Labour, Diaspora and Marginality traces the intellectual legacy of Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (1938–2019), a towering figure in the field of Indian history. He was an exceptional intellectual, infused with ethical sensibility and humanism. Beginning with his earlier forte in economic history, he eventually contributed to a significant trend in labour studies and gave shape to that turn within the specific context of India and other postcolonial nations. He left an indelible impression across the sub-_elds within history such as education, and political, socio-cultural and intellectual histories of India.

Professor Bhattacharya remains a great inspiration to generations of historians. This volume puts together articles by his former students and admirers that focus upon economic and cultural histories, labour migration, Indian diaspora, Dalit pasts, and Dalit identity through various protest movements and patterns of caste structure. The volume also delves into some social, cultural, literary and political trends in Indian history, such as the different versions of the revolt of 1857 as reflected in literary texts, historical studies on Indian education, and Gandhi’s idea of the Champaran Satyagraha.

Contents:

List of Plates

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1. Historiography of Indian Education and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya’s Contribution
2. Telugu Labour Diaspora in South-East Asia: A Study of Burma and Malaysia
3. Migration and Crime in a Colonial City: Migrant Workers and the Goondas Act of Calcutta
4. The Congress, Capital and Labour, 1935–1939
5. Historical and Cultural Conceptions of the Elemental Body
6. Presenting the Problems of Writing Dalit History: The Myriad Aspects of the Pulaya Protest Movement in Princely Travancore
7. The Champaran Satyagraha and the Making of the idea of India
8. Shifting Images of a Folk Deity: Role of Mass Media
9. The Historical Roots of Dalit Consciousness: A Study in Telugu Region
10. From Foundations to turmoil: Dalit Movement in Hyderabad, 1906–1946
11. Contextualising Risley’s Ethnographic Survey in terms of Ethnicity of Caste and Hierarchy in Colonial Bengal, (1870–1910)

12. Avatars of ‘1857’ in Hindi Writings: A Reflection
13. French Legacy in Pondicherry: A Study of Select Monuments and their History
14. The Growth of Cotton Mills in Western India and Colonial Economic policy, 1854–1894

Appendix: An Academic Sketch and Selected 

Writings of  Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya

Bibliography

Notes on Editors and Contributors

Index