Asserting caste? Bhishti sanitation workers and Muslim caste associations in Jaipur.
The article analyses the ways in which low-ranked Muslims mobilise collective terms for self-identification to avail preferential state policies (reservations). Specifically, it focuses on the strategies deployed by the Bhishtis, a caste group associated with carrying water, to be listed as Other Ba...
| Publicado en: | Contemporary South Asia Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 469 - 483 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=171107086&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 171107086 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09584935 CTM jtl: Contemporary South Asia issn: 09584935 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2023 vid: 31 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 171107086 10.1080/09584935.2023.2238262 ppf: 469 ppct: 14 formats: tig: atl: Asserting caste? Bhishti sanitation workers and Muslim caste associations in Jaipur. aug: au: Rathore, Gayatri Jai Singh affil: Social Sciences, Postdoctoral Researcher Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France keyword: Ashrafisation Bhishti Birādarī caste association OBC sanitation worker Ashrafisation Bhishti Birādarī caste association OBC sanitation worker ab: The article analyses the ways in which low-ranked Muslims mobilise collective terms for self-identification to avail preferential state policies (reservations). Specifically, it focuses on the strategies deployed by the Bhishtis, a caste group associated with carrying water, to be listed as Other Backward Classes (OBC) and claim municipal sanitation work as 'safāī karamchārī'. Reservation policies are instrumental in shaping the Bhishtis' demands and social positions. They reproduce caste-based division of labour and accentuate internal cleavages within the community. While distancing themselves from elite emulation (Ashrafisation), the Bhishti simultaneously deploy caste-based and Islamic identities in their quest for material gains. Caste identity is used instrumentally vis-à-vis the state to avail OBC reservation and demand municipal sanitation jobs. Additionally, it functions as an oppositional identity towards upper class elites within the community. Islamic identity emphasises a work ethic and dignified labour, and enabled criticism of the state for practicing religious discrimination when a commitment to Bhishti employment was officially removed from the sanitation department. Internally, the Islamic identity helps keep the various factions within the community united. In fact, local articulations of birādarī identity evolve across space and time, questioning whether it is fruitful to talk about birādarī and caste. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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