Contesting Power: Resistance and Everyday Social Relations in South AsiaDouglas E. Haynes, Gyan Prakash Riots, rebellions, and revolutions have always captured our attention. But moments of upheaval do not contrast as strongly with "normal" times as many social historians, sociologists, and political scientists have assumed. Offering examples from South Asia, these essays examine subtle forms of the "everyday resistance" and varieties of the everyday use of power that mark the patterns of ordinary life in the region. These essays are part of a larger effort to understand the history of subordination in India. They focus on peasants and urban laborers, courtesans and merchants, sometimes employing unconventional sources and methods. By depicting a rich variety of non-confrontational forms of resistance and contestatory behaviors, the authors challenge our usual assumptions about the overt nature of resistance to dominant powerholders. Taken together, the essays suggest that we must consider a much wider range of socio-cultural practices if we wish to understand how the world of dominated groups is constrained, modified, and conditioned by power relations. Identifying the "everydayness" of resistance in social life thus reveals a social structure formed from a constellation of contradictory and contestatory processes, rather than a seamless, functional whole. At the same time, struggle is portrayed as something that is constantly being conditioned by the structures of social and political power. As the editors note, "neither domination nor resistance is autonomous; the two are entangled together so that it becomes difficult to analyze one without discussing the effects of the other". |
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action Aiyanar ampalam argued Asian authority avoidance protest Awadh behaviour Bhuinya Bombay Presidency Brahman British businessmen camiyatis caste cliché collective Colombo Colonial India confrontational contested courtesans courtesans of Lucknow crime cultural domination elite essay everyday forms everyday resistance festival forms of resistance gamblers gambling gaming place gender Gujarat headmen hierarchy Hindu historians Ibid ideology industry kamias kotha Labour Officer lower-caste Lucknow Main Inquiry male maliks Maratha marriage means ment merchants mill mill-owners moral movement Mughal municipal nineteenth century non-Brahman officials Oral Evidence oral traditions Paraiyars peasants plot police political pollution power relations practice Ranajit Guha reform religious Report ritual rulers ruling group Scott sexual Sinhalese society South Asia Sri Lankans status strategies strike struggle Subaltern Studies subordinate supreme court Surat Tarabai Tarabai Shinde tawaif Textile tion trade unions Tulsi University Press village wages women workers