Rethinking untouchability
The political thought of B. R. Ambedkar
Will be published approx. on 23. June 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-5261-9784-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book examines the transformation of untouchability into a political idea in India during the first half of the twentieth century. At its heart is Ambedkar's role and the concepts he used to champion untouchability as a political problem. Ambedkar's main objective was to comprehend the numerous avatars of untouchability in order to eradicate this practice. Ambedkar understood untouchability beyond aspects of ritual purity and pollution by stressing its complex nature and uncovering the political, historical, racial, spatial and emotional characteristics contained in this concept. Ambedkar believed the abolition of untouchability depended on a widespread alteration of India's political, economic and cultural systems. Ambedkar reframed the problem of untouchability by linking it to larger concepts floating in the political environment of late colonial India such as representation, slavery, race, the Indian village, internationalism and even the creation of Pakistan. -- .
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 -- .
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
362 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5261-9784-9 (9781526197849)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jesus F. Chairez-Garza is a Senior Lecturer of the History of Race and Ethnicity at the University of Manchester -- .
Content
Introduction
1 A politics of ventriloquism: The politicisation of untouchability in late colonial India circa 1900-1930
2 Fighting inferiority: Ambedkar, Franz Boas and the rejection of racial theories of untouchability
3 Touching freedom: Ambedkar, untouchability and liberty in late colonial India
4 Touching space: The village, the nation and the spatial features of untouchability
5 Ambedkar and the Left: Theory and praxis
6 Nobody's people: Pakistan and the erasure of untouchable politics
7 The Internationalisation of untouchability circa 1939-47
Conclusion
Index -- .
1 A politics of ventriloquism: The politicisation of untouchability in late colonial India circa 1900-1930
2 Fighting inferiority: Ambedkar, Franz Boas and the rejection of racial theories of untouchability
3 Touching freedom: Ambedkar, untouchability and liberty in late colonial India
4 Touching space: The village, the nation and the spatial features of untouchability
5 Ambedkar and the Left: Theory and praxis
6 Nobody's people: Pakistan and the erasure of untouchable politics
7 The Internationalisation of untouchability circa 1939-47
Conclusion
Index -- .