In India as elsewhere, peripheries have frequently been viewed through the eyes of the centre. This book aims at reversing the gaze, presenting the perspectives of low castes, tribes, or other subalterns in a way that amplifies their ability to voice their own concerns. This volume takes a multidimensional perspective, citing political, economic and cultural factors as expressions of the autonomous assertions of these groups. Questioning the exclusive definitions of the Brahmanical, folk and tribal elements, the articles bring together the empowering possibilities enabled by three recent theoretical developments: of anthropologies questioning the fringes of mainstream society in India; critically engaged histories from below, which problematize subaltern identities; and a conceptual emphasis on everyday ethnography as an arena for negotiations and transactions which contest wider networks of power and hegemony. This book will be useful to those in sociology, anthropology, politics, history, study of religions, minority studies, cultural studies and those interested in social development, and issues of marginality, tribes and subaltern identity.

Based on extensive fieldwork, this volume offers alternatives perspectives on identity formations of subaltern indigenous and marginalised communities in India. Drawing upon the notions of 'centre' and 'periphery', it focuses on their agency in redefining their situation, building their memories, voices and identity, to influence and contest networks of power and hegemony. The book argues that in spite of the impressive developments of the Indian economy, indigenous people and low-caste communities are more marginalized than ever. Exploring the role of narratives, and the agency of religious specialists, the contributors analyze different processes of transformation undergone by subaltern communities, and show how peripheries construct their autonomy to provide alternative models of centrality, reshaping 'tribal identities' which have developed alongside tribal and peasant resistance. The symbolic resistance of indigenous and subaltern groups may be expressed through religious conversion, or by political mobilization, strategies offering alternative ways of empowerment.It questions overarching oppositions such as tradition and modernity, state and community, hierarchy and equalitarian ethos which have formed the conceptual core of previous work in history and anthropology.