Kaanu

Title

Adivasi Mobilization in Contemporary India: Democratizing the Local State?

Creator

Nilsen, Alf Gunvald

Date

2012

Subject

state

democracy

resistance

adverse incorporation

social movement

Identifier

doi:10.1177/0896920512443574

issn:0896-9205

Source

Original source

Is Part Of

Critical Sociology

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Abstract

This article addresses the political aspects of the structural marginalization of Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) in India. Relating to critical debates about the changing nature of state–society relations in India, the article assesses the argument that the best way for social movements in India to advance their oppositional projects is to harness the state to their attempts to deepen democracy and advance subaltern emancipation. The trajectories of two Adivasi movements in western Madhya Pradesh are analysed, and I discuss the conceptual and political lessons that can be learnt from these case studies in terms of the relationship between subaltern politics and state power in contemporary India. Theoretically grounded in Marxian state theory, the article puts forward the argument that it is necessary to move beyond both anti-statism and state-centrism in order to develop a politically enabling engagement with contemporary Adivasi mobilization in India.

Bibliographic Citation

Nilsen, Alf Gunvald. (2012). 'Adivasi Mobilization in Contemporary India: Democratizing the Local State?'. Critical Sociology, 39(4), pp. 615-633.

Extent

Vol. 39, Issue 4, pp. 615-633

Has Format

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Type

journal-article

Kaanu ID

kb000053