Full Description
For over a decade, Jeremy Rinker, Ph.D. has interacted, observed, and studied Dalit anti-caste social movements in India. In this critical comparative approach to India's modern anti-caste resistance, Dr. Rinker emphasizes the complex interdependence between narrative practices and social transformation in understanding the centuries old caste basis of India's most fundamental of social conflicts. Through the comparative case study of three modern social movement organizations, this book provides a fresh lens to both better understand and potentially transform caste marginalization and oppression. Through theoretical analysis, auto-ethnographic field notes, and narrative storytelling, Dr. Rinker brings the lived experience of modern Dalits to life for a Western reader unfamiliar with the entrenched nature of India's complex caste dynamics. The book is also written for anti-caste activists in that it endeavors to develop reflective practice insights into activists' own sense and use of narrative agency. A timely reappraisal of Indian anti-caste movement infighting and ideological discord, this book will be of interest to both students of South Asian caste and those that want to better understand injustice narration as an important means of structural change. With sharp analysis and insight Identity, Rights, and Awareness: Anticaste Activism in India and the Awakening of Justice through Discursive Practices will be of interest to scholars of South Asian studies as well as activists working for conflict transformation and peace.
Contents
Introduction: At the Center and in the Periphery
1. Caste and Anticaste Identity: The Evolution and Legacy of Difference in Indian Social Life
2. Narrative Violence and Injustice Awareness: Reading Anticaste Activism as Narrative for Social Change
3. Doing Strategy in Indian Anticaste Activism: A Systems Approach to Understanding the
Struggle for Identity, Rights, and Awareness
4. Fostering Dalit Buddhist Identity: TBMSG's Organizing around Ambedkar Buddhism
5. All-India Rise Up: BAMCEF and Educating for a National Identity and Injustice Awareness
6. Narrative Testimony as Rights Agitation: PVCHR's International Rights Discourse
Conclusion: Identity, Rights, and Awareness: The Power of Discourse to Change Entrenched Systems of Oppression
Epilogue: The Making of Discursive Change Platforms and Writing from the Periphery as a Form of Resistance towards the Dominant Center
