Full Description
Civil society as an analytical concept is increasingly treated with suspicion in the study of politics in postcolonial societies. While engaging with Dalit struggles for civility, this book offers a critique of normative liberal assumptions of civil society and also counters the scholarship that rejects the idea and possibility of civil society in postcolonial societies.
Based on an ethnography of Dalit movements in Maharashtra, this book highlights the centrality of caste in constructing localized forms and processes of civil society. The study marks a shift from perspectives that either emphasize the role of the state in shaping civil society or totally ignore the role of caste in its formation. As one of the first books on the post-Panther phase of Dalit politics in Maharashtra, this book makes an important contribution. It reopens the debate on the nature and forms of Dalit assertion in the 1990s and looks beyond the 'impasse' in Dalit politics.
Contents
Foreword Christophe Jaffrelot
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Caste and Dalit Politics in the Making of Civil Society
Dalit Movements in the Post-Panther Period: Contextualising the BSP and MHA in Marathwada
Of Peasant Kings and Untouchable Citizens: Caste Violence and Democratisation of Public Spaces
Jameen Aamchya Hakkachi: Politics of Land Rights and Advocacy NGOs
The Imagined "Bahujan": Caste and Cultural Repertoires of BSP
Beyond Mahar Dominance: The Making of Phule-Ambedkarite Mangs in MHA
Electoral Politics and Dalit Freedoms
Between High Democracy and Low Civility: Why Dalits need a Civil Society?
Glossary
References
Index
