Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the ways Dalit livelihood and modes of mobilisation have been affected by the transformations of the political factions and their modes of accumulation in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to map the tensions between the multiple forms of Dalit assertion and mobilisation and the politico-economic transformations in Andhra Pradesh, India. It looks at the ways Dalit livelihood and modes of mobilisation - from Dalit unions, movements, NGOs and networks to Dalit goondaism and bossism - have been affected by the transformations of the political factions and their modes of accumulation sustained by new economic "opportunities".

The research is based on ethnographical fieldwork conducted in the district of Chittoor, Rayalaseema. This region is marked by a long history of violent political factions (led by Reddys and Kammas) which have "successfully" transformed with the reconfigurations of capitalism in India and beyond: land grabbing, mining, quarries, construction, forest but also private clinics and colleges are now their main rural and urban activities. The wealth accumulated over the last twenty years goes along with a close control over state and its resources. This process happened in a context of decline of most of collective forms of Dalit mobilisation. Once very lively in the 1990s, Dalit organisations have collapsed in the mid-2000s. How does this context shape the access of Dalit labourers to state resources, employment and livelihood? What are the emerging forms of (individual) assertion?