Mobilizing the Marginalized

Reviews / Votes

Armed with substantial research and possessing intellectual energy to challenge conventional wisdom, Amit Ahuja provides a convincing counterpoint to fallacious understandings of the layered relationship between self-assertion movements and ethnic electoral mobilization. * Telegraph * This book is a brilliant contribution to three central themes in the study of Indian politics. It busts the long cherished myth that castes vote as a bloc or that it is rational for them to do so. It provides the new account of the relationship between social movements and electoral politics. It is also a deeply thoughtful and empirically grounded contribution to thinking about the political agency and subjectivity of marginalized groups. With its innovative research design, Mobilizing the Marginalized has opened up lines of inquiry that will transform our thinking about caste and politics in India. * Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University * Why do lower castes mobilize successfully in some states and not others? In this terrific book, Amit Ahuja shows how the legacies of previous mobilizing efforts combine with party organization (e.g. the ability to campaign door to door, and knowing which symbols to choose) and patterns of party competition to determine whether Dalit politicians and parties will thrive. A wonderful study that combines micro-fieldwork with big ideas. * Steven Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of Political Science, Yale University * This book embarks on an important intellectual enterprise that crosses disciplinary boundaries. No wonder, then, that Ahuja arrives at an argument differing from much prior research that emphasizes how social movements sustain, rather than undermine, allied political parties. Ahuja expertly relies on an eclectic array of evidence, ranging from public opinion data to a survey experiment to sustained field research that includes scores of interviews and focus groups. Ahuja deftly distills lessons from his extensive fieldwork, which helps make this a volume of serious scholarship that is unusually readable and accessible. * Perspectives of Politics * Amit Ahuja's Mobilizing the Marginalized (Oxford University Press) is a brilliant study of the interface between Dalit social and political movements. * Open Magazine * Mobilizing the Marginalized is a theoretically rich book grounded in solid empirics that addresses important puzzles surrounding the social and political mobilization of India's Dalits. Bringing the agency of Dalits to the forefront of its analysis, it joins others studies connecting subaltern social movements with democratic politics and accountability in India. It also speaks to comparative literature on the mobilization of marginalized groups and offers fruitful avenues for investigating the experiences of marginalized groups outside of India. * Berkeley's South Asia Research Group -- South Asia blog * a valuable contribution to the study of South Asian politics. * B. E. Donovan, University of Iowa, CHOICE *