2008/11/01 by Craig Jeffrey, Patricia Jeffery, Roger Jeffery
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #South Asian Studies and Conflicts #South Asian Studies and Diaspora
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0021911808001812
openalex publication_date 2008/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper uses recent field research to challenge the widely held view that a “Dalit revolution” is occurring in North India. Drawing on two years' ethnographic research in a village in western Uttar Pradesh, the authors uncover the growing importance of a generation of local political activists among Dalits (former untouchables) while also showing that these young men have not been able to effect a broad structural transformation at the local level. The authors use this case to identify a need for further research on South Asian political change that links party political transformation to questions of local level social practice and subaltern consciousness.