Locating the agency of marginalized people: nomadic and post-nomadic service populations in Rajasthan, India
Using both ethnographic and survey data, this article explores the complex ways in which camp-dwellers on the margins of settled communities in Rajasthan, India, have interacted with state agents, services and systems of knowledge in a manner that articulates their limited but nonetheless significan...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Anthropological Society of Oxford
2012
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| Summary: | Using both ethnographic and survey data, this article explores the complex ways in which
camp-dwellers on the margins of settled communities in Rajasthan, India, have interacted
with state agents, services and systems of knowledge in a manner that articulates their
limited but nonetheless significant agency. I explore three arenas through which the
state's presence is felt in the lives of these marginalized people: access to land, to health
services and to public schooling. I argue that marginalized people are not merely the
victims of centrist powers but exhibit a resourcefulness and flexibility that redefines
group boundaries and the impact of state policies on their lives. |
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