Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India
  • Cited by 155
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      05 July 2014
      05 July 2001
      ISBN:
      9781139252256
      9780521443661
      9780521617130
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139252256
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.89kg, 490 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (235 x 160 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.906kg, 492 Pages
      • Series:
      Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society (8)
      Subjects:
      Area Studies, Politics: General Interest, South Asian History, Asian Studies, History, Politics and International Relations
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Series:
    Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society (8)
    Subjects:
    Area Studies, Politics: General Interest, South Asian History, Asian Studies, History, Politics and International Relations
    Information

    Book description

    Nandini Gooptu's magisterial 2001 history of the labouring poor in India represents a tour-de-force. By focusing on the role of the poor in caste, religious and nationalistic politics, and on their contribution to the urban economy, the author demonstrates how they emerged as a major social factor in South Asia during the interwar period. The empirical material, concentrated on Uttar Pradesh, provides compelling insights into what it meant to be poor in the urban environment: exploitation in the workplace, the problems of finding housing, police harassment, social and political exclusion by the elite. Approaching the history of early twentieth-century Indian politics from this perspective, the author takes issue with current interpretations of sectarian and nationalist politics which argue the salience of community identity and the irrelevance of class in political analysis. This book will interest those concerned with urban social history, ethnic and sectarian conflict, nationalism, and the politics of poverty, labour and class relations.

    Reviews

    ‘… this is a very rich book, thoroughly researched and careful in arguments.’

    Ravinder Kaur - Indian Institute of Technology

    'Some readers may be provoked by Gooptu's reintroduction of 'class' as a prominent analytical category. It is a timely provocation.'

    Source: Internationales Asienforum

    'Gooptu conclusively dismantles essentialist views of Hinduism and Islam as well as of the poor. For this alone, The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India should re required reading for final year undergraduates and graduates in South Asian history, politics or religious studies.'

    Source: Contemporary South Asia

    'Gooptu provides a sophisticated analysis … She combines this with a profound theoretical understanding of historical processes … rich empirical material … Gooptu has shown considerable intellectual skill in writing a social history of the urban … there is much we can learn from this study'.

    Source: Journal of International Review of Social History

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.