The Dalit Movement in India: Local Practices, Global Connections - Hardcover

Hardtmann, Eva-Maria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195697847 ISBN 13: 9780195697841

Publisher: OUP India, 2008

Synopsis

This work traces new 'practices' and discourses among Dalit activists since the 1990s and shows how these practices both shaped and changed social relations. It is an anthropological attempt to reach behind the surface of the contemporary Dalit movement. It discusses the kind of discourses found among Dalit activists; the organizational structure of the movement; local practices among activists, among others. This study also relates the method of anthropological fieldwork to theories about social movements. It offers a historical context as a prerequisite to understanding processes in the contemporary Dalit movement focus on the heterogeneity and the geographical spread of the contemporary Dalit movement. The fieldwork moves from a small locality of Dalits in Lucknow to interaction with Davit activists in Maharashtra to the life of Punjabi Dalit migrants in Birmingham.

About this title

Review

Based on research conducted in as varied loactions as Lucknow, Durban, and Wolverhampton, Eva-Maria Hardtmann's book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the Dalit movement within and beyond India's borders... Hardtmann's writing is beautifully clear, her argumentation is refreshingly lucid, and the insights generated from her ethnography are original and important.As well as making a significant and provocative contribution to the academic debate on Dalits, social movements, caste politics, and identity, the book will no doubt appeal to a wider audience of students, activists, journalists, and interested non-specialists. (Clarinda Still The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute)

Hardtmann's writing is beautifully clear, her argumentation is refreshingly lucid, and the insights generated from her ethnography are original and important. As well as making a significant and provocative contribution to the academic debate on Dalits, social movements, caste politics, and identity, the book will no doubt appeal to a wider audience of students, activists, journalists, and interested non-specialists. (Clarinda Still, University of Oxford)

About the Author

Eva-Maria Hardtmann is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP India
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0195697847
• ISBN 13: 9780195697841
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 278