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Rethinking untouchability
The political thought of B. R. Ambedkar
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2024
About this book
This book examines the transformation of untouchability into a political idea in India during the first half of the twentieth century. At its heart is Ambedkar’s role and the concepts he used to champion untouchability as a political problem. Ambedkar’s main objective was to comprehend the numerous avatars of untouchability in order to eradicate this practice. Ambedkar understood untouchability beyond aspects of ritual purity and pollution by stressing its complex nature and uncovering the political, historical, racial, spatial and emotional characteristics contained in this concept. Ambedkar believed the abolition of untouchability depended on a widespread alteration of India’s political, economic and cultural systems. Ambedkar reframed the problem of untouchability by linking it to larger concepts floating in the political environment of late colonial India such as representation, slavery, race, the Indian village, internationalism and even the creation of Pakistan.
Author / Editor information
Jesús F. Cháirez-Garza is Lecturer of the History of Race and Ethnicity at the University of Manchester
Reviews
CHOICE: Recommended
'Jesus F. Cháirez-Garza’s extraordinary study of B R Ambedkar is the first extended work situating his oeuvre and career in the context early 20th Century political thought. Rethinking Untouchability gives us a clear sense of how and why Ambedkar’s thought should be taken seriously not just in India, but in relation to a range of other contexts. Rather than simply examining Ambedkar’s work in terms of advocacy for India’s most oppressed communities, Cháirez-Garza shows how his development of the category of ‘untouchability’ related to frameworks of race, space and debates with India’s political left. Connecting to a range of political, anthropological and sociological theorists including Boas and Dewey, Cháirez-Garza shows how Ambedkar framed his followers’ oppression as contingent and adaptable. As a history of political thought, Rethinking Untouchability is a tour de force, requiring us to take Ambedkar seriously in explorations of inequality and injustice both within India and beyond.'
Professor William Gould, University of Leeds
'Jesus F. Cháirez-Garza’s extraordinary study of B R Ambedkar is the first extended work situating his oeuvre and career in the context early 20th Century political thought. Rethinking Untouchability gives us a clear sense of how and why Ambedkar’s thought should be taken seriously not just in India, but in relation to a range of other contexts. Rather than simply examining Ambedkar’s work in terms of advocacy for India’s most oppressed communities, Cháirez-Garza shows how his development of the category of ‘untouchability’ related to frameworks of race, space and debates with India’s political left. Connecting to a range of political, anthropological and sociological theorists including Boas and Dewey, Cháirez-Garza shows how Ambedkar framed his followers’ oppression as contingent and adaptable. As a history of political thought, Rethinking Untouchability is a tour de force, requiring us to take Ambedkar seriously in explorations of inequality and injustice both within India and beyond.'
Professor William Gould, University of Leeds
Topics
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Front Matter
i -
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Dedication
v -
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Contents
vii -
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Series editors’ foreword
viii -
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Acknowledgements
ix -
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List of abbreviations
xii -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 A politics of ventriloquism
24 -
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2 Fighting inferiority
55 -
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3 Touching freedom
79 -
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4 Touching space
106 -
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5 Ambedkar and the left
133 -
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6 Nobody’s people
164 -
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7 The internationalisation of untouchability c. 1939–1947
190 -
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Conclusion
211 -
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Bibliography
219 -
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Index
234
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
April 22, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781526168733
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781526168733
Keywords for this book
annihilation of Caste; B.R. Ambedkar; Dalit; Indian village; liberty and untouchability; M.K. Gandhi; minority representation; Partition of India; racial theories of caste; untouchability
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
