Staff Development Outcome

ESRC Caste out of Development: civil society activism and transnational advocacy on Dalit rights and development

RES-062-23-2227 (PI: Professor David Mosse, SOAS, University of London)

PROFESSOR DAVID MOSSE

Publications/Outputs

2010. ‘A Relational Approach to Durable Poverty, Inequality and Power.’ Journal of Development Studies 46 (7):1156 – 1178. [Top cited article in 2007-2012 from J Dev Studs IF (Impact Factor) Citations – 2 calendar years after pub = 14].

An analytical synthesis for the study of poverty providing the basis for conceptualising caste within a more general framework as ‘categorical exclusion’ and ‘opportunity hoarding;’ and dalit activism as a means to engage in contests of ‘second order’ power concerned with the categories through which the politics of poverty is articulated.This article was the focus of an LSE Inequality and Poverty research seminar (February 2014); and a workshop on ‘Caste as a driver of environmental impact’ (Oxford, March 2014).

2012. The Saint in the Banyan Tree:Christianity and Caste Society in India. Berkeley: University of California Press. 408 pages. ISBN: 9780520273498 (Paperback) 53162 (Hbk) (A Philip E. Lilienthal Book in Asian Studies).

Developing earlier work this monograph incorporates the results of the ‘Caste Out of Development project’, especially: Chapter 3 which involves a reconceptualization of caste as public and political representation of rural power, and Christianity as a cultural space for renegotiation and contestation of caste orders; Chapter 5 as an exploration of the differentiated (by caste) cultural politics of Dalit mobility that feed into a new Dalit politics; Chapter 6 which uses interviews with Christian Dalit activists to explore the shape of recent Christian social activism and its relevance to regional Dalit movements; and Chapter 7 which draws on village-level data to take a view on the nature of change in caste relations over three decades,and the significance of local level activism in the context of a wider politics of caste and religion.The book was winner of Best Book in Hindu-Christian Studies (History/Ethnography) 2009-2013) and will be the subject of Panel discussion in San Diego, CA (November 2014)

2012. ‘Caste and Christianity.’ Seminar 233: 58-63 (Caste Matters: a symposium on inequalities, identities and disintegrating hierarchies in India).

A synthesis of research findings regarding the relationship between caste and Christianity and its implications for the understanding of Dalit Christian activism in south India.

2010. ‘The Catholic Church and Dalit Christian activism in contemporary Tamil Nadu’. in Rowena Robinson and Joseph MarianusKujur, (eds.) Margins of Faith: Dalit and Tribal Christianity in India. Delhi: Sage Publications. ISBN: 9788132104674. pp.235-264

A summary overview of the recent trajectory of Dalit Christian activism in south India, especially the significance of Jesuit social action (or inaction).

2012 ‘Forward.’ In George J. Kunnath. Rebels from the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution in Bihar. Delhi: Social Science Press.pp. ix-xi.

Forthcoming ‘Accommodation, reconciliation and rebellion in the history of Tamil Catholicism. In (ed) Tanika Sarkar, Pius Malekandathil and Joy Pachuau. Christianity in Indian History: Issues of Culture, Power and Knowledge. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

2013 ‘The Anthropology of International Development’ Annual Review of Anthropology 42: 227–46

This review article provides opportunity to place Dalit rights activism as an approach to development within the wider context. In part this is a challenge to the idea of the cultural hegemony of Western development. On the one hand, the Dalit case is one of several settings in which ‘development’ — demanded, resisted, reworked — has acquired a central place within ‘indigenous’ activism or social movements, as a key site for struggles over the terms of recognition and of citizenship. On the other hand, the human rights discourse of Dalit NGOs typifies Tsing’s (2004) “engaged universals”. The Dalit rights discourse shows that development agendas do not only travel; they interact with historical-cultural formations ofidentity, rights, and development, which are then in turn “globalized” through advocacy chains.

2014. ‘Caste and the conundrum of religion and development in India.’ In (ed) E. Tomalin. The RoutledgeHandbook on Religions and Global Development. London & New York: Routledge.

The chapter asks how is it that the division between 'religion' and 'development' (or economy or politics) acquires significance, and how institutions of various kinds have at different historical moments invested in these categorical distinctions in their approach to especially vulnerable people; and with what consequences? The chapter focuses on caste and the condition of Dalits and the social policy of the state, missionaries and churches, activists, NGOs and other international organizations, exploring how this social policy has invariably worked-in distinctions between religion and development (and analogously caste/class, ritual/economic, status/power, church/state) in ways that have an enduring impact on the life chances of Dalits themselves. It traces connections and continuities in a long trajectory of the bifurcation of religion and economy, culture and development, caste and class, and the related processes of disembedding and abstraction whether in Christian mission, development or human rights activism and international advocacy on Dalit human rights and development.

2014a. Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review. Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report no. 91. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission.(co-author with Dhanda, M., Waughray, A., Keane, D., Green, R. and Whittle, S.)

2014b. Caste in Britain: Experts' Seminar and Stakeholders' Workshop. Equality and Human Rights Commission Research Report no. 92. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission.(co-author with Dhanda, M.,Waughray, A., Keane, D., Green, R., Iafrati, S. and Mundy, J.K.)

Two impact-related publications from follow-on commissioned research from the UK Equalities and Human Rights Commission, reviewing socio-legal research on British equality law and caste in the context of the requirement in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to make caste ‘an aspect of’ the protected characteristic of race in the Equality Act 2010. One report examines the meaning of caste and its manifestations in Britain; caste and protected characteristics, such as race or religion or belief; caste and legal exceptions; and caste in the international context. It concludes by considering the legal formulation of caste as an aspect of race and how caste should be defined for legislative purposes. The second report documents a range of opinions from social scientist and legal experts and stakeholder groups (inter alia Dalit, Sikh, Hindu)on the question of caste in the UK, the implementation of new equalities legislation, and potential impacts.

Unpublished papers

(for submission to peer reviewed articles following revision)

‘The appearance of identity politics in a Tamil village’ (for submission to Contributions to Indian Sociology.

[Village return visit-based ethnographic account of social change and caste relations and local dalit activism]

‘Uncertain Networks: NGOs, Dalit Rights and the Development Agenda in South India’ (paper for submission to Development and Change)

In the 1990s, a rights-based approach to development and the revival of Dalit movements and politics converged to produce a ‘dalitization’ of the field of NGOs. This paper examines how NGOs in south India came to adopt a Dalit rights approach and the significance of the NGO form itself as a vehicle for Dalit social goals. It describes the emergence of a Dalit rights discourse in the context of the relationship between NGOs and their international donors to show how regional caste politics intersects with NGO institutional processes. The paper explores some of the issues and debates around a Dalit rights approach. It explains the uncertainties that this involved – social retaliation, political risk and financial insecurity – and specific organisational responses, in particular the emergence of ‘network’ forms.

The paper argues that to make sense of the expansion and later fragmentation of certain Dalit NGO networks, two approaches are needed. The first draws on anthropological approaches to ‘the network’ as a mobilising metaphor, a cultural construct or discursive effect. The second adopts an organisational view of the inter-agency relationships that determine the actual practices of Dalit NGOs. Seeing Dalit NGO networking as a two-level process helps focus on the disjuncture between the ‘narrativised network’ and organisational relations— between development of a discourse on Dalit development and the arrangements necessary to sustain coordinate action. This not only explains the success and vulnerabilities of NGO Dalit rights work, but also how INGO donors – supporting network narratives through fund flows into agencies – can amplify the tension between ‘network idea’ and organisational processes to a point of crisis which brings about policy and institutional change.

Forthcoming Books

(In preparation) Caste Out of Development. CUP or Routledge (co-author with L.Steur, S.Anandhi, R.Krishnan)

(In preparation) edited volume by David Mosse and Luisa Steur on Caste Out of Development in discussion with Routledge for South Asia Series:

Unpublished Conference papers/presentations

‘Religion and Caste: Dalit Christian (Catholic) Activism in Tamil Nadu’ Paper presented at ‘Caste Out of Development’ Workshop, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, December 9-11th 2010.

‘The Saint in the Banyan Tree: Christianity and caste society in south India”. International conference on ‘Christianity in History: Encounters, Engagements and Experiences.’, 2nd - 4th February 2011 at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

‘Dalit rights and the development agenda: the promise, progress and pitfalls of Dalit NGO networking in south India’ Caste Out of Development Conference, Chennai, December 2011.

‘Dalit performance art, cultural politics and the renegotiation of identity’ (with D.Davidappa & A. Packianathan’ASA 2012 Conference, New Delhi, April 2012.

‘Dalit Rights and the Development Agenda: the Promise, Progress and Pitfalls of Dalit NGO Networking in South India’. Panel 8: The Developmental Turn in Dalit Activism: Civil Society Engagement with Contemporary Caste Discrimination, BASAS 12, SOAS, London, 12th April 2012

‘International Donors, Dalit Rights and the Development Agenda’ Conference on the Internationalisation of Dalit and Adivasi Activism, 25-26 June 2012 (SOAS/School of Advanced Studies),Senate House, University of London.

‘Dalit rights, NGOs and ‘networks’ in south India.’ Panel: The developmental turn in Dalit activism: Disquieting caste and capitalism in contemporary India, EASA, Nanterre, Paris, 11, July 2012.

‘NGO networking and international advocacy’. Panel on Dalit communities in India and diaspora: agency and activism, research and representation. EASAS Conference July 25-28 2012 , Lisbon (Co-authored and presented by Luisa Steur)

‘Negotiating caste: public discourse and legal change in the UK’. Conference Paper. 3 April2014, BASAS annual conference, Royal Holloway, London.(with MeenaDhanda and Annapurna Waughray).

Lectures/Seminars

‘Caste Out of Development’/’Dalit rights and the development agenda’. SOAS Anthropology of Development. Seminars. March 2011/March 2012,

‘Religion and the Framing of Caste as a Development Issue ’Presentation at London International Development Centre Workshop on Faith-Based International Development. 9th June 2011

Workshop on ‘Caste and Development.’ Martin Chautari (Research and Advocacy Centre). 1st April 2012, Kathmandu.

‘Dalit rights and the development agenda.’ School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol. 24th April 2012

‘Dalit Rights and the Development Agenda: The Promise, Progress and Pitfalls of Dalit NGO Networking in South India,’ Kings College India Institute Research Seminar, London 16th May 2012.

International conferences/panels organised

2011 International Conference on Caste Out of Development Conference Chennai, December 2011.(Two day conference with invited papers from leading Dalit studies researchers)

2012 Art and Activism in Dalit and Adivasi movements. (Full day panel, 8 papers). Conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA). New Delhi, April 2012 (Organiser with A.Tilche)

2012 Civil Society Engagement with Contemporary Caste Discrimination: The Developmental Turn in Dalit Activism (Full day 8 papers).British Association of South Asian Studies (BASAS), Conference. SOAS, April 2012 (Organiser with L.Steur)

2012 The Internationalisation of Dalit and Adivasi Activism. Conference (SOAS & School of Advanced Studies, Senate House, June 2012 (Organiser with L.Steur & C. Lennox)

2012 The Development Turn in Dalit Activism: Disquieting Caste and Capitalism in Contemporary India, Panel W067 (10 papers, One Day). European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), University of Nanterre, Paris, July 2012. (Organiser with S.AnandhiL.Steur)

2013 JhaiBhimComrad: A documentary film, talk and discussion with the director Anand Patwardhan, SOAS, Saturday 23 February

Data sets

Prof Mosse has some 100+ hours of recorded interviews to process, which will contribute to future analysis. He also has data from structured interview-based survey of opinions and experience of caste inequality from 234 Dalit men and women of across ages and (sub)castes from two contrasting villages in Sivagangai District of Tamil Nadu, including a smaller sample of non-Dalit caste opinion. These data contain highly sensitive information and were gathered on condition of confidentiality and at present are only selectively archived with UK Data Store.

Impact

The ‘Caste Out of Development’ project has brought into existence a researcher-activist network with a focused agenda.

Through this research David Mosse has himself build up fruitful collaborative networks with Dalit NGOs, clergy, activists and Dalit intellectuals. He has constructively renewed connections with NGO networks in south India (where he earlier worked as Oxfam Regional Representative, 1987-1991) and nationally. The research has equally brought productive engagement with Indian state agencies and new reasons to engage with various international development organisations with which he is familiar (DFID, World Bank, Oxfam, Action Aid, Ford Foundation) as well as several that he has interacted with for the first time (UNICEF, UNDP).

Key impacts/activities

  • ‘Caste Out of Development’ led to new cross-disciplinary research collaborations:
  • the ‘Caste in Britain’ project with legal scholars has advanced a new agenda on caste and the law in UK and internationally;
  • work with psychiatrist (S. Jhadav, UCL) on poverty, stigma and mental health (ASA Decennial 2014, forthcoming paper ‘Poverty, untouchability and mental health: some initial explorations’)
  • .Work on transnational advocacy on Dalit rights and the campaigns on caste discrimination and the law in the UK led to policy research shaping the legal definition of caste and other aspects of the implementation of changes to the Equalities Act (2010) to include caste as an aspect of race:
  • Equalities and Human Rights Commission research informing Government Equalities Office (GEO) and government’s public consultation and development of secondary legislation on caste discrimination.
  • Presentation to All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dalits (April 2014); and APPG.Roundtable (May 2014) with key NGOs and UK-based Dalit groups (at invitation of Lord Alton, Lord Harries).
  • Speaking at Manchester Law School Panel debate with lawyers on caste and Equality Act 2010 and the implications of current high case (Tirkey v Chandok) (1 May 2014).
  • Inputs to development agency convened ‘roundtables’ (e.g., DFID on caste, Delhi 2011; ODI/ World Bank Social Development Department on ‘social inclusion’, London 2012); and to NGO work on caste and poverty via feedback workshops in Delhi and Chennai.
  • Member of Board of Trustees for UK NGO supporting Dalit and women’s grassroots organisations (Village Service Trust); active membership of the Dalit Solidarity Network- UK.
  • The CoD project has also fed into the supervision of a PhD student working on Arunthathiyar commination practices (Murali Shanmugavelan), and the mentoring of two Charles Wallace Fellows (visiting scholars from India) working on Dalit/caste issues.