The Izhavas are an ex-untouchable community in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Politically and economically weak, stigmatised as 'toddy tappers' and 'devil dancers', and considered unapproachable by clean caste Hindus, a century ago Izhavas were associated with other manual-labouring untouchable castes. In recent decades they have sought to improve their position by accumulating economic, symbolic and cultural capital through employment, religion, politics, migration, marriage, education and have tried to assert their right to mobility, often in the face of opposition from their high status Christian and Nayar neighbours. This study examines how Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity, colonialism and globalisation. Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella highlight the complexities and contradictions of modern identity, both locally and globally. The authors' approach builds upon and goes beyond a south Asian focus, showing how the Izhavas represent the rise of formerly stigmatised groups who remain at the same time trapped by stereotype and material disadvantage. Absolute mobility, they argue, has not led to relative mobility within a society which remains stratified and prone to new forms of social exclusion.

Entangled Sovereignties is a rich volume that attempts to rethink the meanings and modalities of sovereignty in South Asia through the lens of Kerala's historical and contemporary political formations. Focusing on the entwined religious and secular logics, it draws attention to how diverse actors - from deities and communities to state agents and market forces - assert sovereign claims in social, ritual, and political life. Through a multidisciplinary engagement spanning ethnography, textual analysis, and historical inquiry, the book challenges dominant state-centric understandings of sovereignty. It foregrounds everyday, contested, layered expressions of authority that exceed the monopoly of violence, offering a new vocabulary to engage with questions of power, legitimacy, and moral reasoning in postcolonial democracies. From Christian reformers and Sunni traditionalists to fisher communities and communist appropriations of ritual, the book examines how sovereignty is asserted and negotiated across time and domains.

Entangled Sovereignties is a rich volume that attempts to rethink the meanings and modalities of sovereignty in South Asia through the lens of Kerala's historical and contemporary political formations. Focusing on the entwined religious and secular logics, it draws attention to how diverse actors - from deities and communities to state agents and market forces - assert sovereign claims in social, ritual, and political life. Through a multidisciplinary engagement spanning ethnography, textual analysis, and historical inquiry, the book challenges dominant state-centric understandings of sovereignty. It foregrounds everyday, contested, layered expressions of authority that exceed the monopoly of violence, offering a new vocabulary to engage with questions of power, legitimacy, and moral reasoning in postcolonial democracies. From Christian reformers and Sunni traditionalists to fisher communities and communist appropriations of ritual, the book examines how sovereignty is asserted and negotiated across time and domains.

Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, there has been a widespread affirmation of economic ideologies that conceive the market as an autonomous sphere of human practice, holding that market principles should be applied to human action at large. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the ascendance of market reason has been countered by calls for reforms of financial markets and for the consideration of moral values in economic practice. This book intervenes in these debates by showing how neoliberal market practices engender new forms of religiosity, and how religiosity shapes economic actions. It reveals how religious movements and organizations have reacted to the increasing prominence of market reason in unpredictable, and sometimes counterintuitive, ways. Using a range of examples from different countries and religious traditions, the book illustrates the myriad ways in which religious and market moralities are closely imbricated in diverse global contexts.

The articles in this volume build up ethnographic analysis complementary to the historiography of South Asian Islam, which has explored the emergence of reformism in the context of specific political and religious circumstances of nineteenth-century British India. Taking up diverse popular and scholarly debates as well as everyday religious practices, this volume also breaks away from the dominant trend of mainstream ethnographic work, which celebrates Sufi-inspired forms of Islam as tolerant, plural, authentic and so on, pitted against a ''reformist'' Islam. Urging a more nuanced examination of all forms of reformism and their reception in practice, the contributions here powerfully demonstrate the historical and geographical specificities of reform projects. In doing so, they challenge prevailing perspectives in which substantially different traditions of reform are lumped together into one reified category (often carelessly shorthanded as ''wah''habism'') and branded as extremist – if not altogether demonised as terrorist.

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, Islam, Politics, Anthropology offers critical reflections on past and current studies of Islam and politics in anthropology and charts new analytical approaches to examining Islam in the post-9/11 world.  Challenges current and past approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics in anthropology Offers a critical comprehensive review of past and current literature on the subject Presents innovative ethnographic description and analysis of everyday Muslim politics in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America Proposes new analytical approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, Islam, Politics, Anthropology offers critical reflections on past and current studies of Islam and politics in anthropology and charts new analytical approaches to examining Islam in the post-9/11 world.  Challenges current and past approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics in anthropologyOffers a critical comprehensive review of past and current literature on the subjectPresents innovative ethnographic description and analysis of everyday Muslim politics in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North AmericaProposes new analytical approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics

The Izhavas are an ex-untouchable community in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Politically and economically weak, stigmatised as 'toddy tappers' and 'devil dancers', and considered unapproachable by clean caste Hindus, a century ago Izhavas were associated with other manual-labouring untouchable castes. In recent decades they have sought to improve their position by accumulating economic, symbolic and cultural capital through employment, religion, politics, migration, marriage, education and have tried to assert their right to mobility, often in the face of opposition from their high status Christian and Nayar neighbours. This study examines how Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity, colonialism and globalisation. Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella highlight the complexities and contradictions of modern identity, both locally and globally. The authors' approach builds upon and goes beyond a south Asian focus, showing how the Izhavas represent the rise of formerly stigmatised groups who remain at the same time trapped by stereotype and material disadvantage. Absolute mobility, they argue, has not led to relative mobility within a society which remains stratified and prone to new forms of social exclusion.

Entangled Sovereignties is a rich volume that attempts to rethink the meanings and modalities of sovereignty in South Asia through the lens of Kerala's historical and contemporary political formations. Focusing on the entwined religious and secular logics, it draws attention to how diverse actors - from deities and communities to state agents and market forces - assert sovereign claims in social, ritual, and political life. Through a multidisciplinary engagement spanning ethnography, textual analysis, and historical inquiry, the book challenges dominant state-centric understandings of sovereignty. It foregrounds everyday, contested, layered expressions of authority that exceed the monopoly of violence, offering a new vocabulary to engage with questions of power, legitimacy, and moral reasoning in postcolonial democracies. From Christian reformers and Sunni traditionalists to fisher communities and communist appropriations of ritual, the book examines how sovereignty is asserted and negotiated across time and domains.

Entangled Sovereignties is a rich volume that attempts to rethink the meanings and modalities of sovereignty in South Asia through the lens of Kerala's historical and contemporary political formations. Focusing on the entwined religious and secular logics, it draws attention to how diverse actors - from deities and communities to state agents and market forces - assert sovereign claims in social, ritual, and political life. Through a multidisciplinary engagement spanning ethnography, textual analysis, and historical inquiry, the book challenges dominant state-centric understandings of sovereignty. It foregrounds everyday, contested, layered expressions of authority that exceed the monopoly of violence, offering a new vocabulary to engage with questions of power, legitimacy, and moral reasoning in postcolonial democracies. From Christian reformers and Sunni traditionalists to fisher communities and communist appropriations of ritual, the book examines how sovereignty is asserted and negotiated across time and domains.

Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, there has been a widespread affirmation of economic ideologies that conceive the market as an autonomous sphere of human practice, holding that market principles should be applied to human action at large. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the ascendance of market reason has been countered by calls for reforms of financial markets and for the consideration of moral values in economic practice. This book intervenes in these debates by showing how neoliberal market practices engender new forms of religiosity, and how religiosity shapes economic actions. It reveals how religious movements and organizations have reacted to the increasing prominence of market reason in unpredictable, and sometimes counterintuitive, ways. Using a range of examples from different countries and religious traditions, the book illustrates the myriad ways in which religious and market moralities are closely imbricated in diverse global contexts.

The articles in this volume build up ethnographic analysis complementary to the historiography of South Asian Islam, which has explored the emergence of reformism in the context of specific political and religious circumstances of nineteenth-century British India. Taking up diverse popular and scholarly debates as well as everyday religious practices, this volume also breaks away from the dominant trend of mainstream ethnographic work, which celebrates Sufi-inspired forms of Islam as tolerant, plural, authentic and so on, pitted against a ''reformist'' Islam. Urging a more nuanced examination of all forms of reformism and their reception in practice, the contributions here powerfully demonstrate the historical and geographical specificities of reform projects. In doing so, they challenge prevailing perspectives in which substantially different traditions of reform are lumped together into one reified category (often carelessly shorthanded as ''wah''habism'') and branded as extremist – if not altogether demonised as terrorist.

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, Islam, Politics, Anthropology offers critical reflections on past and current studies of Islam and politics in anthropology and charts new analytical approaches to examining Islam in the post-9/11 world.  Challenges current and past approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics in anthropology Offers a critical comprehensive review of past and current literature on the subject Presents innovative ethnographic description and analysis of everyday Muslim politics in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North America Proposes new analytical approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, Islam, Politics, Anthropology offers critical reflections on past and current studies of Islam and politics in anthropology and charts new analytical approaches to examining Islam in the post-9/11 world.  Challenges current and past approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics in anthropologyOffers a critical comprehensive review of past and current literature on the subjectPresents innovative ethnographic description and analysis of everyday Muslim politics in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North AmericaProposes new analytical approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim politics