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Qualitative Sociology
Published in: Qualitative Sociology 3/2006

01-09-2006 | Special Issue: Political Ethnography I

Changing Meanings of Authority in Contemporary Rural India

Author: Pamela Price

Published in: Qualitative Sociology | Issue 3/2006

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Abstract

The article explores political meanings in the context of recent economic and political changes in a village in south India. Cultural constructions of political relations emerged in conversations between the author and village informants in Andhra Pradesh. Informants perceived decline in the power and authority of former village lords and talked about the establishment of authority in the new setting. In processes of democratization which had taken place, showing and receiving honor and respect continued as political and social preoccupations. However, deserving honor and respect has become less a statement about political superiority and domination and more about individual moral qualities.
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Footnotes
1
Ex-untouchables, also known as Dalits, are commonly referred to as Scheduled because of their protection under the Indian Constitution.
 
2
States have created reservations in government employment and local elections for “Backward Caste” groups known as OBCs, Other Backward Classes, who are non-Scheduled Caste, low status groups.
 
3
I will just mention the regular electoral analyses that appear in the journal, Economic and Political Weekly, Wallace and Roy (2003), Yadav (1997), Jaffrelot (2003), Inkinen (2003), and Pai (2002).
 
4
Recent work includes Hansen (2001) Ruud (2003), Gupta (1998) and Fuller and Bénéï (2000).
 
5
A pseudonym.
 
6
Forward Caste (FC) designates groups with high caste and/or dominant landholding status.
 
7
I write a non-English word with italics the first time it appears. I am dropping diacritics and using common Telugu spellings in the Roman alphabet.
 
8
The empirical basis of this piece comes from semi-structured, open-ended conversations which took place periodically over six months with approximately 35 people. Among farmers I talked with mostly medium and large landholders in the village, including SCs, BCs, and FCs. A medium size farm holding is between 3 to 8 acres. A large holding is over 8 acres. Among SCs I talked with four men and two women and among BCs, with goldsmiths, weavers, a Kurma man and a washer caste man. Among BC Gowdas I talked with seven women and eight men, including the president of the village government, the leader of Telugu Desam Party members, and a major Congress Party activist. Other partners in conversation were the former Mali Patel and two other members of the ruling group of the former regime. Among the FC Reddys I included two women and six men. Also among the FCs were two Velama men. I usually met with people at their homes and on occasion kinsmen/women, friends or passers-by would listen in and take part in the conversations. I thank Mr. M. Raju, Mrs. Praveena Rao and Mr. Srinivas Dusi for serving as translators. I did not use a tape recorder, but took notes from conversations which I transcribed soon after.
 
9
Tapper (1984) gives a discussion of this ideology and its articulation in village ritual.
 
10
One lakh is 100,000.
 
Literature
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Metadata
Title
Changing Meanings of Authority in Contemporary Rural India
Author
Pamela Price
Publication date
01-09-2006
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Qualitative Sociology / Issue 3/2006
Print ISSN: 0162-0436
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7837
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-006-9020-2

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