Ear to the Ground: Writings on Class and Caste

by K. Balagopal

Balagopal’s writings, from the early 1980s till he died in 2009, offer us a rare insight into the making of modern India. Civil rights work provided Balagopal the cause and context to engage with history, the public sphere and political change. He wrote through nearly three tumultuous decades: on encounter deaths; struggles of agricultural labourers; the shifting dynamics of class and caste in the 1980s and thereafter in Andhra Pradesh; the venality and tyranny of the Indian state; on the importance of re-figuring the caste order as one that denied the right of civil existence to vast numbers of its constituents; the centrality one ought to grant patriarchy in considerations of social injustice; and on the destructive logic of development that emerged in the India of the 1990s, dishonouring its citizens’ right to life, liberty and livelihood. This volume comprises essays—largely drawn from the Economic & Political Weekly—that deal with representations and practices of class power as they exist in tandem with state authority and caste identities.

Inspired by naxalism in the late 1970s, intellectually indebted to D.D. Kosambi’s writings on Indian history and society, and politically and ethically attentive to the politics of feminist and dalit assertion in the 1990s, Balagopal refused dogma and shrill polemics just as he refused theory that did not heed the mess of history and practice.

Kandala Balagopal (1952–2009),a mathematician by training, was associated with the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee for two decades. In 1998, he became one of the founder-members of Human Rights Forum in which he was active till his death.

Genres: Politics, India, Race

487 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Kaśyap · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of articles written by K.Balagopal over the past 20 to 30 years. With his clear analysis, rigor, rich insight, historical knowledge and humanism, he is one of the most important thinkers of Andhra Pradesh. Balagopal was professionally a mathematician and used to teach mathematics at kakatiya university. The radical political atmosphere of Warangal probably turned his mind to social causes, and his mathematical training shows in his rigorous analysis.
Every article here gives us rich insights into the class structure, the nature of caste mobilisation, politics and the nature of capital in Andhra Pradesh.

[Raunak Bose · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been almost a decade since K. Balagopal overworked himself to death. Not even a single day had passed for many, many people in this decade without remembering him and his writings at least once a day. It has become humanly impossible not to be reminded of the void he had left, both personally as well as politically. The necessary political and moral compasses imagined in this book and personified into a single being of blood and flesh is coveted on unbelievable terrains. Having a definitive centre is always soothing and reassuring; this book offers you exactly that. It is almost impossible to exist in the world of constantly shifting centres, despite sometimes being rightfully and painfully aware of the pitfalls of the constant, imposing centre. It is dreadfully painful to be reminded of the fact that Balagopal doesn’t exist to help us to navigate this extreme maze. Extricating oneself from this maze and taking refuge somewhere is not an option that is easily available after reading this book and knowing him. That option simply doesn’t exist. One has to simply learn to exist while trying to extricate oneself from it. Perhaps, that’s how a proud Dostyoveskian is supposed to be. It’s too banal to say that one is sorely missing his intelligence and taking refuge in his writings without him to guide us through it. But, banality is the only refuge when grief fails us to call forth sufficient mournful words.