Souls in the Kalyug - by Shankar Ramaswami (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The economic development process in India is one that has induced new difficulties and hardships into the lives of poor and working people despite its alleged achievements. In villages, farming families confront an agrarian crisis, with rising costs of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, low prices for crops in the face of grave indebtedness, and ecological damage to the soil, water, and forests. Due to the scarcity of jobs, many migrate to cities for work. Once in the city, migrants take on and must contend with low-paid, insecure, and hazardous work. And in urban neighborhoods, they deal with congested living conditions, poor qualities of air, water, and sanitation, and separation from their families in the village. Souls in the Kalyug introduces readers to migrant workers who are confronting myriad hardships, and asks how it is that these workers create lives that can become less injurious than their circumstances might suggest. Anthropologist Shankar Ramaswami proposes a three part answer. In a metal factory in Delhi, migrant workers engage in resistance and collective struggle against perceived oppression and injustice. In the city and village, they weave tight connections to one another, building friendships in empathetic closeness and fellowship. In the metaphysical realm, they attempt to resist soul-distorting processes in our present, decivilizing times, or the Kalyug. Through these activities, migrant workers strive towards, and at times realize, elements of a good life. Souls in the Kalyug ultimately presents a nuanced and intimate portrait of migrant workers through a complex study of entanglement and noncooperation in workers' worlds, and in its analysis of workers' politics, within and outside of hierarchical labor unions, interpersonal relationships, and foundational religious and cosmological worldviews"--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

How migrant workers in contemporary India strive toward, and at times realize, elements of a good life

The economic development process in India is one that has induced new difficulties and hardships into the lives of poor and working people despite its alleged achievements. In villages, farming families confront an agrarian crisis, with rising costs of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides; low prices for crops in the face of grave indebtedness; and ecological damage to the soil, water, and forests. Due to the scarcity of jobs, many migrate to cities for work. Once in the city, migrants take on and must contend with low-paid, insecure, and hazardous work. And in urban neighborhoods, they deal with congested living conditions; poor qualities of air, water, and sanitation; and separation from their families in the village.

Souls in the Kalyug introduces readers to migrant workers who are confronting myriad hardships and asks how it is that these workers create lives that can become less injurious than their circumstances might suggest. Anthropologist Shankar Ramaswami proposes a three-part answer. In a metal factory in Delhi, migrant workers engage in resistance and collective struggle against perceived oppression and injustice. In the city and village, they weave connections to one another, building friendships in empathetic closeness and fellowship. In the metaphysical realm, they attempt to resist soul-distorting processes in our present, decivilizing times, or the Kalyug. Through these activities, migrant workers strive toward, and at times realize, elements of a good life.

Souls in the Kalyug ultimately presents a nuanced and intimate portrait of migrant workers through a complex study of entanglement and noncooperation in workers' worlds, and in its analysis of workers' politics, within and outside of labor unions, interpersonal relationships, and foundational religious and cosmological worldviews.

Review Quotes

"This remarkable study of migrant metal workers in a Delhi industrial region is the fruit of more than two decades of reflection, participation and fieldwork. The result is a beautifully expressed account, which refuses to choose between resistance and rationalization in the lives and words of these workers, as they strive for sociality and dignity at the bottom of an extractive pyramid."--Arjun Appadurai "Emeritus Professor of Media, Culture and Communication New York University"

"Ramaswami's fine-grained ethnography takes us deep into the literal daily grind of metal polishers in a Delhi factory to find, under grim conditions, vital countercurrents of humor and playfulness, of mutual aid and collective action; a gripping, dismaying, ultimately heartening work."--Ann Grodzins Gold "author of Shiptown: Between Rural and Urban North India"

"Shankar Ramaswami's Souls in the Kalyug is very deeply researched as well as beautifully written. The book explores the worlds of work, struggle, play and family life with an extraordinary sensitivity. There is even a superb section on ribaldry and humour. I have no doubt that the book will be widely read and widely admired in academic circles in the West, and in academic as well as non-academic circles in India."--Ramachandra Guha "author of India after Gandhi"

"A luminous account of the lifeworld of Indian labor, Ramaswami's subtle ethnography weaves a rich tapestry of affective relations stitching together castes, classes, and communities in unexpected combinations. "-- "Faisal Devji, University of Oxford"

"A magnificent study that conjures a world that is empirically expansive and interpretively deep. It provides a remarkably intimate account of workers' relationships, humor, aspirations, and predicaments. The very best ethnography."-- "Christopher Pinney, University College London"

About the Author

Shankar Ramaswami is Professor of Sociology, O. P. Jindal Global University.