A History of the Socially Excluded in Odisha

The unique contribution of Bis­wa­moy Pati’s posthumous volume is its intimate rendering of Dalit and Adivasi lives. Pati moves away from the method of “everyday” or “spectacular protest,” to explore, rather modestly, survival strategies. What does this complex survival life entail? What are the ways in which the Dalits and Adivasis live and push back against dominant ­orders? Drawing on rich archival and ethnographic material, spanning an exten­sive range of themes, the book places Odisha’s “marginal people” at the centre of its analysis, providing a nuan­ced view of their interactions with the dominant sections.

Colonial Agrarian Interventions