{"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}
{"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}
{"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}
{"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}
{"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}
{"title":"Dynastic dilemma in South Asia: influence, networks and shamefacedness","authors":"Ritanjan Das, Kenneth Bo Nielsen, A. E. Ruud","doi":"10.1080/09584935.2023.2227591","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2023.2227591","url":null,"abstract":"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.","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":"43814535","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}
{"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}
{"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}
{"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}
{"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}