Electoral Politics, Minority Representation, and Dalit Assertion in Modern India
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 Recalling Democracy: Electoral Politics, Minority Representation, And Dalit Assertion In Modern India Michael Adrian Collins University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Political Science Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Collins, Michael Adrian, "Recalling Democracy: Electoral Politics, Minority Representation, And Dalit Assertion In Modern India" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2236. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2236 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2236 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recalling Democracy: Electoral Politics, Minority Representation, And Dalit Assertion In Modern India Abstract This dissertation examines the entanglements of Dalit (formerly “untouchable”) activists in southern India with the ideas and practices of democracy. The research seeks to understand how democracy is understood, experienced, and put to use by marginalized groups to communicate political demands, represent their interests, and participate in deliberative processes from which they have been excluded. This project chronicles the political transformation of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, VCK or Liberation Panthers Party, from an outwardly militant social movement into electoral politics, charting its transition from boycotts to ballots. Through an ethnography of democratic integration and minority representation, the dissertation analyzes a layering of political strategies whereby VCK organizers struggled to represent Dalit concerns: legal advocacy, contentious street politics, and electoral democracy. Drawing upon more than three years of fieldwork in amilT Nadu, India, hundreds of interviews with party organizers, and a wide breadth of primary and secondary source materials, the project illustrates that formal integration within electoral democracy does not inherently bolster minority representation, but, from the perspective of VCK leaders, it mired their party in a web of complex negotiations that compromised its early platform and undercut its capacity for robust minority advocacy. A diachronic study of the VCK demonstrates that democratic politics does not necessarily erase, but may compound existing forms of inequality as its experience is mediated by prevailing socio-economic disparities premised on caste, class, gender, race, and religion. Altogether, the dissertation nuances our understanding of how democracy is understood and experienced by marginalized social groups, at once accounting for its powerful social imaginary and potent political vocabulary while remaining attentive to its limitations when approached as the principal platform for minority representation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group South Asia Regional Studies First Advisor Lisa Mitchell Keywords Dalit Politics, Democracy, India, Minority Politics, Political Representation, Social Movements Subject Categories Political Science | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Sociology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2236 RECALLING DEMOCRACY: ELECTORAL POLITICS, MINORITY REPRESENTATION, AND DALIT ASSERTION IN MODERN INDIA Michael A. Collins A DISSERTATION in South Asia Regional Studies Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Supervisor of Dissertation _______________________________ Lisa Mitchell, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies Graduate Group Chairperson ________________________________ Daud Ali, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies Dissertation Committee Lisa Mitchell, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies Ramya Sreenivasan, Associate Professor of South Asia Studies Devesh Kapur, Professor of Political Science Rupa Viswanath, Professor of Indian Religions, University of Göttingen RECALLING DEMOCRACY: ELECTORAL POLITICS, MINORITY REPRESENTATION, AND DALIT ASSERTION IN MODERN INDIA COPYRIGHT 2017 Michael Adrian Collins iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the years, countless individuals have contributed to this dissertation in innumerable ways. Firstly, I am deeply indebted to my committee, Lisa Mitchell, Rupa Viswanath, Devesh Kapur, and Ramya Sreenivasan, for their academic mentorship and professional guidance. Lisa Mitchell’s personal scholarship and thoughtful feedback encouraged me to think about alternative source materials, methodologies, and political theory in creative new ways that profoundly impacted this dissertation. Rupa Viswanath’s support and patience with a recently minted undergraduate cultivated my development as a scholar and continues to provide a source of personal and professional inspiration. Ramya Sreenivasan’s incisive, tripartite questions pressed me to consider alternative explanations, consult unconventional sources, and hone my critical eye; moreover, our occasional banter about Tamil politics provided a welcome reprieve from the hectic life of graduate school. Devesh Kapur’s understated wit, committed mentorship, and boundless range as a scholar contributed in untold ways to this dissertation and fundamentally shaped my experience at Penn. In addition to my committee, I am thankful to a broad network of scholars within and beyond the University of Pennsylvania. Martha Selby’s mentorship inspired my decision to pursue a doctorate and offered a role model that I aspire to emulate as a future professor. From my first semester at Penn, Daud Ali impressed upon me a critical approach to source materials that shaped my dissertation in ways that I never could have foreseen. Deven Patel’s eagerness to engage a wide range of theoretical approaches offered a testing ground to explore fresh ideas. Beginning with our first email exchange, Hugo Gorringe has been a consistent mentor who has generously offered his feedback on my work, starting with my undergraduate thesis and continuing through to this dissertation. Ram Rawat has provided an excellent mentor on Dalit studies, both through his own scholarship and in our personal conversations. Nathaniel Roberts’ intellectual acuity and vibrant personality immediately made me feel at home when I arrived in Philadelphia and provided a strong personal influence as this project developed. D. Karthikeyan is not only a dear friend, but an excellent scholar who offered invaluable feedback throughout the writing process. Lisa Björkman’s constructive critiques helped me to frame my ideas more productively and, needless to say, I am grateful to Pushkar Sohoni, who entertained a seemingly endless stream of book requests. iv I appreciate my fellow graduate students in the Department of the South Asia Studies for their camaraderie and strong intellectual community. I must single out Darakhshan Motta-Khan, Sam Ostroff, Samira Junaid, and Phil Friedrich for their support and friendship over the past eight years. I am grateful to Walt Hakala, Katy Hardy, Steve Vose, Ananya Dasgupta, and Sarah Pierce Taylor, who drew upon their own experiences to mentor those who followed behind them. And, of course, to the brilliant students who have entered the program since I joined, Sudev Sheth, Ishani Dasgupta, Jawan Shir, Gianni Sievers, Brian Cannon, Baishakh Chakrabarti, Anannya Bohidar, Samana Gururaja,Timothy Lorndale, Pooja Nayak, and Ammel Sharon, each of whom has furthered this work through their thoughtful comments and feedback. Also, I am thankful to the ever-generous folks at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), who treated me like family and whose constant support and cordiality provided such a warm, welcoming space for intellectual inquiry. And, finally, to the wonderful people at the Department of South Asia Studies, South Asia Center, and French Institute of Pondicherry, especially Kannan M., Zoe Beckerman and Jody Chavez. I benefitted from wonderful faculty in Tamil Nadu, India, who curated my earliest exposure to the subcontinent, most notably, again, Kannan M., V.A. Vidya, J. Rajasekaran, N. Muthu Mohan, S. Lourdu Nathan, and the countless individuals and families who opened up their schedules, homes, and kitchens to me over the years. I appreciate the willingness of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi organizers to share their experiences and reflections on politics with remarkable candor. I am grateful to Isabel Hiciano, who tolerated my itinerant lifestyle and offered unwavering encouragement. And, of course, I must thank my family for their unconditional support of my unconventional pursuits. Pat and Sharlene Collins offered intellectual and culinary sustenance over the years, not to mention a critical eye when offering feedback on my chapters. Agnes and Rey Fernandez began saving for my college education at a time that predates my own memory. My brother Matthew Collins’ development as a father provides a powerful role model. And, I dedicate this work to my parents; to my father, who has provided an unwavering model of love and resilience over years, and to my mother, who entertained the handwritten manifesto of a truant second-grader demanding to be homeschooled. As my parent and my teacher, she invested the love and patience that fostered my development; it was with her that my education began. v ABSTRACT RECALLING