Table Of ContentDalits, Subalternity and Social
Change in India
The linguistic origin of the term Dalit is Marathi, and pre-dates the militant-
intellectual Dalit Panthers movement of the 1970s. Though the origin of the
term Dalit was in the 1930s, it was not in popular use till the last quarter of the
20th century; it was used as a Marathi-Hindi translation of the word “Depressed
Classes”.
The changing nature of caste and Dalits has become a topic of increasing interest
in India. This edited book is a collection of originally written chapters by eminent
experts on the experiences of Dalits in India. It examines who constitute Dalits and
engages with the mainstream subaltern perspective that treats Dalits as a political
and economic category, a class phenomenon, and subsumes homogeneity of the
entire Dalit population. This book argues that the socio-cultural deprivations of
Dalits are their primary deprivations, characterized by the heterogeneity of their
experiences. It asserts that Dalits have a common urge to liberate themselves from
the oppressive and exploitative social arrangement which has been the guiding
force of the Dalit movement. This book has analyzed this movement through three
phases: the reformative, the transformative and the confrontationist.
An exploration of dynamic relations between subalternity, exclusion and social
change, the book will be of interest to academics in the field of sociology, political
science and contemporary India.
Ashok K. Pankaj is currently Director of the Council for Social Development,
New Delhi, India. He specializes in law and political economy of development.
His edited books include Right to Work and Rural India: Working of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) (2012) and
Subalternity, Exclusion and Social Change in India (co-edited) (2014).
Ajit K. Pandey teaches Sociology at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He
specializes in sociological theory and research methodology. His recent books
include New Directions in Sociological Theory: Disputes, Discourses and
Orientations and Subalternity (2010), Exclusion and Social Change in India
(co-edited) (2014).
Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
New Perspectives on India and Turkey
Connections and Debates
Edited by Smita Tewari Jassal and Halil Turan
The Judicialization of Politics in Pakistan
A Comparative Study of Judicial Restraint and its Development in India, the US
and Pakistan
Waris Husain
Employment, Poverty and Rights in India
Dayabati Roy
Bangladesh’s Maritime Policy
Entwining Challenges
Abdul Kalam
Health Communication and Sexual Health in India
Interpreting HIV and AIDS messages
Ravindra Kumar Vemula
Contemporary Literature from Northeast India
Deathworlds, Terror and Survival
Amit R. Baishya
Land-Water Management and Sustainability in Bangladesh
Indigenous practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Ranjan Datta
Dalits, Subalternity and Social Change in India
Edited by Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey
For the full list of titles in the series please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-
Contemporary-South-Asia-Series/book-series/RCSA
Dalits, Subalternity and Social
Change in India
Edited by
Ashok K. Pankaj and
Ajit K. Pandey
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K.
Pandey; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Ashok K. Pankaj and Ajit K. Pandey to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-35283-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-43450-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of tables vii
List of figures viii
Notes on contributors ix
List of abbreviations xii
Preface xiv
PART I
Introduction 1
1 Dalits, subalterns and social change in India 3
ASHOK K. PANKAJ AND AJIT K. PANDEY
PART II
Perspectives on Dalits as subalterns 27
2 Dalits are not merely subalterns: the need for a different
perspective 29
T. K. OOMMEN
3 Glimpses of traditions for and against untouchability 49
HETUKAR JHA
PART III
Constructing new historiography 57
4 Dalit memoirs: a new source of historiography 59
PARAMJIT S. JUDGE
5 Subalternity and popular religion: religiosity and making
of the Bhajans of Dharanidas 69
BADRI NARAYAN
vi Contents
PART IV
Education as liberator 83
6 Education and Dalit liberation: possibilities and constraints 85
GHANSHYAM SHAH
7 Socialization experience of doctoral students in Indian
Academia: do caste and class matter? 98
MADHAV GOVIND
PART V
Changing socio-cultural space 115
8 Politics, caste and Dalit subalternity: reflecting on the
modes of engagement 117
K. SRINIVASULU
9 Rural Dalit women: assertion for change 129
ARCHANA SINGH
10 Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh: experiencing subalternity
and exclusion 136
AJIT K. PANDEY AND SEEMA RANI
PART VI
The last citizens of India 153
11 Manual scavengers: apathetic state and callous society 155
K. B. SAXENA
12 Dalits and the Devdasi system: a dignified form of sexual slavery 181
K. B. SAXENA
Index 205
Tables
2.1 Types of identity and styles of mobilization: the Dalits 30
7.1 Socio-economic background of doctoral students 103
7.2 Overall division of Ph.D. students: category-wise (%) 104
7.3 Pre–high school institutions of Ph.D. students: category-wise 104
7.4 Self-perception of Ph.D. students: gender-wise (in %) 105
7.5 Students’ motivation for joining Ph.D.: category-wise 106
7.6 Reasons for Quitting the Ph.D.: category-wise 107
7.7 Perception of students for supportive environment: category-wise 108
Figures
6.1 Percentage representation of SCs/STs from primary to higher
education (2009–2010) 87
6.2 Gross enrolment ratio in post-higher secondary education by
economic strata 90
6.3 Educational unemployment rate by social groups 93
6.4 Membership of secular organizations by caste and education (in %) 94
7.1 Reasons for quitting from/delay in Ph.D. (in %) 107
7.2 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: category-wise 109
7.3 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: gender-wise 109
7.4 Satisfaction with scholarly environment: rural-urban-wise 110
Contributors
Madhav Govind is a Professor at Centre for Studies in Science Policy, School
of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has many
publications in reputed national and international journals. His areas of interest
are sociology of science and technology, higher education in science, subal-
tern perspective on production of knowledge, university-industry relations and
transfer of knowledge, waste management and sustainable development.
Hetukar Jha, former Professor of Sociology, Patna University, was working on
villages, culture, traditions, education and other sociological concepts from a
historical perspective since 1968. He has published more than 120 research
papers and 27 books including Colonial Context of Higher Education in India
(1985), Social Structures of Indian Villages (1991), Perspectives on Indian
Society and History (ed., 2002) and Historical Sociology in India (2016). He
passed away on 19 August 2017.
Paramjit S. Judge is a Professor of Sociology at Guru Nanak Dev University,
Amritsar. He has worked and published in the field of social movements, and
sociology of Dalits and exclusion. He is also an eminent Punjabi novelist. He
was Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Fellow for Social Justice of Indian Council
of Social Science Research (ICSSR), 2014–2015. Currently, he is Managing
Editor of Sociological Bulletin – a journal of the Indian Sociological Society.
Badri Narayan is a social historian and cultural anthropologist. He is presently
Director, G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. His interests lie in pop-
ular culture, social and anthropological history, Dalit and subaltern issues and
the relationship between power and culture. Besides having written a number
of articles both in English and Hindi, he has recently authored Fractured Tales:
Invisibles in Indian Democracy (2016). His other critically acclaimed books
are Kashriram (2014), The Making of the Dalit Public in North India: Uttar
Pradesh 1950–present (2011), Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North
India (2006) and Fascinating Hindutva – Saffron Politics and Dalit Mobilisa-
tion (2006).
T. K. Oommen is at present Professor Emeritus at the Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-
sity, from where he retired in 2002 after being a professor for 26 years. He was
President of International Sociological Association as well as that of Indian
