Rethinking Untouchability

Reviews / Votes

CHOICE: Recommended

'Jesus F. Chairez-Garza's extraordinary study of B R Ambedkar is the first extended work situating his oeuvre and career in the context early 20th Century political thought. Rethinking Untouchability gives us a clear sense of how and why Ambedkar's thought should be taken seriously not just in India, but in relation to a range of other contexts. Rather than simply examining Ambedkar's work in terms of advocacy for India's most oppressed communities, Chairez-Garza shows how his development of the category of 'untouchability' related to frameworks of race, space and debates with India's political left. Connecting to a range of political, anthropological and sociological theorists including Boas and Dewey, Chairez-Garza shows how Ambedkar framed his followers' oppression as contingent and adaptable. As a history of political thought, Rethinking Untouchability is a tour de force, requiring us to take Ambedkar seriously in explorations of inequality and injustice both within India and beyond.'
Professor William Gould, University of Leeds -- .