Social mobility in Kerala : modernity and identity in conflict / Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Osella, Filippo.

Contributor:

Osella, Caroline.

Series:

Anthropology, culture, and society.

Anthropology, culture, and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ezhavas.

Social mobility--India--Kerala.

Social mobility.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Izhavas are an ex-untouchable community in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Politically and economically weak, stigmatised as 'toddy tappers' and 'devil dancers', and considered unapproachable by clean caste Hindus, a century ago Izhavas were associated with other manual-labouring untouchable castes. In recent decades they have sought to improve their position by accumulating economic, symbolic and cultural capital through employment, religion, politics, migration, marriage, education and have tried to assert their right to mobility, often in the face of opposition from their high status Christian and Nayar neighbours. This study examines how Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity, colonialism and globalisation. Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella highlight the complexities and contradictions of modern identity, both locally and globally. The authors' approach builds upon and goes beyond a south Asian focus, showing how the Izhavas represent the rise of formerly stigmatised groups who remain at the same time trapped by stereotype and material disadvantage. Absolute mobility, they argue, has not led to relative mobility within a society which remains stratified and prone to new forms of social exclusion.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Tables and Maps

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. Introduction

Notes

2. Working for Progress

3. Marriage and Mobility

4. Consumption: Promises of Escape

5. Religion as a Tool for Mobility

6. Mobility and Power

7. Micropolitics, or the Political in the Personal

8. Conclusions

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

adukkulla kanan 100

Advaita Asram, Alwaye 156

agni homams 168

agricultural labour/labourers

35

57

67

70-2

and mechanisation 72

head-load work 214

political agitation 200

union agreements 72

Agricultural Labourers' Union

200

212

agriculture, and prestige 73

Aiya, N. 66

Aiyappan of Sabarimala 182

Aiyappan, A.

8-9

29

66

89

95

216

Aiyappan, K. 'Sahodaran'

198-9

225

226

Alaphuza

50

65

198

All Kerala Fraternity Conference [1921] 87

All-Travancore Joint Political Congress [JPC]

194

195

Alummoottil family

52

85

175

193

and marriages 53

and marriages 82

and marriages 87

and marriages 96

European influence 53

European influence 87

European influence 136

Amani system 51

Ambedkar, Dr

245

250

Amma, Tenganoor

169

172-3

174

Anglican Church 157-8

anpoli

176-7

187

anti-Brahman movements 192

anti-discrimination legislation 29

anugreham

154

167

Appadurai, A. 125

apprenticeships 77

Arabs

7

116

arrack [palm wine]

14

51

Aruvippuram

156

157

Arya Samaj 156

Asan, Kumaran

140

199

Asari, Thankappan 232

asrams

158-60

171-2

186.

astrology

99

113

173-4

208

atheism

155

163

avagashangal

184

186

avarna groups

16

142

218

and education 141

and education 142

caste associations 196

Ayodhya incidents

242

Ayurvedic medicine

27

59

144-5

172

173

Backward Classes Liberation Front 217

Baker, H. 50

Baker, Laurie 149

banana trees

30

31

Bangaladesh 123

Barnard, H. 13

Barnes, R.F. 254

Bauman, Z. 257

Berreman, G.D. 89

Beteille, A.

260

Bhadrakali

158

170

178

183

Bhadrakali temples

168

festivals 32

festivals 160

Bhagavati 202

Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]

219

Bhramarakshassu 178

Bhuvaneswari

bidi-workers 198

big-men

203

251

and political parties 206-8

Bihar 217

birth rates 145

blade

48

108

133

Block Development Office 23

blood sacrifices

159

kozhivettu 178

Bombay riots 242

Bombay [Ratnam] 121

Bourdieu, Pierre

252

and power 37

and power 216

and rational choice 84-5

capital conversion 40

caste and class 11

fact and value 254

habitus 222

looking at fields 13

marriage strategies 91

marriage strategies 96

Brahmans

33

46

179

224

and astrology 173

and caste status 254

and consumption 125

and education 143

and employment 48

and employment 118

and gold 134

and Kottakara Durga temple 185-6

and rebirth 232

and sambhandam unions 83

dominance of 192

houses 24

houses 30

land ownership 2

land ownership 54-5

poor 40

practices appropriated 174

weddings 102

Brahmaswam 2.

breast-cloths 157

British East India Company 49

British Political Residents

49

192

British rule, and social change 195

Brotherhood Movement

Calcutta 76

Caldwell, S. 50

capital accumulation

39

124

and migration 75-6

and status 58-9

and status 64

and status 80

capital conversion

10

36-7

80

118

151

248

and religion 153

and religion 154-5

and religion 167

and religion 168

and religion 170

capitalism

152

Caplan, L. 97

car ownership 2

cash crops 23

cash, preoccupation with 132-5

cashew production 2

caste associations

83

193-4

196

234

caste identity

148

and political allegiance 219

internal fragmentation 218-19

strength of 250-1

caste violence

222-3

caste/caste system

13-14

253-4

abolition of 8

abolition of 15

abolition of 16

abolition of 225

and biological species 224-5

and class 11

and class 196-7

and class 199

and class 212

and class 225

casual labourers

40

71

catholicism 167

centralisation

of commerce 194

of power 191

of power 192

Ceru Mannattu family 1-3

Ceylon 3

Chakrabarty, D.

256

258

chance

58

Channar, Koccu Kunja

Channar, Kuttakkakaran Sekharan

86

Channars 64

Chantakara

23

25

129

146

chapels

24

and consumption 118

and discipline 163

and education 140

and military service 76

and Nayars 200.

and Nayars 244

and Nayars 249

and social mobility 39-40

and social mobility 50

and wealth 39

and wealth 57

and wealth 244

and weddings 104

and weddings 105

and weddings 106

and working women 44

and working women 45

employment 55

employment 57

employment 58

entrepreneurship 53

entrepreneurship 130-1

housing 146

land ownership 53

marriage with 87

migration 57

migration 76

migration 78-9

charismatic religious meetings 167

Chattampi Swamikal

84

Chattan

Chatterjee, P. 258

Chegavar, Aromal 75

Chennai 76

Chennai Medical College 66

Chettabhagavati/Jyestha 202

childbirth 145

childlessness 34-5

children

and health care 145

and long-term investment 145-6

and long-term investment 152

and long-term investment 248

Chovans 189

Christianity, mass conversion to

157-8

233

Christians

22

167-8

249

and caste pollution 222

and caste pollution 231

baptism 233

Bible 243

city, moving to

3-5

6

15

Civic Rights League 211

class

34

and race 11

and race 238

and race 256

and sex 11

solidarity 212

Cochin

coconut production

53

54-5

European traders 50-1

products 14

products 50

coconut trees

234-5

coffee production 49

coir industry

colonial construction

13

and dress 222-3

and dress 238

and ethnicity 10

and family 253

and hierarchy 220-1.

and Hindu violence 222-3

and housing 30

and labour relations 39

and religious practices 155-7

and social interaction 220-1

and status 40

and status 153

and status 210

and urban elites 250

enforcing privileges 241

essentialism 231-6

essentialism 255

inter-dining 199

inter-dining 229-30

inter-dining 231

inter-dining 241

inter-dining 253

pollution 221-2

pollution 223

racially defined 234

solidarity 241

stereotyping 38

stereotyping 66-7

sub-castes 82

sub-castes 95

three main blocs of 29

three main blocs of 254

colonial economy

and modernity 260

and Travancore economy 48-51

and western capitalism 260

expansion of capitalist production 15

expansion of capitalist production 135-6

Communist Farmers' Association 213

Communist Farmers' Union 214

Communist government 64

communist parties

modernism 199

splits 213

Communist Party of India [Marxist][CPI[M]]

197

207

210

213

Communist Workers' Union 214

Congress Party

211

241

consumer durables

117

135-9

consumption

36

and brand names 127

and brand names 129

and brand names 136

and capital conversion 118

and capital conversion 151

and consumer durables 117

and consumer durables 135-9

and exclusion 118-19

and foreign goods 127-8

and foreign goods 129-30

and foreign goods 135

and foreign goods 136

and foreign goods 138

and jealousy 139

and jealousy 169

and jealousy 174

and loans 138

and modernity 127

and non-migrants 137

and poor 119-22

and prestige 118

and prestige 123

and prestige 124-5

and prestige 126

and prestige 127-8

and social identity 118-19

and social mobility 117-53.

and social mobility 248.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-306) and index.

ISBN:

9781849641029

1849641021

9780585426082

0585426082

OCLC:

191935977