The Politics of Caste in West BengalUday Chandra, Geir Heierstad, Kenneth Bo Nielsen This volume offers for the first time a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the making and maintenance of a modern caste society in colonial and postcolonial West Bengal in India. Drawing on cutting-edge multidisciplinary scholarship, it explains why caste continues to be neglected in the politics of and scholarship on West Bengal, and how caste relations have permeated the politics of the region until today. The essays presented here dispel the myth that caste does not matter in Bengali society and politics, and make possible meaningful comparisons and contrasts with other regions in South Asia. The work will interest scholars and researchers in sociology, social anthropology, politics, modern Indian history and cultural studies. |
Contents
| 1 | |
a hidden history of caste and the making of modern Bengal | 19 |
Bhadralok responses to Dalit political assertion in colonial Bengal | 35 |
3 Partition displacement and the decline of the Scheduled Caste movement in West Bengal | 60 |
4 Partition and the mysterious disappearance of caste in Bengal | 83 |
5 An absentminded casteism? | 103 |
6 The politics of caste and class in Singurs antiland acquisition struggle | 125 |
the politics of the Matua Mahasangha | 147 |
the imaginary of the Mulnibasi in West Bengal | 169 |
economic change and the slow change of social identity in rural West Bengal | 193 |
the Kumbhakars of Bengal | 216 |
11 The commodification of caste and politics in Kolkatas Kumartuli | 240 |
Glossary | 263 |
Other editions - View all
The Politics of Caste in West Bengal Uday Chandra,Geir Heierstad,Kenneth Bo Nielsen Limited preview - 2015 |
The Politics of Caste in West Bengal Uday Chandra,Geir Heierstad,Kenneth Bo Nielsen No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
AISCF Bagdi Bandyopadhyay Banerjee Bauri bhadralok bighas Bihar Biswas Bongaon Brahman Byapari Calcutta camps caste Hindu caste in West caste question caste-based cent Chandra chasi Chatterjee Chotanagpur clay colonial Bengal Communist Congress contemporary CPI(M cultural Dalit Dalit politics Dalit refugees Delhi Desiya districts Durga East East Pakistan Economic and Political Gopeshwar groups hierarchy IB Records identity images India jati khet majur Kolkata Kols Krishnanagar Kumars Kumartuli Kumbhakar labour land leaders leadership Left Front Mahishya majur Mamata Banerjee Mandal marginalised castes Matua Mahasangha mobilisation modern movement mritshilpis Mulnibasi murti Muslim Nadia Nadipara Namasudra OBCs organisation Oxford University Press Pakistan Partha peasants political parties Political Weekly politics of caste population postcolonial puja ritual rural West Bengal Samiti Sangha Sarkar SBPB Scheduled Caste Scheduled Castes Federation Sekhar Sekhs Shantipara Singur SKJRC social society status Tata Motors Thakur tion untouchable upper upper-caste domination village West Bengal