The Making, Ambiguity and Sustainability of Intercaste Accommodations in Rural India. Issue 2 (4th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Manor, James
• Is Part Of: South Asia. Volume 42:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 406
• Page End: 422
• Publication Date: 2019-03-04
• Subjects: Accommodation -- caste -- Dalits -- hierarchy -- negotiations -- violence; South Asia -- Periodicals; South Asia -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 954.005
• DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2019.1583789
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0085-6401

Abstract

Abstract: In recent years, the increasing refusal by disadvantaged castes, especially Dalits (ex-untouchables), to accept caste hierarchies has increased intercaste tensions and violence in rural India. But intercaste accommodations aimed at avoiding violence have also increased, more sharply than violent incidents. This study explains how accommodations are made, almost always between senior Dalit and 'higher' caste leaders. Contrasts and parallels between their calculations and perspectives are examined, along with their views of the painful ambiguities that attend such accommodations. The authority of these senior leaders within their castes is, for the present, crucial to making accommodations sustainable. Changes that undermine their authority may make accommodations more difficult to forge and to sustain, but those changes may also provide a new basis for such agreements.