Reviews for Subaltern Studies Reader, 1986-1995

The average rating for Subaltern Studies Reader, 1986-1995 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-06-17 00:00:00 Lawrence Gold Quite possibly my all-time favorite book. The Subaltern Studies Collective was a radical intellectual movement out of Calcutta starting in the mid-80's which redefined South Asian historiography. Their argument was that South Asian history had been framed from an elite perspective: the independence movement of India as we knew it, they argued, was an elite pursuit, and co-opted the rhetoric of more organic popular resistance movements while ignoring their key concerns. An early focus of the study conducted by the Collective (especially in the period anthologized by this collection) was revisiting 19th and 20th-century grass-roots peasant revolts. They argued that the popular portrayal of these "uprisings"-- which connoted spontaneousness, knee-jerk reaction, violence for the sake of violence-- neglected the legitimacy of the peasants' actions, and that there was actually a deep significance to how and why these revolts occurred. The Collective argued that peasants had forthwith been portrayed in mainstream history as part of one resistance continuum with unified concerns and actions, but that the anti-colonial movement was founded on bourgeois concerns and ideals. Saying this was like poking a big stick in the eye of the contemporary government, as the research implicitly questioned the rhetorical base of the post-Independence government. This compendium focuses on challenging those ideas and revealing "peasant concerns" to be diverse, complex, and tragically ignored by the mainstream, even after the end of British rule. All the articles in it are fantastic, of the highest quality, and unblinkingly radical. Not only is the content riveting, though, all the authors featured are at the top of their game, and craft their arguments beautifully.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-05-04 00:00:00 Steve Burgard The book is well articulated and provides a fresh perspective on Indian history. I enjoy the chapter by David Hardiman on Factions. Though at times we feel that the book has gone a little marxist in its effort to put the subaltern into perspective, it can be forgiven while considering the efforts that have gone into creating such a new theoretical framework.