Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India PDF
Preview Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India
Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India The linguistic origin of the term Dalit is Marathi, and pre-dates the militant- intellectual Dalit Panthers movement of the 1970s. Though the origin of the term Dalit was in the 1930s, it was not in popular use till the last quarter of the 20th century; it was used as a Marathi-Hindi translation of the word “Depressed Classes”. The changing nature of caste and Dalits has become a topic of increasing interest in India. This edited book is a collection of originally written chapters by eminent experts on the experiences of Dalits in India. It examines who constitute Dalits and engages with the mainstream subaltern perspective that treats Dalits as a political and economic category, a class phenomenon, and subsumes homogeneity of the entire Dalit population. This book argues that the socio-cultural deprivations of Dalits are their primary deprivations, characterized by the heterogeneity of their experiences. It asserts that Dalits have a common urge to liberate themselves from the oppressive and exploitative social arrangement which has been the guiding force of the Dalit movement. This book has analyzed this movement through three phases: the reformative, the transformative and the confrontationist. An exploration of dynamic relations between subalternity, exclusion and social change, the book will be of interest to academics in the field of sociology, political science and contemporary India. Ashok K. Pankaj is currently Director of the Council for Social Development, New Delhi, India. He specializes in law and political economy of development. His edited books include Right to Work and Rural India: Working of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) (2012) and Subalternity, Exclusion and Social Change in India (co-edited) (2014). Ajit K. Pandey teaches Sociology at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He specializes in sociological theory and research methodology. His recent books include New Directions in Sociological Theory: Disputes, Discourses and Orientations and Subalternity (2010), Exclusion and Social Change in India (co-edited) (2014). Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series New Perspectives on India and Turkey Connections and Debates Edited by Smita Tewari Jassal and Halil Turan The Judicialization of Politics in Pakistan A Comparative Study of Judicial Restraint and its Development in India, the US and Pakistan Waris Husain Employment, Poverty and Rights in India Dayabati Roy Bangladesh’s Maritime Policy Entwining Challenges Abdul Kalam Health Communication and Sexual Health in India Interpreting HIV and AIDS messages Ravindra Kumar Vemula Contemporary Literature from Northeast India Deathworlds, Terror and Survival Amit R. Baishya Land-Water Management and Sustainability in Bangladesh Indigenous practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Ranjan Datta Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India Edited by Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey For the full list of titles in the series please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge- Contemporary-South-Asia-Series/book-series/RCSA Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India Edited by Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-35283-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-43450-1 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of tables vii List of figures viii Notes on contributors ix List of abbreviations xii Preface xiv PART I Introduction 1 1 Dalits, subalterns and social change in India 3 ASHOK K. PANKAJ AND AJIT K. PANDEY PART II Perspectives on Dalits as subalterns 27 2 Dalits are not merely subalterns: the need for a different perspective 29 T. K. OOMMEN 3 Glimpses of traditions for and against untouchability 49 HETUKAR JHA PART III Constructing new historiography 57 4 Dalit memoirs: a new source of historiography 59 PARAMJIT S. JUDGE 5 Subalternity and popular religion: religiosity and making of the Bhajans of Dharanidas 69 BADRI NARAYAN vi Contents PART IV Education as liberator 83 6 Education and Dalit liberation: possibilities and constraints 85 GHANSHYAM SHAH 7 Socialization experience of doctoral students in Indian Academia: do caste and class matter? 98 MADHAV GOVIND PART V Changing socio-cultural space 115 8 Politics, caste and Dalit subalternity: reflecting on the modes of engagement 117 K. SRINIVASULU 9 Rural Dalit women: assertion for change 129 ARCHANA SINGH 10 Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh: experiencing subalternity and exclusion 136 AJIT K. PANDEY AND SEEMA RANI PART VI The last citizens of India 153 11 Manual scavengers: apathetic state and callous society 155 K. B. SAXENA 12 Dalits and the Devdasi system: a dignified form of sexual slavery 181 K. B. SAXENA Index 205 Tables 2.1 Types of identity and styles of mobilization: the Dalits 30 7.1 Socio-economic background of doctoral students 103 7.2 Overall division of Ph.D. students: category-wise (%) 104 7.3 Pre–high school institutions of Ph.D. students: category-wise 104 7.4 Self-perception of Ph.D. students: gender-wise (in %) 105 7.5 Students’ motivation for joining Ph.D.: category-wise 106 7.6 Reasons for Quitting the Ph.D.: category-wise 107 7.7 Perception of students for supportive environment: category-wise 108 Figures 6.1 Percentage representation of SCs/STs from primary to higher education (2009–2010) 87 6.2 Gross enrolment ratio in post-higher secondary education by economic strata 90 6.3 Educational unemployment rate by social groups 93 6.4 Membership of secular organizations by caste and education (in %) 94 7.1 Reasons for quitting from/delay in Ph.D. (in %) 107 7.2 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: category-wise 109 7.3 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: gender-wise 109 7.4 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: rural-urban-wise 110 Contributors Madhav Govind is a Professor at Centre for Studies in Science Policy, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has many publications in reputed national and international journals. His areas of interest are sociology of science and technology, higher education in science, subal- tern perspective on production of knowledge, university-industry relations and transfer of knowledge, waste management and sustainable development. Hetukar Jha, former Professor of Sociology, Patna University, was working on villages, culture, traditions, education and other sociological concepts from a historical perspective since 1968. He has published more than 120 research papers and 27 books including Colonial Context of Higher Education in India (1985), Social Structures of Indian Villages (1991), Perspectives on Indian Society and History (ed., 2002) and Historical Sociology in India (2016). He passed away on 19 August 2017. Paramjit S. Judge is a Professor of Sociology at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He has worked and published in the field of social movements, and sociology of Dalits and exclusion. He is also an eminent Punjabi novelist. He was Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Fellow for Social Justice of Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), 2014–2015. Currently, he is Managing Editor of Sociological Bulletin – a journal of the Indian Sociological Society. Badri Narayan is a social historian and cultural anthropologist. He is presently Director, G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. His interests lie in pop- ular culture, social and anthropological history, Dalit and subaltern issues and the relationship between power and culture. Besides having written a number of articles both in English and Hindi, he has recently authored Fractured Tales: Invisibles in Indian Democracy (2016). His other critically acclaimed books are Kashriram (2014), The Making of the Dalit Public in North India: Uttar Pradesh 1950–present (2011), Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India (2006) and Fascinating Hindutva – Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisa- tion (2006). T. K. Oommen is at present Professor Emeritus at the Jawaharlal Nehru Univer- sity, from where he retired in 2002 after being a professor for 26 years. He was President of International Sociological Association as well as that of Indian
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