Contesting Power: Resistance and Everyday Social Relations in South Asia. By Douglas Haynes and Gyan Prakash. Berkeley: University of Calfornia Press, 1992. x, 310 pp. $40.00.

Abstract

Historians, sociologists and political scientists have long been interested in riots, rebellions and revolutions. More recently, however, they have focused attention upon quieter, less dramatic confrontations between oppressors and the oppressed. They have pointed out that resistance can occur in everday forms. The specific shapes of everyday resistance are both determined by, and an aspect of, various socio-economic and cultural practices. The present volume explores and analyzes instances of everyday resistance in South Asian history and society. The eight essays cover groups from peasants to urban labourers, and from women to merchants. Several of the essays use unconventional sources and methods to supplement archival research while depicting the processes of the sorts of non-confrontational behaviour which contest existing structures of power. Seen as a whole, the volume suggests that the notion of resistance can be rethought and extended to take in and understand large areas of social activity.