Subaltern Studies, Volume VI: Writings on South Asian History and Society

The categories of domination and subordination, briefly enunciated by Ranajit Guha in the first volume of this series, are more comprehensively explored by his long essay in this volume. His contribution also offers a critique of new-colonialist and liberal historiography. Sumit Sarkar’s essay uses a village scandal in early-twentieth-century Bengal as an entry point to analyse the wider contexts of society and mentality. Gautam Bhadra looks at the delicate balance of submissiveness to and defiance of authority as encoded in a long poem written in mid-nineteenth-century Bengal. Julie Stephens provides a critique of recent feminist writings in India. Susie Tharu responds sharply to this in a short essay. Gyanendra Pandey deconstructs the colonial construction of communalism in his investigation of British writings onBanaras. Partha Chatterjee’s essay points out that the religious beliefs and practices of subordinate caste groups are often based on principles contradictory to those of Brahmanism. Veena Das’s piece looks at the achievement of the Subaltern Studies series as a whole.