A History of Prejudice: Race, Caste, and Difference in India and the United States [Hardcover]

This book compares the historical struggles of two geographically disparate populations - Indian Dalits and African Americans - to examine prejudice in two leading democracies.Gyanendra Pandey, the leading subaltern historian, compares the historical struggles of two geographically disparate populations  Indian Dalits (once known as Untouchables) and African Americans  to examine the multiple dimensions of prejudice in two leading democracies. The book is revelatory in its exploration of the contradictory history of promise and denial that is common to both the official narratives of nations such as India and the United States and the ideologies of many opposition movements.Gyanendra Pandey, the leading subaltern historian, compares the historical struggles of two geographically disparate populations  Indian Dalits (once known as Untouchables) and African Americans  to examine the multiple dimensions of prejudice in two leading democracies. The book is revelatory in its exploration of the contradictory history of promise and denial that is common to both the official narratives of nations such as India and the United States and the ideologies of many opposition movements.This is a book about prejudice and democracy, and the prejudice of democracy. In comparing the historical struggles of two geographically disparate populations  Indian Dalits (once known as Untouchables) and African Americans  Gyanendra Pandey, the leading subaltern historian, examines the multiple dimensions of prejudice in two of the world's leading democracies. The juxtaposition of two very different locations and histories and, within each of these, of varying public and private narratives of struggle, allows for an uncommon analysis of the limits of citizenship in modern societies and states. Pandey, with his characteristic delicacy, probes the histories of his protagonists to uncover a shadowy world where intolerance and discrimination are part of both public and private lives. This unusl“¡