Ethnic Activism and Civil Society in South Asia
- David Gellner - Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK
South Asian civil society is a site of constant struggle. This volume shows how ethnic activists wrestle with official classifications and the categories of daily, traditional practices and attempt to turn these to their advantage, often bringing about radical social, political, and intellectual change as a result. It also argues that ethnic movements need to be investigated by social scientists as a part of civil society, and it shows how this can be done.
Ethnic Activism and Civil Society in South Asia will be an ideal reference for those interested in ethnicity, sociology, political science, anthropology, and South Asian studies.
This book is a valuable collection of essays which looks at the multi-faceted interactions between ethnic activism, civil society and states in South Asia, particularly India and Nepal and the several tensions and contradictions that characterize these interactions. It is a valuable ethnographic study of the internal dynamics (and their interaction with external dynamics) that shape and mutate ethnic identities in the sub-continent…. Ethnic Activism and Civil Society in South Asia will be useful not just to sociologists, but also political scientists who may be unable to see the multitude currents of ethnic tension that run beneath political waters. It will also be of interest and use to those involved in the study of ethnicity, anthropology, and more broadly, the South Asian region.
These are six well-researched articles on ethnic activism in South Asia. A fairly wide range has been examined…. At a time when South Asia is bubbling over with ethnic aspirations, this is an important collection of contemporary insights into the politics of identity behind activism in South Asia.
The volume…takes a bold and clear but contentious position…. This volume would be of interest to the students of civil society, ethnicity and politics. One appreciable thing…is the uniformly lucid style of presentation of rich empirical material and conceptual issues in the entire volume, which is rare to find in an edited book.
The book is a must-read for those who maintain a profound interest in civil society issues and, yes, it should be sought out by young men and women desirous of becoming activists themselves…the book offers rare insight and a definitive sense of the road we can take for energising social activism.
