Roots of Indian Subaltern Labour
Interpreting Caste, Occupation and Marginality
Roots of Indian Subaltern Labour
Interpreting Caste, Occupation and Marginality
Description
Roots of Indian Subaltern Labour offers a new examination of the relationship between labour, caste, and social hierarchy in India. By bringing together traditional historiographical debates and contemporary empirical perspectives, it deepens our understanding of how caste has shaped labour relations historically. Rather than merely extending existing scholarship, the book proposes new analytical approaches by engaging with the intersecting domains of culture, gender, religion, and social identity in shaping the material foundations of society and the historical position of untouchables and other marginalized communities.
The book seeks to demystify classical Indian texts-both religious and secular-in order to examine the ideological foundations of hierarchy and the historical processes that led to the crystallization of hereditary, endogamous caste groups. It traces the trajectory of labour history in the Indian context, highlighting the connections between caste-based occupational structures, social discrimination, and the exploitation of lower-caste labour.
It introduces the concept of labour as a “social bottom” category to interpret labour relations in the pre-modern and colonial periods. The book further examines how colonial policies, labour mobilizations, and lower-caste political movements shaped the changing dynamics of caste and labour in modern India.
Table of Contents
Introduction Yagati Chinna Rao and Kali Chittibabu
1 Subordination and Custom: Sudra Labour, Acara and the Brahmanical Legal Order in Medieval Mithila Nisha Thakur
2 Transition from Dom to Shilpkar: The Articulation by Mahasabha Isha Tamta
3 The Caste of Labour: Bauri Miners and the Coal Mines in Eastern India Debashis Mandal
4 Camping, Touring and Begars in Colonial North India Vijay Kumar
5 Dalits, Labour and Education in Madras Presidency: Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Yagati Chinna Rao
6 Was It Caste or Class or Both? Retracing the Trajectories of Labour Movement in Early Twentieth-Century Travancore Raj Sekhar Basu
7 Unseen and Unvalued: The Politics of Humiliation and Dignity in Caste-Linked Labour S. Jeevanandam
8 The Role of Babu Jagjivan Ram in Labour Reform and Labour Rights in India Priyanka Singh
9 Caste, Labour and Peasant Politics in Colonial Andhra Tiasa Basu Roy
10 Discrimination and Exploitation of Dalit Labourers in United Provinces, 1920–47 Becha Lal
11 Revisiting the Cultural Past of the Dalit Subaltern: Shaping Identity, Politics in Contemporary Bengal Sudarshana Bhaumik
12 Evolution of the Engineering Profession in Colonial India: From Artisanal Shop Floor to Social Elite's Profession Vipul Kumar Verma
13 Labouring Castes as Working Class in Colonial Western India: Location and Experiences of Dalits Kishor Gaikwad
14 Handloom Weaving Communities of Colonial Orissa (c. 1850–1912): Caste, Labour and Structural Transformations Chirag Dash
15 Caste and Customary Labour on Irrigation and Railways: Public Works Labour in Colonial South India Kali Chittibabu
About Editors and Contributors
Index
Product details
| Published | 30 Jun 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 496 |
| ISBN | 9789369523993 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic India |
| Dimensions | 216 x 135 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd |
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