Who Needs Identity? Dalit Studies and the Politics of Recognition

The essay reviews three recent contributions to the study of dalits (former untouchables) in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and situates the monographs in the context of two important events. Firstly, the books are seen as crucial interventions to the emerging field of Dalit Studies. The books help us understand how marginalized groups construct identities, inhabit subjectivities, and articulate their worldviews. Secondly, the field itself is situated against the backdrop of significant social and political transformations in India namely the political ascendance of subordinate castes and the changing notions of what it means to be a dalit in the twenty first century. The essay suggests that Dalit Studies could complicate, nuance, and challenge entrenched shibboleths of historical change in South Asia

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Construct (python library · Context (archaeology · Field (mathematics · Identity (music · Political science · Politics · Situated · Socioeconomics · Sociology · South asia · State (computer science · Uttar pradesh · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · South Asian Studies and Diaspora