Author : Dwaipayan Sen
Release : 2018-05-31
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 085/5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis The Decline of the Caste Question by : Dwaipayan Sen
Download or read book The Decline of the Caste Question written by Dwaipayan Sen. This book was released on 2018-05-31. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revisionist history of caste politics in twentieth-century Bengal argues that the decline of caste-based politics in the region was as much the result of coercion as of consent. It traces this process through the political career of Jogendranath Mandal, the leader of the Dalit movement in eastern India and a prominent figure in the history of India and Pakistan, over the transition of Partition and Independence. Utilising Mandal's private papers, this study reveals both the strength and achievements of his movement for Dalit recognition, as well as the major challenges and constraints he encountered. Departing from analyses that have stressed the role of integration, Dwaipayan Sen demonstrates how a wide range of coercions shaped the eventual defeat of Dalit politics in Bengal. The region's acclaimed 'castelessness' was born of the historical refusal of Mandal's struggle to pose the caste question.