Untouchable Citizens

Reviews / Votes

This book should help to revise the large (and sometimes repetitive) literature on non-Brahmin politics in the state and contribute to the current debate on the 'democratization of democracy' in India.... An original and valuable study that tells us a lot about growing Dalit activism, undoubtedly one of the most significant developments in India today. -- Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Gorringe has written an important book which impressively documents the hardship and discrimination Scheduled Castes contiue to encounter in India.... The book attempts to document the suffering of the Dalits, and their ill-treatment at the hands of higher castes.... While providing a sympathetic account of the movement, it is to the author's credit that he also notes the failure of the movement to address gender inequalities in Dalit society at large and in the movement itself and also on the cult of leadership practised within the movement.... [This] is a useful addition for the understanding of how democratic politics works in India at a regional level. -- Ethnic and Racial Studies This case study addresses the implications of extra-parliamentary movements for democratic institutions and offers a finegrained study of the ways in which movement leaders within a stigmatized community appropriate constitutional, social, and symbolic resources in the interest of their community's greater inclusion within both political and civil institutions. Scholars interested in social movements, in processes of change in hierarchical relations, or in South Asian studies will find the book of particular value. -- Contemporary Sociology This remarkably useful book on dalit political movements combines detailed interviews with front line dalit activist, with a perceptive facing dalit political mobilisation. The battery references is impressive....This book is urgently needed because very little research exists on dalit movements in Tamil Nadu. -- Economic and Political Weekly