Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India

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Often identified as leatherworkers or characterized as a criminal caste, Chamars of North India have long been stigmatized as untouchables. In thispathbreaking study, Ramnarayan S. Rawat shows that in fact the majority of Chamarshave always been agriculturalists, and their association with the ritually impureoccupation of leatherworking has largely been constructed through Hindu, colonial, and postcolonial representations of untouchability. Rawat undertakes a comprehensivereconsideration of the history, identity, and politics of this important Dalitgroup. Using Dalit vernacular literature, local-level archival sources, andinterviews in Dalit neighborhoods, he reveals a previously unrecognized Dalitmovement which has flourished in North India from the earliest decades of the 20thcentury and which has recently achieved major political successes.