| Social Mobility In Kerala: Modernity And Identity In Conflict Contributor(s): Osella, Filippo (Author), Caroline, Filippo (Author) |
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ISBN: 074531693X ISBN-13: 9780745316932 Publisher: Pluto Press (UK) OUR PRICE: $38.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2000 Annotation: This book melds rich ethnography with an understanding of recent history to understand the issues surrounding upward social mobility, modernity and changing identities. The authors examine a much-studied group in anthropology: the Izvhavas of Kerala in southern India. The Izvhavas, a relatively low-ranking caste in the sociologically untypical state of Kerala (where roughly a third are Christians, a third Muslims, and a third Hindus), have to varying degrees and with varying success tried to improve their situation. A hundred years ago, Izhavas were considered untouchable and were associated with impure pursuits such as toddy tapping and devil dancing. They have sought to elevate their position in various symbolically-laden fields - employment, religion, politics, migration, friendships - and have tried to assert their right to mobility, often in the face of opposition from their high status Christian and Nayar neighbors.Izhavas, through repudiation of their nineteenth-century identity and search for mobility, have come into complex relationships with modernity and colonialism, defining themselves as - and becoming defined as - a group with a specific relationship to processes of 'development' and 'progress' within a global view. Their story highlights the complexities and contradictions of modern identity in both local and global terms. The authors' approach both typifies and moves beyond a narrow south Asian focus, in that the Izhavas represent the rise of formerly stigmatized groups who remain at the same time trapped by stereotype and material disadvantage. Absolute mobility has not led to relative mobility within a society, which remains highly stratified and prone under modernityto new forms of social exclusion. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social |
| Dewey: 305.513 |
| LCCN: 00009109 |
| Series: Anthropology, Culture and Society (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.75" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.94 lbs) 336 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Essential reading for Indianists and those engaged in the comparative study of modernity, be they anthropologists, historians, or sociologists' - Ethnos 'This comprehensive ethnographic study by two social anthropologists of a community in the southern Indian state of Kerala provides a deep understanding of Keralite society, setting it within a complex analytical framework that goes far beyond most previous literature on the area.' - International Review of Social History |
Contributor Bio(s): Osella, Filippo: - Filippo Osella is the Professor Of Anthropology And South Asian Studies at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Social Mobility in Kerala (Pluto Press, 2000) and the editor of Religion and the morality of the market (CUP, 2017). Caroline Osella is a Reader in Anthropology with a specialism in South Asia. She teaches at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is the author of Social Mobility in Kerala (Pluto Press, 2000). |