Outcaste Bombay: City Making and the Politics of the Poor

Juned Shaikh

ISBN 10: 0295748494 / ISBN 13: 9780295748498

Published by University of Washington Press, 2021

About this Item

2021. Hardback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780295748498

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Outcaste Bombay: City Making and the Politics of the Poor
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0295748494
• ISBN 13: 9780295748498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Caste, class, and development converge in a booming metropolis

Over the course of the twentieth century, Bombay’s population grew twentyfold as the city became increasingly industrialized and cosmopolitan. Yet beneath a veneer of modernity, old prejudices endured, including the treatment of the Dalits. Even as Indians engaged with aspects of modern life, including the Marxist discourse of class, caste distinctions played a pivotal role in determining who was excluded from the city’s economic transformations. Labor historian Juned Shaikh documents the symbiosis between industrial capitalism and the caste system, mapping the transformation of the city as urban planners marked Dalit neighborhoods as slums that needed to be demolished in order to build a modern Bombay.

Drawing from rare sources written by the urban poor and Dalits in the Marathi language―including novels, poems, and manifestos―Outcaste Bombay examines how language and literature became a battleground for cultural politics. Through careful scrutiny of one city’s complex social fabric, this study illuminates issues that remain vital for labor activists and urban planners around the world.

About the Author

Juned Shaikh is associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.