The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India / Edition 1

by Oliver Mendelsohn, Marika Vicziany

Overview

In a compelling account of the lives of those at the bottom of Indian society, the authors explore the construction of the Untouchables as a social and political category, the historical background that led to such a definition and their position in India today. The authors argue that, despite efforts to ameliorate their condition, a considerable edifice of discrimination persists. The book promises to make a major contribution to the social and economic debates on poverty, while its wide-ranging perspectives will ensure a readership from across the disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521556712
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/30/1998
Series:	Contemporary South Asia , #4
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Glossary; 1. Who are the Untouchables?; 2. The question of the 'Harijan atrocity'; 3. Religion, politics and the Untouchables from the nineteenth century to 1956; 4. Public policy I: adverse discrimination and compensatory discrimination; 5. Public policy II: the anti-poverty programs; 6. The new Untouchable proletariat: a case study of the Faridabad stone quarries; 7. Untouchable politics and Untouchable politicians since 1956; 8. The question of reservation: lives and careers of some scheduled castes MPs and MLAs; 9. Subordination, poverty and the state in modern India; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Sheds new light on the new Untouchable proletariat by focusing on a largely unsuccessful struggle over bonded labor at the Faridabad stone quaries." Journal of Economic Literature

"...this ambitious effort succeeds. It is a good place for those new to the subject to begin...and for others to fill in the gaps in their material." Lelah Dushkin, International Journal of Hindu Studies

"This important book should be in all university libraries, especially those where courses on South Asia are taught and/or there are large numbers of South Asian students." Choice

"...this is a fine study that belongs in all South Asia collections and would be useful addition for more general collections that deal with politics and social stratification." JAAS

" [They] provide a solid argument for why untouchables still constitute a viable category in modern, democratic India...It can serve both as an advanced contribution to untouchable and South Asian studies—another voice on the side of untouchable distinctiveness in the ongoing debate—and as an introduction to untouchable and South Asian studies, due to the thorough background explanations and the immense descriptive information and research that supports the authors' arguments." Journal of Political Ecology: Case Studies in History and Society

"...It is the most comprehensive account I have read in quite some time....is a very welcome addition to the literature." Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher