This volume originated in a conference on "Communities and the Nation: Dalits and Adivasis in Colonial and Postcolonial India" held in the Department of History, University of Calcutta in March 2006.
The intention was to explore different aspects of the histories of marginalized communities in India, both in conceptual and empirical terms. Essays on the 'Dalit' experience have been collated in this volume, which is directed both at identifying specific problems and at delineating the fundamental debates on the subject. We intend to shortly publish the second volume, highlighting the colonial and contemporary histories of adivasi communities in India.
The editors of this volume have incurred many academic debts in preparing this volume. We wish to take this opportunity to specially thank Prof. Suranjan Das, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic), Calcutta University, for taking a personal interest in organizing the seminar exploring the issues of identity and nation building in India and in publication of the proceedings. We are also grateful to Dr Suparna Gooptu, the Head of the Department of History for her help in this project. We would indeed like to thank all the members of the Department of History, particularly Prof. Arun Bandopadhyay, Prof. Bhaskar Chakraborti, Prof. Nirban Basu, Prof. Hasi Banerjee and Prof Basudeb Chattopadhyay for their help and encouragement at every stage in organizing the conference and in the publication process. Our thanks to the Editor. Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata and to Shri Hirak Bandyopadhyay for their assistance with the cover photograph. We would also like to thank all the participants at the conference for raising pertinent comments and incisive questions, which made for a lively and enriching discussion. Last but not the least, our heart-felt gratitude to Messrs KP Bagchi & Company, kolkata for their keen interest in publishing this volume. Despite the help received, responsibility for any errors are ours, and ours alone.
Oppressive caste discrimination and the practice of untouchability had characterized Indian society over ages. Even today, despite affirmative action initiated by the state, freedom continues to be restricted for the members of the 'Scheduled Caste communities. The latter, on their part, had been engaged in a long struggle for emancipation, and in recent years have adopted the identity of the 'Dalit". Relegated to the peripheries of the caste Hindu society, Dalit literature, in sharp contrast to the upper caste notions of the social order, of the nation state and modernity, upheld critiques of nation and society. It has indeed been asserted that the Indian nation's slide into 'landscape hegemonies' of the brahmanical upper castes has effectively placed Dalits into a 'democratic prison'.
In popular parlance, the term 'Dalit' represents a wide range of meanings, all of which convey a tale of exploitation and discrimination. Originating in the writings of the nineteenth century Maharastrian 'lower-caste reformer Jotirao Phule, it acquired a new meaning in the 1970s through the radical programmes of the Dalit Panthers. The wide usage of this term replaced the word 'harijan' which had been coined by Mahatma Gandhi in the aftermath of the Poona Pact of 1932. To radical Dalit activists, "harijan' represented a paternalistic categorization of a group doomed to remain in perpetual bondage. In contrast, the term Dalit, which literally meant oppressed or broken and in the beginning, had a negative connotation, is perceived to be somewhat self-ascriptive and is associated with self respect, pride and anger. Since the early 1990s, Dalit movements have spread all across India. These have also acquired a global dimension and have been successful in enlisting the support of the overseas Dalit activists and non-Indian sympathizers.
Over the years, Dalit groups have been vocal against economic exploitation and the marginalized political participation of the erstwhile untouchable communities in post-colonial India. In the recent past, the publication of the Mandal Commission Report and the subsequent adoption of its recommendations by both the central and the provincial governments of India not only led to a caste Hindu backlash but also raised serious questions about the implications of caste consciousness in secular India. Prior to and soon after Independence, there had been major debates as to whether the caste system was conducive or inimical to modernization, economic development, industrialization and democracy. As early as 1921, Max Weber had pointed out that caste system and the Hindu social order would be major impediments to the development of capitalism, a position that was reiterated by a section of scholars after Independence. Others however laid emphasis on the flexible and adaptive nature of the caste system. Yet others believed that caste, in the absence of well-articulated interest groups, would function as a sort of an improvised infrastructure for democracy. Thus, it was argued that caste served as a basis for economic and political competition and in the process came to magnify its worst features.
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