1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808346003321

Autore

Dudley-Jenkins Laura

Titolo

Identity and identification in India : defining the disadvantaged / / Laura Dudley Jenkins

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York, : RoutledgeCurzon, 2003

ISBN

1-280-07496-5

0-203-40193-X

0-415-29680-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

266 p. : ill

Disciplina

305.5/122/0954

Soggetti

Social classes - India

Caste - India

Group identity - India

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-255) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Book Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Identity and identification -- CATEGORIES AND IDENTITIES -- POLICIES OF IDENTIFICATION -- COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL STATE-SOCIETY INTERACTIONS -- THE CATEGORIES -- RESERVATION POLICIES IN INDIA -- OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS -- Part I: State simplifications -- Part II: Political complications -- Part I State simplifications -- 2 Adjudicating identities -- A "SPURIOUS" TRIBE? -- INTERCASTE MARRIAGE -- CONVERSION -- CONCLUSION -- 3 Official anthropology -- ANTHROPOLOGY, COLONIALISM AND THE STATE -- RISLEY'S PEOPLE OF INDIA -- Classification -- Administration -- Politicization -- THE NEW PEOPLE OF INDIA PROJECT -- Classification -- Administration -- Politicization -- NATIONALISM AND THE PEOPLE OF INDIA -- CONCLUSION -- 4 Caste certificates and lists -- IDENTIFYING AND LABELING BENEFICIARIES: A TANGLE OF ADVANTAGE AND OPPRESSION -- COMPLICATING PARAMETERS: MIGRATION, MARRIAGE, ADOPTION AND RELIGIOUS (RE)CONVERSION -- Migration -- Marriage and adoption -- Conversion and reconversion -- INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP PROCESSES: MAKING THE LIST -- CONCLUSION -- 5 Categorizing and counting on the census -- CRITICS OF THE



COLONIAL CENSUS -- A RENEWED EMPHASIS ON CASTE -- CLASSIFYING: A CASTE BY ANY OTHER NAMEĀ¼ -- COUNTING: THE POWER OF NUMBERS -- SHIFTING IDENTITIES -- CONCLUSION -- Part II Political complications -- 6 "Backward" Muslims and "Scheduled Caste" Christians -- MUSLIM DEMANDS FOR BACKWARD STATUS -- CHRISTIAN DEMANDS FOR SCHEDULED CASTE STATUS -- CONCLUSION -- 7 Hindu nationalism and selective inclusion -- ABSORBING MINORITIES: EXPANSIVE DEFINITIONS OF HINDUISM -- EXCLUSIVE INCLUSION: SETTING BOUNDARIES TO HINDUISM AND CASTE -- THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NATION: MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS AS OUTSIDERS -- THE IMPACT OF HINDU NATIONALISM ON MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN DEMANDS FOR RESERVATIONS.

THE WEB OF IDENTITIES AND THE MODERATION OF HINDU NATIONALISM -- CONCLUSION -- 8 Class, classification and creamy layers -- THE MANDAL COMMISSION REPORT ON OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES -- ANTI-MANDAL ACTIVISM -- THE CREAMY LAYER RULING AND THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR BACKWARD CLASSES -- DEFINING THE CREAMY LAYER: THE PRASAD COMMITTEE -- RESISTANCE TO CREAMY LAYER RULES -- CONCLUSION -- 9 Women's reservations and representation -- GENDER IDENTITIES AND INTERESTS -- MINOR MINORITIES: WOMEN'S RESERVATIONS IN COLONIAL LEGISLATURES -- COMMUNITIES AND CATEGORIES: RENEWED DEBATE OVER WOMEN'S RESERVATIONS -- ELECTED BODIES: WOMEN'S RESERVATIONS IN THE 1990s -- CONCLUSIONS -- 10 Conclusions -- STATE SIMPLIFICATIONS AND POLITICAL COMPLICATIONS: A THEORETICAL SYNTHESIS -- POLICY IMPLICATIONS -- CONCLUSION -- Appendices -- APPENDIX I: GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS -- (a) Application form for Scheduled Caste certificate -- (b) Form of certificate to be produced by a candidate belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe in support of his claim (Department of Personnel 1993:396) -- (c) Application for a certificate of eligibility for reservation of jobs for Other Backward Classes in civil posts and services under Government of Delhi -- (d) Form of certificate to be produced by Other Backward Classes applying for appointment to posts under the Government of India (Department of Personnel 1993:487) -- (e) Questionnaire for consideration of requests for inclusion and complaints of under-inclusion in the central list of Other Backward Classes -- PART I General Descriptive Data of the State -- PART II General Data of the Caste/Community Under Consideration -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Can a state empower its citizens by classifying them? Or do reservation policies reinforce the very categories they are meant to eradicate? Indian reservation policies on government jobs, legislative seats and university admissions for disadvantaged groups, like affirmative action policies elsewhere, are based on the premise that recognizing group distinctions in society is necessary to subvert these distinctions. Yet the official identification of eligible groups has unintended side-effects on identity politics. Bridging theories which emphasize the fluidity of identities and those which highlight the utility of group-based mobilizations and policies, this book exposes didactic enforcement of categorizations, while recognizing the social and political gains facilitated by group-based strategies.