Description
Book SynopsisFor over a decade, Jeremy Rinker, Ph.D. has interacted, observed, and studied Dalit anti-caste social movements in India. In this critical comparative approach to India's modern anti-caste resistance, Dr. Rinker emphasizes the complex interdependence between narrative practices and social transformation in understanding the centuries old caste basis of India's most fundamental of social conflicts. Through the comparative case study of three modern social movement organizations, this book provides a fresh lens to both better understand and potentially transform caste marginalization and oppression. Through theoretical analysis, auto-ethnographic field notes, and narrative storytelling, Dr. Rinker brings the lived experience of modern Dalits to life for a Western reader unfamiliar with the entrenched nature of India's complex caste dynamics. The book is also written for anti-caste activists in that it endeavors to develop reflective practice insights into activists' own sense and use of
Trade ReviewJeremy Rinker offers a fascinating picture of the diversity of anticaste activism in contemporary India. Focusing on the varying narratives of oppression voiced by Buddhist, rights-based, and radical activists, he shows how each can enlighten and empower Dalit communities. Rinker asks probing questions about the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches and about ways of reconciling them. This is a book not only for India specialists but also for scholars of social movements and activists within those movements. -- Clifford Bob, Duquesne University
Identity, Rights, and Awareness engages with anticaste movements and activists to unearth the complexities of social justice discourse in India. It makes narratives of historically persecuted population audible by highlighting methods employed by them to change the existing exploitative social system via establishing new organizations and identities. Above all, it opens new theoretical and methodological debates on these issues among academics world over. -- Vivek Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Table of ContentsIntroduction: At the Center and in the Periphery 1. Caste and Anticaste Identity: The Evolution and Legacy of Difference in Indian Social Life 2. Narrative Violence and Injustice Awareness: Reading Anticaste Activism as Narrative for Social Change 3. Doing Strategy in Indian Anticaste Activism: A Systems Approach to Understanding the Struggle for Identity, Rights, and Awareness 4. Fostering Dalit Buddhist Identity: TBMSG’s Organizing around Ambedkar Buddhism 5. All-India Rise Up: BAMCEF and Educating for a National Identity and Injustice Awareness 6. Narrative Testimony as Rights Agitation: PVCHR’s International Rights Discourse Conclusion: Identity, Rights, and Awareness: The Power of Discourse to Change Entrenched Systems of Oppression Epilogue: The Making of Discursive Change Platforms and Writing from the Periphery as a Form of Resistance towards the Dominant Center
