From Stigma to Assertion

In this book eight South-Asianists explore the Indian phenomenon known as 'un-touchability'. Historically untouchability was a set of discriminative practices that bound the lowest castes to low-status jobs and restricted their social mobility. Formally the practice was abolished with the constitution of the independent India, and in order to compensate for the social and economic setback caused by centuries' discrimination a reservation policy that guaranteed the former untouchables access to education and jobs was introduced. These measures have changed the life conditions of the targeted groups, but they have also created tensions in a society where many other groups experience economic stress. First of all they have preserved caste itself as something that matters in the competition for economic benefits. Thereby they have created today's paradox: That caste assertiveness has become a means to counter inequalities. Four essays (Andrew Wyatt, Simon Charsley, Kathinka Froystad, and Marie-Caroline Saglio-Yatzimirsky), all based on field work carried out in the late 1990s, address these present issues. Three essays (Mikael Aktor, Eleanor Zelliot, and Jocelyn Clarke) explore pre- and late-colonial material, while the introduction by Robert Deliege is a critical discussion of the combination of caste rhetoric and confrontation strategy in today's Dalit movement.