Book Review: Ashok. K. Pankaj and Ajit. K. Pankaj (eds.),Dalits,Subalternity and Social Change in India

This is a welcome and wide-ranging volume that brings together a number of well-known scholars to examine the social conditions, theoretical understanding and social activism of Dalits in India today. Given that the subaltern school of historiography neglected the question of caste for so long, this collection which emphasizes the ‘heterogeneity and multiplicity of subalternity’ (p. xiv) is overdue. I am not persuaded that this volume does deliver a definitive account of Dalit subalternity, but it offers an overview of key issues and debates that need to be engaged with and developed.

It is impossible to do justice to all chapters in such a volume, but a brief review of the contents is required to give a sense of the scope and reach of the book. The introduction by the editors offers an overview of Dalit political history beginning with the late nineteenth century. It analyses three phases of the Dalit movement as ‘a) reformative, b) transformative and c) confrontational’ (p. 9). Whilst there is some reflection on Dalit mobilization elsewhere, the main focus is on Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh here, with particular focus on Phule and Ambedkar. There is little engagement with theory or the Subaltern school, but there is a clear sense that an emerging Dalit middle class is starting to provide political leadership for change.

Part II engages most directly with subalternity. T. K Oommen offers an insightful account of research on Dalits, noting how most fail to capture Dalit experiences, feelings and attitudes. He argues that Dalits do not fit the standard definition of subalternity and calls persuasively for more historical research informed by a ‘view from below’. Hetukar Jha then offers a chapter appropriately called ‘Glimpses of Traditions for and Against Untouchability’, which offers precisely that. Lacking detail on either historical texts or contemporary sources, we get glimpses into the past and religions sanctions for or against untouchability.

Part III offers a ‘new historiography’ as a welcome corrective to accounts that have elided the Dalit perspective. Paramjit Judge offers the study of Dalit autobiographies as a ‘new source of historiography’. He draws on analysis of three Punjabi texts to argue that such accounts intrude a Dalit self that was never allowed to ‘be part of the history and culture of Indian society’ (p. 67) into historical narratives. As such, he views such memoirs as acts of assertion. Badri Narayan then offers analysis of religious bhajans (hymns) and how they circulate within the Dalit public. Verses here are not translated which is frustrating, but the take-home message is that such verses and the Saints that voiced them, articulate dissent and the promise of an alternative way of life which would later inform Dalit mobilization.

Part IV builds on this insight in foregrounding education as a liberator. Ghanshyam Shah offers an informed and informative paper on the interplay between education and class. He demonstrates how a growing diversity of educational provision means that the poor are left further behind as those who can, invest in private education. Drawing on Bourdieu he notes the reproduction of inequality on both caste and class lines. If this chapter is focused on schooling, Madhav Govind zooms in on doctoral students, highlighting the social and institutional factors that make it most likely for doctoral candidates to succeed. Noting systematic marginalization, he suggests that Dalit experiences and forms of knowledge are systematically marginalized.

Part V then turns to changing sociocultural spaces. K. Srinivasalu looks at Dalit politics in Andhra as a space for assertion. He draws on Gramsci to offer a critique of Chatterjee’s distinction between political and civil society. Chatterjee, he argues, underplays the systematic ways in which subaltern movements are divided, co-opted or suppressed in ways that shape Dalit politics (e.g., Lead Dalit activists to join mainstream parties). He also notes how the costs of elections mean that wealthy candidates are preferred leading to a loss of diversity in Dalit representation. A key issue here is gender, and Archana Singh offers an important chapter on Dalit women’s engagement with Panchayat institutions. The chapter overall gives a positive account of rural Dalit women’s engagement, though the dialogues presented flag up continuing caste tensions and issues that are not fully explored. Ajit Pandey and Seema Rani’s chapter offers more insight here. Their chapter on Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh maps how different locales and socio-economic conditions result in differing experiences and attitudes. It highlights chronic poverty for many, but also highlights that even better off and assertive Dalit women may struggle to participate as equals.

Part VI then concludes with two chapters by K. B. Saxena on ‘The Last Citizens of India’. These chapters focus on manual scavenging and the Devadasi system, respectively. Both chapters identify caste inequality and discrimination as a root cause of these practices. Alongside detailed accounts of the conditions of Dalits in these occupations, Saxena details the laws around these degrading forms of labour and why they fail. In both cases, collective action is seen as required and there is a call to shame, shun and isolate those practicing these institutionalized forms of caste discrimination.

It is important to note a number of issues and missed opportunities here. First, the volume, like many edited collections, could be more coherent and integrated. Second, more cross-referencing between chapters and an afterword bringing the contributions together would have been helpful. Third, given the title, I would have also welcomed more engagement with theorists of the subaltern school; with historical accounts; and more analysis rather than description of issues. Questions of subalternity are foregrounded in the first part of the volume, but rather lost thereafter. Fourth, the volume would have benefitted from further editing in places to eliminate typographical errors and aspects of repetition. Finally, it is rather frustrating that a collection devoted to subalterns retails at a price that puts it out of reach for all but the elite. I very much hope that an Indian paperback version is planned because for all these failings, the chapters presented here offer a keen rebuttal of dichotomous readings of subalterns and elites, an insight into how Dalit voices might be retrieved and a sense of the socio-political conditions prevailing today. It will be of interest to scholars working on caste, subalternity and social change in India.