Dalit Journeys for Dignity

Ramnarayan S. Rawat is Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Reconsidering Untouchability and coeditor of Dalit Studies. K. Satyanarayana is Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at EFL University, Hyderabad. He has coedited No Alphabet in Sight, Steel Nibs Are Sprouting, Dalit Studies, Dalit Text, and Concealing Caste. P. Sanal Mohan is a Former Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Inter-University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

"Underlying this remarkable collection of essays is little less than an exploration of Dalit modes of thinking about capabilities in this sense. As such, the essays mark an important contribution to the conversation that Sen, and ultimately Ambedkar himself opened up, in seeing these Dalit struggles from the margins as a means to realise much wider human values." — The Wire"This book shows us certain vital contours of a new dimension—the Dalit Social. It argues successfully for the Dalit Social as both the defining condition for candid public discussions of caste, as well as the necessary normative condition for the sustenance of a democratic India." — Gopal Guru, coauthor of Experience, Caste, and the Everyday"The Dalit Studies project addresses two subtle but crucial distinctions: between research on Dalits and research from a Dalit standpoint; and between the social-economic and the political-cultural dimensions of material history. Sharpening and straddling these, the project makes a unique contribution to the study of contemporary Indian society through its focus on dignity, recognition, faith, and belonging within a larger horizon of contests for equal citizenship." — Satish Deshpande, editor of The Problem of Caste"This book expands the remit of Dalit Studies in significant and exciting ways by its focus on the relationship between caste, space, embodiment, and religious belonging. It also reconfigures older knowledge about caste, land, and labour through a feminist lens, enabling a productive critique of caste conjugality, family, and kin." — V. Geetha, author of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India "In this richly textured volume, each essay focuses on different aspects of the striving for dignity and ethical life among Dalit communities. This is a decisive and timely contribution to the flourishing body of scholarship on Dalit life, aspiration, and horizons that have emerged in the past decades." — Thomas Blom Hansen, author of Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay

• Preface and Acknowledgements1. Introduction—On Dignity: A History of the Dalit Social and the Struggle Against CasteRamnarayan S. Rawat and K. SatyanarayanaRELIGION AND THE SOCIAL2. Recovering the Legacy of Nanchari, 1830–2018: Dalits, Conversion, and Christianity in South IndiaChakali Chandra Sekhar3. An Ethical Community of Equals: A Dalit History of the Sant-Mat Religion in Twentieth-Century North IndiaRamnarayan S. Rawat4. Dalit Futures and Sexual Modernity in South IndiaLucinda Ramberg5. Between Blasphemy and Martyrdom: The Formation of the Ravidassia Religion in PunjabKoonal Duggal6. Oppression, Resistance, and the Formation of a Faith Community among the Dalit Christians of KeralaJestin T. VargheseCASTE AND THE SECULAR7. Presenting the Dalit Body: Caste and Sartorial Dignity in North IndiaAnupama8. Inheritance and Caste Formations in KeralaSharika Thiranagama9. Caste, Occupations, and (Im)mobility in Modern Indian Industry, 1870–2006Sumeet Mhaskar10. The Anti-Caste Hermeneutic: Iyothee Thassar and the Tamil Buddhist PastDickens LeonardNote on ContributorsIndex