Dalit Studies

The contributors to this major intervention into Indian historiography trace the strategies through which Dalits have been marginalized as well as the ways Dalit intellectuals and leaders have shaped emancipatory politics in modern India. Moving beyond the anticolonialism/nationalism binary that dominates the study of India, the contributors assess the benefits of colonial modernity and place humiliation, dignity, and spatial exclusion at the center of Indian historiography. Several essays discuss the ways Dalits used the colonial courts and legislature to gain minority rights in the early twentieth century, while others highlight Dalit activism in social and religious spheres. The contributors also examine the struggle of contemporary middle-class Dalits to reconcile their caste and class, intercaste tensions among Sikhs, and the efforts by Dalit writers to challenge dominant constructions of secular and class-based citizenship while emphasizing the ongoing destructiveness of caste identity. In recovering the long history of Dalit struggles against caste violence, exclusion, and discrimination, Dalit Studies outlines a new agenda for the study of India, enabling a significant reconsideration of many of the Indian academy's core assumptions. Contributors: D. Shyam Babu, Laura Brueck, Sambaiah Gundimeda, Gopal Guru, Rajkumar Hans, Chinnaiah Jangam, Surinder Jodhka, P. Sanal Mohan, Ramnarayan Rawat, K. Satyanarayana Analyzes The Role Of Dalits (formerly Untouchables) In Shaping Modern India, Including Discourse About Caste, And Interrogates The Dominant Narratives That Have Been Used To Represent India's History. This Title Was Made Open Access By Libraries From Around The World Through Knowledge Unlatched. The Academic Field Of Dalit Studies Is Relatively New, Emerging Since The 1990s In South Asia And In Diasporic Communities. Dalit Intellectuals Theorize Indian Historiography And Social Sciences Through The Lenses Of Humiliation And Dignity, Pointing To The Painful History Of Dalit Groups (formerly Called Untouchables) And The Contemporary Perpetuation Of Caste Inequality. As Part Of A Challenge To High-caste Hindu Intelligentsia With Privileged Upbringings, Dalit Studies Includes A High Proportion Of Dalit Scholars From Non-elite Social And Institutional Backgrounds. Contributors Analyze The Work Of Dalit Activists Across Colonial And Postcolonial Periods, Countering A Tradition Of Viewing Them As Passive Victims And Objects Of Reform. Dalit Studies: New Perspectives On Indian History And Society / Ramnarayan S. Rawat And K. Satyanarayana -- The Indian Nation In Its Egalitarian Conception / Gopal Guru -- Probing The Historical -- Colonial Archive Versus Colonial Sociology: Writing Dalit History / Ramnarayan S. Rawat -- Social Space, Civil Society, And Dalit Agency In Twentieth-century Kerala / P. Sanal Mohan -- Dilemmas Of Dalit Agendas: Political Subjugation And Self-emancipation In Telugu Country, 1910-50 / Chinnaiah Jangam -- Making Sense Of Dalit Sikh History / Raj Kumar Hans -- Probing The Present -- The Dalit Reconfiguration Of Modernity: Citizens And Castes In The Telugu Public Sphere / K. Satyanarayana -- Questions Of Representation In Dalit Critical Discourse: Premchand And Dalit Feminism / Laura Brueck -- Social Justice And The Question Of Categorization Of Scheduled Caste Reservations: The Dandora Debate In Andhra Pradesh / Sambaiah Gundimeda -- Caste And Class Among The Dalits / Shyam Babu -- From Zaat To Qaum: Fluid Contours Of The Ravi Dasi Identity In Punjab / Surinder S. Jodhka. Ramnarayan S. Rawat & K. Satyanarayana, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction. Dalit Studies: New Perspectives on Indian History and Society 14 1. The Indian Nation in Its Egalitarian Conception 44 Part I. Probing the Historical 64 2. Colonial Archive versus Colonial Sociology: Writing Dalit History 66 3. Social Space, Civil Society, and Dalit Agency in Twentieth-Century Kerala 87 4. Dilemmas of Dalit Agendas: Political Subjugation and Self-Emancipation in Telugu Country, 1910–50 117 5. Making Sense of Dalit Sikh History 144 Part II. Probing the Present 166 6. The Dalit Reconfiguration of Modernity: Citizens and Castes in the Telugu Public Sphere 168 7. Questions of Representation in Dalit Critical Discourse: Premchand and Dalit Feminism 193 8. Social Justice and the Question of Categorization of Scheduled Caste Reservations: The Dandora Debate in Andhra Pradesh 215 9. Caste and Class among the Dalits 246 10. From Zaat to Qaum: Fluid Contours of the Ravi Dasi Identity in Punjab 261 Bibliography 284 Contributors 306 Index 308 A 308 B 309 C 309 D 310 E 311 F 311 G 311 H 312 I 312 J 312 K 312 L 313 M 313 N 313 O 314 P 314 R 314 S 315 T 316 U 316 V 316 W 317 Y 317 Z 317 The academic field of Dalit studies is relatively new, emerging since the 1990s in South Asia and in diasporic communities. Dalit intellectuals theorize Indian historiography and social sciences through the lenses of humiliation and dignity, pointing to the painful history of Dalit groups (formerly called untouchables) and the contemporary perpetuation of caste inequality. As part of a challenge to high-caste Hindu intelligentsia with privileged upbringings, DALIT STUDIES includes a high proportion of Dalit scholars from non-elite social and institutional backgrounds. Contributors analyze the work of Dalit activists across colonial and postcolonial periods, countering a tradition of viewing them as passive victims and objects of reform. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched The contributors to this major intervention into Indian historiography recover the long history of Dalit struggles against caste violence, exclusion, and discrimination by focusing on the importance of humiliation, dignity, and spatial exclusion to Dalit emancipatory politics.