Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Looking up at caste : discrimination in everyday life in India / Subhadra Mitra Channa -- Theorizing marginality -- The caste system upside down / Joan P. Mencher -- Atrocities and segregation in an urban social structure / Nandu Ram -- Continuity and change in "ex-untouchable" community of south India / Joan P. Mencher -- A reading of "untouchable : the autobiography of an Indian outcaste" / Subhadra Mitra Channa -- On being an untouchable in India : a materialist perspective / Joan P. Mencher -- Conversion of upper castes into lower castes : a process of asprashyeekaran / Shyamlal -- Dalits to benefit from globalisation lessons from the past for the present / A Ramaiah -- Doing fieldwork among the dalits -- Viewing hierarchy from the bottom up / Joan P. Mencher -- Becoming a dhobi / Subhadra Mitra Channa -- Religion and gender -- Dancing the goddess : possession and caste / Karin Kapadia -- The Bible and dalits / James Massey -- Rediscovering god Iyothee Thassar and emancipatory Buddhism / G. Aloysius -- Religion, social space and identity / P. Sanal Mohan -- Dalit women -- Dalit women in struggle : transforming pain into power / Ruth Manorama -- Dalit women : a critical appraisal -- Dalit women's lives -- Caste and gender : understanding dynamics of power and violence / Kalpana Kannabiran, Vasanth Kannabiran -- Fighting the system : dalit responses to opression -- Climax! : the encounter of Dalits and Hindus / Vasant Moon -- Theyyam myth : an embodiment of protest / J.J.Pallath -- Documenting dissent / Badri Narayan -- The satnamis of chhattisgarh / Saurabh Dube -- Dissenting the hegemony by scheduled castes in south India / G.K. Karanth -- Reservations and new caste alliances in India / Walter Fernandes -- Conclusions / Joan P. Mencher.