Author : Subhadra Mitra Channa
Release : 2024-09-12
Genre : Business & Economics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 219/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Dhobis of Delhi by : Subhadra Mitra Channa
Download or read book Dhobis of Delhi written by Subhadra Mitra Channa. This book was released on 2024-09-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dhobis of Delhi: An Urban Ethnography from the Margins, 1974–2023 is a saga covering more than four decades of interactions with an 'untouchable' caste--the Dhobis (washermen and washerwomen), who are among Delhi's oldest inhabitants. It describes their ways of life, economy, livelihood, struggles, and adaptation to the city's changing demographic, cultural, and politico-economic profile. Utilizing an experiential perspective and a gendered and feminist approach, the author elaborates on the Dhobi identity, which is focused on their community (biradari), and discusses their struggles to be identified as skilled professionals at par with others, rejecting at the same time the political identity of being Dalit. Discarding their earlier subjugated sense of the self, the Dhobis are developing an emerging consciousness as democratic citizens, nurturing ambitions of a future where they will find acceptance as a community. To that end, the book also analyses how their marginalized caste-based occupation and skills ensure for them a livelihood and viability within the market economy. Highlighting the community's strategies and tactics of survival and resilience against all odds, Dhobis of Delhi is thus the story of a city viewed through the eyes of those who live on the lowest rung of its social hierarchy but whose contribution to the life of the city is essential, albeit invisible.
