Subaltern Movements in India

Gendered Geographies of Struggle Against Neoliberal Development

Manisha Desai

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781317382782
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Social struggles in India target both the state and private corporations. Three subaltern struggles against development in Gujarat, India, succeeded, to varying degrees, due to legalism from below and translocal solidarity, but that success has been compromised by its gendered geographies.

Based on extensive field research, this book examines the reasons for the three social movements succeess. It analyses the contradictory reality of the deepening of democracy along with coercive state measures in the era of neoliberal development, the importance of the legal changes in the state, the nature of the local fields of protest, and the translocal field of protest in contemporary subaltern protests. Addressing gender inequalities within and outside the struggle, the author shows that despite subaltern women having symbolic visibility in the public spaces of the struggles – such as rallies, protests, and meetings with government officials – they are absent from the private spaces of decision-making and collective dialogues.

This book offers a new approach on the politics of social movements in contemporary India by discussing the nuanced relationship between development and democracy, social justice and gender justice. It will be of interest to academics in the field of Development and Gender studies, Studies of social movements and South Asian Studies.

Index

Note: Page numbers with f indicate figures.

• Action India 97
• Action Research in Community Health and Development (ARCH) 68
• Adani Corporation 104, 108, 118–19, 123, 125
• Adivasi Ekta Manch 66
• Adivasi Maha Sabha 69
• adivasis 1, 18, 41
  • classifications of 52
  • exploitation/resistance history of 50–3
  • Forest Rights Acts and 51–2
  • Telangana movement of 27
  • women 15, 60–3
• Anirudhbhai (activist) 89, 91
• anti-statists 5
• Appadurai, Arjun 11
• Ayengar, Sushma 106, 121

• Banarjee, Mukulika 8
• bandar panchayats 109–10, 111f
• Bayat, Asef 86
• Bhadreshwar Setu (BSetu) 16, 105, 124–5
  • National Forum of Fishers and 112–13
  • Shekhadia movement and 109–10
• bhajan (hymn) 90
• Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation (BAIF) 64–6
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 29, 130
• Bhave, Vinoba 53, 67
• bicycle yatra, Mahuva movement 94–6
• Biggs, Michael 42
• Blecher, Michael 10
• Bouchard, Danielle 18

• Center for Social Justice v. Union of India 33
• Charkha (Spinning Wheel) 79
• Chatterjee, Partha 5, 137
• Chetrit, Joseph 90
• Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini (Vehicle for Youth Struggle) 28
• Chipko movement 28
• choli 84
• Choudry, Aziz 137
• Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 113
• coastal zone management plan (CZMP) 113
• coerc...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary and abbreviations
• Legalism from below, translocal fields of protest, and gendered geographies
• The making of translocal fields of protest
• Resisting displacement, challenging exclusion in Nar-Par Adivasi Sangathan
• From strategic visibility to marginality in the Mahuva movement
• Ongoing engagement in gender justice in MASS
• Towards a gender-just development and democracy
• Appendix: the Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project
• Index