Political and Social Transformations in North India and Nepal, Volume 2

Northern South Asia – including Northern India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh – encompasses huge ethnic, cultural, and socio-political diversity and has experienced far-reaching social change in recent times. This volume analyses the dynamics of social categories, group identities, and social and political movements in the region. Part 1 examines political and social processes, focusing on the different ways in which the rise of previously subordinate castes has changed the practical and normative bases of local life. In Part 2 four contrasting chapters bring new perspectives, insights, and materials to bear on communal conflict and the rise of Hindu nationalism in India and on religious and ritual change in Nepal. Part 3 deals with various forms of activism including Bengalis in Delhi, movements of bonded agricultural labourers, ethnic groups, anti-dam movements, and the social basis of Maoism in Nepal. Part 4 consists of an 'Afterword' by Jonathan Parry analysing the changing significance of caste in the region. This is second of the two volumes jointly entitled Social Dynamics in Northern South Asia. They bring together scholars from Japan, Nepal, India, Europe, and America in order to deepen our understanding of social change in the region, on the basis of fresh fieldwork reports and new analyses.