern India. These articles, by some of the foremost researchers in the field, are presented in four parts: Part I deals with the historical material on the origin and development of untouchability in Indian civilisation. Part II contests mainstream explanations and shows that the Dalit vision of Indian society is different from that of the upper castes. Part III offers a critique of the Sanskritic perspective of traditional Indian society, and fieldwork-based portraits of the Hinduisation of Adivasis in Gujarat, Dalit patriarchy in Maharashtra and Dalit power politics in Uttar Pradesh. Part IV concentrates on the economic condition of the Dalits.

Who Wants Democracy?

Who Wants Democracy? PDF Author: Javeed Alam
Publisher: Orient Blackswan
ISBN: 9788125027119
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Book Description
From the moment of its birth democracy in India was plagued by a deep anxiety. In 1947, Nehru saw the future as a time to redeem pledges, a time to fulfil the hopes that had been aroused during the national struggle. But he was well aware that this was a difficult task. Reforms followed, democratic instituttions were set up, and universal adult franchise was established. But poverty, illiteracy and poor health remained part of the post-colonial landscape. Why then do the poor and the malnutrited return in every election to choose their representatives, to form the government of their choice? Through an effort to answer this seeming paradox, Alam explores the working of democracy in India. beneath the play of caste and communal politics, and the threats of institutional collapse, Alam sees democracy acquiring a firm basis within Indian society. He shows what the voting patterns tell us about the links between regional voices and national unity, between the politics of community and the idea of citizenship, between the commitments of the poor and the apathy of the rich. This is a tract that questions our common assumptions and forces us to re-think our ideas about the life of Indian democracy.

Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia

Animal Sacrifice, Religion and Law in South Asia PDF Author: Daniela Berti
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000930106
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Book Description
This book presents original research on the controversies surrounding animal sacrifice in South Asia through the lens of court cases. It focuses on the parties involved in these cases: on their discourses, motivations, and contrasting points of view. Through an examination of judicial files, court decisions and newspaper articles, and interviews with protagonists, the book explores how the question of animal sacrifice is dealt with through administrative, legislative, and judicial practice. It outlines how, although animal sacrifice has over the ages been contested by various religious reform movements, the practice has remained widespread at all levels of society, especially in certain regions. It reveals that far from merely being a religious and ritual question, animal sacrifice has become a focus of broader public debate, and it discusses how the controversies highlight the contrast between ‘traditional’ and ‘reformist’ understandings of Hinduism; the conflict between the core legal and moral principles of religious freedom and social progress; and the growing concern with environmental issues and animal rights. The Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 7 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.taylorfrancis.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International license. Funded by Centre National de la Recherche Scientific.