Translated For The First Time Into English From The Original Tamil, These Essays Present The Characteristically Honest And Uncompromising Views Of Thirumaavalavan, A Leading Dalit Intellectual And Mla Of The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Or The Liberation Panthers Of Tamil Nadu. Hard-Hitting, Courageous, Thought Provoking This Collection Shows New Directions In Dalit Politics.
India’s economic growth has brought opportunities for many but to what extent has it benefitted its ethnically-shaped underclass: the Dalits? Have Dalits fared better in a neoliberal India or have structural economic and social changes served to magnify Dalit disadvantage? This volume offers a varied picture of Dalit experience in different states in contemporary India. The essays draw on factual research in rural and urban areas by experts in the field. With case studies ranging from Dalit entrepreneurs in Bhopal to housewives in Tamil Nadu to ex-millworkers in Mumbai, the book contends that radically progressive change and advance is attended by discrimination and exclusion, as well as surprising new areas of stigma. With contributions by political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and economists, the volume will be key reading for scholars and students of Dalit and subaltern studies, sociology, political science, and economics.
Through its investigation of the underlying political economy of gender, caste and class in India, this book shows how changing historical geographies are shaping the subjectivities of Dalits across India in ways that are neither fixed nor predictable. It brings together ethnographies from across India to explore caste politics, Dalit feminism and patriarchy, religion, economics and the continued socio-economic and political marginalisation of Dalits. With contributions from major academics this is an indispensable book for researchers, teachers and students working on new political expressions, gender identities, social inequalities and the continuing use of the notion of ‘caste’ identity in the oppression of subalterns in contemporary India. It will be essential reading in the disciplines of politics, gender, social exclusion studies, sociology and social anthropology.
Dalit assertion has been a central feature of the states in the Hindi heartland since the mid-1980s, leading to the rise of political consciousness and identity-based lower-caste parties. The present study focuses on the different political response of the Congress party to identity assertion in Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Digvijay Singh. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in response to the strong wave of Dalit assertion that swept the region, parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) used strategies of political mobilisation to consolidate Dalit/backward votes and capture state power. In Madhya Pradesh, in contrast, the Congress party and Digvijay Singh at the historic Bhopal Conference held in January 2002 adopted a new model of development that attempted to mobilise Dalits and tribals and raise their standard of living by providing them economic empowerment. This new Dalit Agenda constitutes an alternative strategy at gaining Dalit/tribal support through of state-sponsored economic upliftment as opposed to the political mobilisation strategy employed by the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. The present study puts to test the limits of the model of state-led development, of the use of political power by an enlightened political elite to introduce change from above to address the weaker sections of society. The working of the state is thus analysed in the context of the society in which it is embedded and the former’s ability to insulate itself from powerful vested interests. In interrogating this state-led redistributive paradigm, the study has generated empirical data based on extensive fieldwork and brought to the fore both the potentials and the limitations of using the model of ‘development from above’ in a democracy. It suggests that the absence of an upsurge from below limits the ability of an enlightened political elite that mans the developmental state to introduce social change and help the weaker sections of society.
The narrative of this book is built around the historical experiences of the Paraiyars of Tamil Nadu. The author traces the transformation of the Paraiyars from an ‘untouchable’ and socially despised community to one that came to acquire prominence in the political scene of Tamil Nadu, especially in early 20th century. Through this framework, the book studies a number of issues: subaltern history, colonial ethnography, agrarian systems, agrarian bondage, land legislations, and the interventions by missionaries and social and political organizations.
The book premises that despite the long history of violence and discrimination against Dalits, their lives have transformed with the political and economic shifts in the country over the last three decades. It addresses these changes and interrogates the major aspects of Dalit experience associated with them.
The author is a leader of the Viduthalai Chirutaigal, the Liberation Panthers. In this book -- a selection of his speeches -- he speaks of the need to counter Hindutva with a Tamil identity that can reach beyond its region to other oppressed peoples. It speaks of the refusal to be a Hindu and of theright to conversion, of women's rights, of the heritage and culture of the Dalits, among other issues.
"""பறையர்கள் என்பவர்கள் யார் என்னும் ஆதாரக் கேள்வியுடன் தொடங்கும் இந்த முக்கியமான ஆய்வுநூல் 19ம் நூற்றாண்டின் தொடக்கம் முதல் 20ம் நூற்றாண்டின் பிற்பகுதி வரையிலான பறையர்களின் சமூக, அரசியல், பொருளாதார வாழ்க்கை முறையை மிக விரிவாகவும் ஆதாரபூர்வமாகவும் பதிவு செய்திருக்கிறது. பிரிட்டிஷ் காலனியாதிக்கத்துக்கு ஆட்படுவதற்கு முன்பு பறையர்களின் வாழ்நிலை எப்படி இருந்தது என்பதையும் ஆட்பட்ட பின்னர் எத்தகைய மாற்றங்களையெல்லாம் சந்திக்க நேர்ந்தது என்பதையும் நுணுக்கமாக ஒப்பிட்டு ஆராய்கிறது. இந்த மாற்றத்தில் பங்கெடுத்த பிரிட்டிஷ் மற்றும் இந்திய அமைப்புகள், அரசியல் கட்சிகள், கிறிஸ்தவ மிஷனரிகள் ஆகியவற்றைப் பற்றியும் பல விரிவான செய்திகள் இந்நூலில் இடம்பெற்றுள்ளன. பறையர்கள் மெல்ல மெல்ல தங்கள் வாழ்நிலையை மாற்றிக்கொண்டு போராடத் தொடங்கியபோதும் அரசியல் வெளிக்குள் நுழைந்தபோதும் மேல்சாதியினரும் ஆதிக்கப் பிரிவினரும் எப்படியெல்லாம் எதிர்வினையாற்றினார்கள் என்பதை வாசிக்கும்போது நந்தனார் சம்பவம் நம் நினைவுக்கு வந்துவிடுகிறது. திராவிட இயக்கம் தோன்றுவதற்கு முன்பே, 1850களில் பறையர்களின் போராட்ட மரபு தொடங்கிவிட்டது என்பதைத் தகுந்த ஆதாரங்களுடன் நிறுவும் நூலாசிரியர் ராஜ் சேகர் பாசு, தமிழ்நாட்டின் தவிர்க்கவியலாத அரசியல் சக்தியாக பறையர்கள் மாறிப்போனது எப்படி என்பதைப் படிப்படியாக விவரிக்கிறார். பிரிட்டிஷ் நிர்வாக ஆவணங்கள், அரசுத் துறை பதிவுகள், நில ஆவணங்கள் என்று தொடங்கி விரிவான, ஆழமான மூலாதாரங்களில் இருந்து பறையர்கள் குறித்த தகவல்களைத் திரட்டியெடுத்து ஆய்வு செய்துள்ளார். விளிம்புநிலை மக்களின் வரலாறு எப்படி ஆய்வு செய்யப்படவேண்டும், எப்படி ஆவணப்படுத்தப்படவேண்டும் என்பதற்கு இந்தப் புத்தகம் ஒரு அருமையான உதாரணம். சாதி, அரசியல், வரலாறு, சமூகவியல் ஆகிய துறைகளில் ஆர்வம் உள்ள அனைவரும் போற்றி வரவேற்கவேண்டிய மிக முக்கியமான பதிவு இந்நூல். """
Since the end of legal segregation in schools, most research on educational inequality has focused on economic and other structural obstacles to the academic achievement of disadvantaged groups. But in Contesting Stereotypes and Creating Identities, a distinguished group of psychologists and social scientists argue that stereotypes about the academic potential of some minority groups remain a significant barrier to their achievement. This groundbreaking volume examines how low institutional and cultural expectations of minorities hinder their academic success, how these stereotypes are perpetuated, and the ways that minority students attempt to empower themselves by redefining their identities. The contributors to Contesting Stereotypes and Creating Identities explore issues of ethnic identity and educational inequality from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, drawing on historical analyses, social-psychological experiments, interviews, and observation. Meagan Patterson and Rebecca Bigler show that when teachers label or segregate students according to social categories (even in subtle ways), students are more likely to rank and stereotype one another, so educators must pay attention to the implicit or unintentional ways that they emphasize group differences. Many of the contributors contest John Ogbu's theory that African Americans have developed an "oppositional culture" that devalues academic effort as a form of "acting white." Daphna Oyserman and Daniel Brickman, in their study of black and Latino youth, find evidence that strong identification with their ethnic group is actually associated with higher academic motivation among minority youth. Yet, as Julie Garcia and Jennifer Crocker find in a study of African-American female college students, the desire to disprove negative stereotypes about race and gender can lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, and excessive, self-defeating levels of effort, which impede learning and academic success. The authors call for educational institutions to diffuse these threats to minority students' identities by emphasizing that intelligence is a malleable rather than a fixed trait. Contesting Stereotypes and Creating Identities reveals the many hidden ways that educational opportunities are denied to some social groups. At the same time, this probing and wide-ranging anthology provides a fresh perspective on the creative ways that these groups challenge stereotypes and attempt to participate fully in the educational system.
'The women tell it like it is... So riveting is the narration that it is difficult to put down the book until their stories are finished. For a non-fiction academic work this is no small feat.’ — The Hindu Sharmila Rege’s path breaking study of Dalit women’s writings and lives offers a powerful counter-narrative to the mainstream assumptions about the development of feminism in India in the 20th century. Extensive extracts from eight Dalit women’s writings cover issues such as food and hunger, community, caste, labour, education, violence, resistance and collective struggle. The voices that resound throughout the book, reveal that Dalit feminism, far from being ‘silent’ as so often presumed, is rich, powerful, layered – and highly articulate. Published by Zubaan.
