1st Edition

Popular Democracy and the Politics of Caste Rise of the Other Backward Classes in India

By Satendra Kumar Copyright 2023
152 Pages
by Routledge India

152 Pages
by Routledge India

152 Pages
by Routledge India

This book examines the intersection of caste and politics in North India and highlights its contribution to the anthropological study of democracy. It argues that the long-term process of internalization of democracy within the caste body has fundamentally changed the workings of the Indian party system. Drawing on an in-depth ethnographic case study of the Gujjars, a marginalized caste group in... Read more

Introduction: Caste View of Democracy 1. The Rise of Caste and Popular Democracy in North India 2. Caste and Region: Gujjars in Western Uttar Pradesh 3.  Myth, Heroes and Hi(stories): Re-imagining of Gujjar Community 4. Rise of Shri Devnarayan Bhagvan: From Lineage Deities to Caste Deity 5. Hero-Gods, Kings and ‘Rebels’ in the Making of Gujjar Political Culture 6. ‘We are a Martial Caste’: Gujjars’ Understanding of Democracy Conclusion: Caste and the Anthropology of Democracy      

Biography

Satendra Kumar is a social anthropologist and senior researcher at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland. He received his Ph.D. from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. He works across the fields of sociology and anthropology of caste, class, agrarian political economy, and political anthropology. His research investigates how marginalized groups understand and engage with politics and the state in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, North India. He has been awarded the British Academy Fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, UK. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at John Hopkins University, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi, Bielefeld University, Germany, University of California, Berkeley, and Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS). He has also taught at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, and Allahabad University, Prayagraj. He is currently Co-editor, Book Reviews Section at the Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS). His recent publications include Badalte Gaon, Badalta Dehat: Nayi Samajikta ka Uday (2018).