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Dominant Caste and Territory in South in PDF
Dominant Caste and Territory in South in PDF
Dominant Caste and Territory in South in PDF
Migration and Upward Social Mobility of the Kammas from Coastal Andhra
Dalel BENBABAALI
Abstract: This thesis aims at redefining the concept of dominant caste which was first studied
at the village level, in the context of 1950s rural India, to make it relevant by adapting it to the
contemporary evolutions of a rapidly urbanising country, where social and spatial mobility is
increasing. With this objective in mind, this research explores the case of Kammas, a
dominant caste from Coastal Andhra where they continue to control most of the land, even
though they have migrated in large numbers towards the interior and southern regions of the
Indian peninsula, both to newly irrigated areas and to the cities. They now occupy key
positions in politics and in the economy of Andhra Pradesh, and to a lesser extent of Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka. Taking territory into account, a concept which was developed in Social
Geography, is essential to understand this change in the scale and nature of caste dominance
and to study its regional variations. In the 1980s, when the Kamma-dominated Telugu Desam
Party won the elections in Andhra Pradesh, their control over State power helped them
consolidate their influence. They also dominate the Telugu media and cinema, which confers
upon them sociocultural preeminence. These new attributes of dominance, which are
ideological and not only material, have a hegemonic character. However, this hegemony is
threatened by the growing resistance of Dalits to caste and class oppression, while Kamma
cultural domination is contested in the Telangana region by those supporting the creation of a
State separated from Andhra.
INTRODUCTION
I. Village versus caste: the terms of the controversy on the proper unit of study
1. Dumont’s position on territory and its critique
2. The “absence” of territory in India: archeology of a stereotype
II. Village studies: territory as a mere frame for the analysis of caste relations
1. The village as community: an idealised vision
2. The jajmani system: myth and reality
III. The geographical concepts of territory and territoriality applied to a caste society
1 Social geography and territory: how relevant in the Indian context?
2. Territoriality of the dominant as a strategy of control: for a geography of power
3. Caste hegemony: towards a deterritorialisation of dominance?
II. Military migrations under the Vijayanagar empire: the conquest of the Tamil country
1. War of conquest as a migration factor
2. Agricultural activities on conquered lands
II. Kammas’ upward social mobility, from class differenciation to caste unity
1. Emergence of a class of “Kulaks”
2. Birth of Kamma caste associations, efforts at unification and collective mobility
3. Political organisation and evolution of Kammas’ position vis-à-vis British rule
2
Chapter 5. Territorial expansion and rise of Kammas since Independence
II. Economic diversification and Kammas’ access to political power at the State level
1. A caste that benefitted from agrarian reforms and the Green Revolution
2. The formation of the Telugu Desam Party and the election of N.T. Rama Rao, first
Kamma Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (1983-89)
3. Kammas’ upward mobility since the economic reforms under Chandrababu Naidu
regime (1995-2004)
II. Kamma dominance in urban areas: a comparative study of two regional metropolises,
Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)
1. Presentation of the qualitative survey through interviews
2. Two regional metropolises dominated by the same caste
3. Differences in the nature of Kamma dominance in Vijayawada and Coimbatore