Dalit Studies: Key Terms and Concepts

Dalit Studies: Key Terms and Concepts undertakes a critical engagement with nearly fifty foundational terms and concepts that have shaped—and continue to shape—the field of Dalit Studies. The entries in the volume: • Are lucid, accessible, and interdisciplinary—detailed in information, comprehensive in perspective, and critical in argumentation. • Integrate quantitative and qualitative research methods by interfacing facts, data, and information with critical, textual, historical, and discourse analysis. • Discuss the genealogy of each term or concept; provide relevant literary, cultural, and socio-political examples and references; and examine its contemporary significance. A key text for an evolving field, this book foregrounds the fundamentals—the critical nuances and far-reaching implications of concepts central to Dalit Studies that are frequently invoked but rarely examined in depth. This volume will be essential reading for students and researchers of literary and critical theory, social and cultural theory, discrimination and ethnic studies, and South Asian studies.