Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2238266
Azeem Ahmed
ABSTRACT This article examines the role of caste organisations in the process of social mobility of a marginalised Muslim birādarī, focusing specifically on the Rayeen (vegetable sellers) caste. The article maps the caste panchāyat, association, and Foundation, highlighting their respective role and function in the process of social mobility and political representation. I show that the various organisations complement each other in the overall process. Caste panchāyat relies on the traditional authority of the head of the caste group (the chaudharī) to regulate the internal affairs of birādarī members. The caste association attempts to consolidate the group’s collective identity and foster unity to exert influence in the electoral process. Finally, caste members also run organisations at the local level, such as the Rayeen Foundation, trying to expand the reach of their activities beyond the birādarī, appealing to universal principles. Collectively these organisations strive to claim a higher status for the Rayeens. The article’s contribution is to highlight the interactions between the multiple caste organisations in facilitating the transformation of group identity and the process of social mobility experienced by a marginalised Muslim caste group.
{"title":"Social mobility and politicisation of caste among the Rayeens of Uttar Pradesh","authors":"Azeem Ahmed","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2238266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2238266","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 This article examines the role of caste organisations in the process of social mobility of a marginalised Muslim birādarī, focusing specifically on the Rayeen (vegetable sellers) caste. The article maps the caste panchāyat, association, and Foundation, highlighting their respective role and function in the process of social mobility and political representation. I show that the various organisations complement each other in the overall process. Caste panchāyat relies on the traditional authority of the head of the caste group (the chaudharī) to regulate the internal affairs of birādarī members. The caste association attempts to consolidate the group’s collective identity and foster unity to exert influence in the electoral process. Finally, caste members also run organisations at the local level, such as the Rayeen Foundation, trying to expand the reach of their activities beyond the birādarī, appealing to universal principles. Collectively these organisations strive to claim a higher status for the Rayeens. The article’s contribution is to highlight the interactions between the multiple caste organisations in facilitating the transformation of group identity and the process of social mobility experienced by a marginalised Muslim caste group.","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48113037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2237417
Shireen Azam
ABSTRACT The topic of Muslim caste has been getting space in media discourse and national politics recently through the concept of ‘Pasmanda’ – a term which refers to lower-caste Muslims. As the term gets wider purchase, it is important to question the concept and the category. What is the relationship of the category of Pasmanda with Muslim caste? Which struggles of Muslim lower castes is the term Pasmanda able to lend voice to, and what are the tensions encompassing the category. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, I examine a newly established organisation called the Pasmanda Adhikār Manch to explore how different single-caste associations come together under the Pasmanda banner. The caste-associations of the Halalkhor, Shah, and Nanpuz communities have the difficult task of countering the invisibilisation of Muslim caste not only by the state, but by their own caste brethren. They have limited room to demand anything from the state, considering that it hardly acknowledges the existence of their caste groups and is suspicious of their political claims as Muslims. Coming together under the Pasmanda umbrella helps provide a wider platform for assertion of Muslim caste. However, the category comes with limitations that threatens to undo its purpose.
{"title":"The political life of Muslim caste: articulations and frictions within a Pasmanda identity","authors":"Shireen Azam","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2237417","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2237417","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The topic of Muslim caste has been getting space in media discourse and national politics recently through the concept of ‘Pasmanda’ – a term which refers to lower-caste Muslims. As the term gets wider purchase, it is important to question the concept and the category. What is the relationship of the category of Pasmanda with Muslim caste? Which struggles of Muslim lower castes is the term Pasmanda able to lend voice to, and what are the tensions encompassing the category. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, I examine a newly established organisation called the Pasmanda Adhikār Manch to explore how different single-caste associations come together under the Pasmanda banner. The caste-associations of the Halalkhor, Shah, and Nanpuz communities have the difficult task of countering the invisibilisation of Muslim caste not only by the state, but by their own caste brethren. They have limited room to demand anything from the state, considering that it hardly acknowledges the existence of their caste groups and is suspicious of their political claims as Muslims. Coming together under the Pasmanda umbrella helps provide a wider platform for assertion of Muslim caste. However, the category comes with limitations that threatens to undo its purpose.","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41454889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240634
Purnima Dhavan
This collected volume of essays is part of Routledge ’ s Advances in South Asian Studies book series and showcases some of the emerging trends in South Asian studies, bringing urban history into conversation with environmental studies. The essays approach the subject from very diverse disciplinary perspectives, mostly ful fi lling the promise of these series
{"title":"Urban development and environmental history in Modern South Asia","authors":"Purnima Dhavan","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2240634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2240634","url":null,"abstract":"This collected volume of essays is part of Routledge ’ s Advances in South Asian Studies book series and showcases some of the emerging trends in South Asian studies, bringing urban history into conversation with environmental studies. The essays approach the subject from very diverse disciplinary perspectives, mostly ful fi lling the promise of these series","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47902922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240625
Syed Eesar Mehdi
{"title":"Kashmir at the crossroads: inside a 21st-century conflict","authors":"Syed Eesar Mehdi","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2240625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2240625","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43903195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240627
Anushka Chaudhuri
{"title":"Muslim New Womanhood in Bangladesh","authors":"Anushka Chaudhuri","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2240627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2240627","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49279476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2227591
Ritanjan Das, Kenneth Bo Nielsen, A. E. Ruud
ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing literature on political dynasticism in contemporary South Asia and shifts the focus from the much-debated national level dynasties to the usually ignored dynasties operating at subnational and regional levels. Analytically, it investigates the ‘moment’ of succession, conceptualised as the period when new heirs are actively enrolled in a dynastic formation. Such moments of succession can be perilous moments for dynastic formations, potentially disrupting its routine functioning style. And yet, these moments allow a clear identification and opportunity for analysis of the specific dilemma that all political dynasties have to negotiate. This dilemma can be described as follows: how to reconcile (1) the need to project emerging dynastic heirs as extraordinary beings embodying the special qualities of the original dynast, with (2) the equally pressing need to downplay inherited dynastic privilege – conceptualised here using Louis Dumont’s idea of ‘shamefacedness’ – often portrayed as an illegitimate source of power and influence in postcolonial South Asia. A successful succession, as this article argues, relies on the ability to negotiate this dilemma. To demonstrate this negotiation in practice, the article analyses two cases of dynastic succession: Abhishek Banerjee in West Bengal, India and Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah in Barishal, Bangladesh.
本文对当代南亚日益增多的政治王朝主义文献做出了贡献，并将焦点从备受争议的国家层面的王朝转移到通常被忽视的次国家和地区层面的王朝。分析上，它调查了继承的“时刻”，将其概念化为新继承人积极参与王朝形成的时期。这样的继承时刻对王朝构成来说可能是危险的时刻，可能会破坏其常规的运作方式。然而，这些时刻为分析所有政治王朝必须谈判的特定困境提供了清晰的认识和机会。这种困境可以描述如下:如何调和(1)需要将新兴的王朝继承人描绘成体现原始王朝特殊品质的非凡人物，(2)同样迫切需要淡化继承下来的王朝特权——这里用路易斯·杜蒙的“羞耻”概念来定义——通常被描述为后殖民时期南亚权力和影响力的非法来源。正如本文所论述的那样，成功的继任依赖于解决这种困境的能力。为了在实践中展示这种谈判，本文分析了两个王朝继承的案例:印度西孟加拉邦的Abhishek Banerjee和孟加拉国巴里沙尔的Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah。
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Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2238265
H. Shah
ABSTRACT This article seeks to make sense of the collective mobilisation of sanitation workers, who mainly belong to the Sheikh caste, in Kashmir’s capital Srinagar. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, I document how two organisations—the sanitation workers’ union and the All Jammu and Kashmir Pasmanda Tabqajat Federation—pursue a politics of dignity to counter the historical and systemic discrimination that the Sheikhs have traditionally faced. I highlight the differences between the two organisations. While the former mainly focuses on work-related issues, the latter seeks to translate the politics of Pasmanda assertion in the Kashmiri context. In this process, it struggles to bring about political solidarity across Pasmanda caste groups. Overall, this article also suggests that the Sheikhs’ endeavour to counter invisibilisation fractures the notion of a homogenous Kashmiri Muslim population protesting only against occupation.
{"title":"Organising the Sheikh sanitation workers in Srinagar: from the politics of dignity to Pasmanda activism?","authors":"H. Shah","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2238265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2238265","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article seeks to make sense of the collective mobilisation of sanitation workers, who mainly belong to the Sheikh caste, in Kashmir’s capital Srinagar. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, I document how two organisations—the sanitation workers’ union and the All Jammu and Kashmir Pasmanda Tabqajat Federation—pursue a politics of dignity to counter the historical and systemic discrimination that the Sheikhs have traditionally faced. I highlight the differences between the two organisations. While the former mainly focuses on work-related issues, the latter seeks to translate the politics of Pasmanda assertion in the Kashmiri context. In this process, it struggles to bring about political solidarity across Pasmanda caste groups. Overall, this article also suggests that the Sheikhs’ endeavour to counter invisibilisation fractures the notion of a homogenous Kashmiri Muslim population protesting only against occupation.","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43013271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2229751
S. Sen, S. Bandyopadhyay
ABSTRACT Although many commentators believed that caste did not matter in West Bengal, in recent years it has emerged as a significant factor in electoral politics. The decline of the Left and the rise of the centrist-incumbent have fanned identity politics and the resurgence of caste-based political mobilisation. In this conversation, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, a well-known expert in the history and politics of caste in Bengal, illuminates the complexities, uniqueness and dynamics of caste politics in colonial Bengal and contemporary West Bengal. The interview explores the evolution of the caste-system in colonial Bengal, its differences with the rest of India and the multiple manifestations of caste-based politics in contemporary West Bengal. Bandyopadhyay reflects on the intersection of caste with other categories of class and religion, the lower-castes’ involvement, appropriation and neglect in the political spectrum, and the future of caste and politics in West Bengal.
{"title":"Caste and politics in (West) Bengal: in conversation with Sekhar Bandyopadhyay","authors":"S. Sen, S. Bandyopadhyay","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2229751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2229751","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Although many commentators believed that caste did not matter in West Bengal, in recent years it has emerged as a significant factor in electoral politics. The decline of the Left and the rise of the centrist-incumbent have fanned identity politics and the resurgence of caste-based political mobilisation. In this conversation, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, a well-known expert in the history and politics of caste in Bengal, illuminates the complexities, uniqueness and dynamics of caste politics in colonial Bengal and contemporary West Bengal. The interview explores the evolution of the caste-system in colonial Bengal, its differences with the rest of India and the multiple manifestations of caste-based politics in contemporary West Bengal. Bandyopadhyay reflects on the intersection of caste with other categories of class and religion, the lower-castes’ involvement, appropriation and neglect in the political spectrum, and the future of caste and politics in West Bengal.","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44815334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240633
Namita Barthwal
This collected volume of essays is part of Routledge ’ s Advances in South Asian Studies book series and showcases some of the emerging trends in South Asian studies, bringing urban history into conversation with environmental studies. The essays approach the subject from very diverse disciplinary perspectives, mostly ful fi lling the promise of these series
{"title":"India’s Pakistan conundrum: managing a complex relationship","authors":"Namita Barthwal","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2240633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2240633","url":null,"abstract":"This collected volume of essays is part of Routledge ’ s Advances in South Asian Studies book series and showcases some of the emerging trends in South Asian studies, bringing urban history into conversation with environmental studies. The essays approach the subject from very diverse disciplinary perspectives, mostly ful fi lling the promise of these series","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43169798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-03DOI: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2240719
J. Levesque
ABSTRACT In the early decades of the twentieth century in colonial India, the development of education, the expansion of electoral politics, and the decennial censuses led many caste communities, or ‘caste groups’, to organize collectively in search of internal solidarity and public assertion. Informed by the notions of service and reform, Muslims participated in this new associationism. Among them, the Sayyids – a privileged status group that claims descent from Prophet Muhammad – also formed their organizations. This article compares three Sayyid organizations in India and Pakistan, with two principal aims. First, it brings out the implicit notions of inclusion and exclusion that inform the functioning of the organizations as they seek community preservation. Second, it draws broader conclusions about associational forms available to South Asian Muslims when they act collectively on the basis of a shared social status or caste. The article concludes by delineating three ‘organizational models’ that Muslim caste groups can draw upon – the anjuman, the jami‘at, and the association. Overall, this article illustrates how Muslims frame practices of social distinction in an Islamic language of equality, piety, or service.
{"title":"Anjuman, jami‘at, and association: what Sayyid organizations tell us about associational forms among Muslim caste groups","authors":"J. Levesque","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2240719","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2240719","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the early decades of the twentieth century in colonial India, the development of education, the expansion of electoral politics, and the decennial censuses led many caste communities, or ‘caste groups’, to organize collectively in search of internal solidarity and public assertion. Informed by the notions of service and reform, Muslims participated in this new associationism. Among them, the Sayyids – a privileged status group that claims descent from Prophet Muhammad – also formed their organizations. This article compares three Sayyid organizations in India and Pakistan, with two principal aims. First, it brings out the implicit notions of inclusion and exclusion that inform the functioning of the organizations as they seek community preservation. Second, it draws broader conclusions about associational forms available to South Asian Muslims when they act collectively on the basis of a shared social status or caste. The article concludes by delineating three ‘organizational models’ that Muslim caste groups can draw upon – the anjuman, the jami‘at, and the association. Overall, this article illustrates how Muslims frame practices of social distinction in an Islamic language of equality, piety, or service.","PeriodicalId":45569,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary South Asia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47494579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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