"...by employing traditional archival research, the author depicts a rich variety of non confrontionalist resistance behaviour, previously neglected in the study of the Bihar Kisan's history." Social scientist. " This is certainly a welcome attempt to dig out subaltern voices to tell stories of the marginalised." The Pioneer.

Of late the need to retrieve subaltern voices to tell stories of the marginalised has been felt but efforts in that direction remain invisible hitherto. Attempting to address the lacuna, this book examines archival and folk sources to explore political articulations of Bihari peasants during colonial times. In a move away from the study of organisation, parties and leadership to understand kisan consciousness, the book engages with their articulations in the spheres of culture and religion that together gave kisan politics its meaning. Migration, agrarian 'crimes', rumour, religion and caste are examined as changing languages of kisan politics. The transition from pre-Gandhian mass efforts at constructing political collectivities to Gandhian mass movements is probed through a close reading of popular rumours and interpretations of the Gita by Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Unlike the prevailing opinion about Sahajanand's total 'transformation' from a sannyasi to a radical leader of the peasantry, the study argues that the sannyasi in him never really took leave. The book also looks at the religious realm of the masses, the shudra kisans, whose religious devotion was rarely devoid of a concern for the mundane, whose shraddha for the almighty was invariably accompanied by their shikayat against it. The book concludes with an enquiry into the deliberate denial of social realities embedded in caste cosmology by both the Congress and the Kisan Sabha.
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9788173043789
Publisert
2001-01-01
Utgiver
Vendor
Manohar Publishers and Distributors
Vekt
444 gr
Høyde
225 mm
Bredde
145 mm
Aldersnivå
G, UU, UP, P, 01, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
212

Biografisk notat

Arun Kumar has a Ph.D. in Environmental Ecology and carries with him 8 years of experience in teaching and research in the field of Environmental Science. He has been working in a reputed organisation as a Research Associate since 2003 and has been actively involved in conducting Training Programmes in the field of Disaster Management, particularly water and climate related disasters. He specialises in Forest Fire Disasters and Flood Disaster Management. As an Disaster Management Professional trained in India and abroad, his lectures and presentations on different aspects of Disaster Management are highly appreciated. He has also many research publications on different aspects of Disaster Management and Environmental Ecology in reputed national and international journals to his credit.