
Panthers in Parliament
Dalits, Caste, and Political Power in South India
Hugo Gorringe(Author)
OUP India (Publisher)
Published on 25. May 2017
Book
Hardback
424 pages
978-0-19-946815-7 (ISBN)
Description
In the late 1990s, a group representing Dalits in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu called the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchior Liberation Panthers Partyshook the established social and political structures. For over a decade they boycotted elections, questioning the legitimacy of institutions that failed to implement constitutional provisions and allowed casteism to persist. The Panthers conducted mass awareness campaigns for Dalit liberation, instilling a sense of empowerment in a hitherto marginalized population.
Eventually, labelled as extremists and alienated by the State, the Panthers were pushed into electoral politics. How the Panthers mobilized themselves and managed to effect changes in Tamil Nadus politics is the main premise of this ethnographic account. Looking into the processes of transition therein, the author discusses how caste considerations inform and underpin politics in the state and whether the Panthers will erode or adapt to hegemonic caste power. With its micro-empirical focus on identity politics in Tamil Nadu, the book also explores diverse dimensions of mobilization and ways in which contentious politics alters political regimes.
Eventually, labelled as extremists and alienated by the State, the Panthers were pushed into electoral politics. How the Panthers mobilized themselves and managed to effect changes in Tamil Nadus politics is the main premise of this ethnographic account. Looking into the processes of transition therein, the author discusses how caste considerations inform and underpin politics in the state and whether the Panthers will erode or adapt to hegemonic caste power. With its micro-empirical focus on identity politics in Tamil Nadu, the book also explores diverse dimensions of mobilization and ways in which contentious politics alters political regimes.
Reviews / Votes
The great strength of the monograph lies in the author's mastery of the details of Tamil Nadu politics and of the place of Dalit activists within them. Panthers in Parliament will be essential reading for anyone interested in Dalit issues, but students of social movements more generally will find it a highly rewarding (and perhaps unusual) ethnographic case study of institutionalization. * David N. Gellner, University of Oxford, American Journal of Sociology *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Delhi
India
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 225 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
591 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-946815-7 (9780199468157)
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
Hugo Gorringe is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Content
- Foreword by Surinder S. Jodhka
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Introduction: An Elegy for a Lost Movement?
- Part I: From Movement to Party
- 1: Institutionalizing Caste Politics in Tamil Nadu
- 2: Twenty-First Century Casteism? Discrimination, Hierarchy, and Politics in Contemporary Tamil Nadu
- 3: From Protest to Politics: The Institutionalization of the Panthers
- Part II: The Process of Institutionalization
- 4: Doing Tamil Politics: Informal Institutionalization
- 5: Symbolism over Substance? Symbols, Space, and Power
- Part III: Co-option and Compromise: Taming the Panthers?
- 6: The Paradox of Parali Puthur: Leadership in Question
- 7: The 'Sewer of Politics': Corruption, Co-optation, and Compromise
- Part IV: Beyond Institutional Politics
- 8: Subnational Nationalism: Reinventing Tamilness from Below?
- 9: The Power of the Panthers: The Outcomes of Dalit Politics
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author