Overview

In a world where people are predominantly on the move, mobility has not received as much attention as sedentism. Is it because mobility is a disavowal of a sedentary disposition? Or is it that, as social frontiers, mobile lives disrupt the linear narrative of social evolution and civilization inherent in the idea of settlement? This book engages with the substance of these strains in the lived experiences of mobile populations, in what it means to be recalcitrant and find one's bearings in mobility. Mobility is also transformative as it brings with it sentience, an awareness of the faultline in the system. Drawing on mobile ethnographies from different parts of India - a nomadic community in Kutch, tribal youth in Ranchi, mobile rural youth in Chhattisgarh, the Musahars, an ex-untouchable community in Bihar, migrant labour in Delhi during the COVID-19 lockdown, north Indian Muslim migrants and the homeless in Mumbai, tribal plantation workers in Kerala and the Char dwellers in Assam - the book explores the cadence of dissent and what it conveys about the inconstancy of relentless human pursuits, and the human desire for transcendence, wholeness, and unity. The book explores how all ethnographies are inherently mobile, traversing through lives, contexts, and locales to capture the ever-evolving human condition. Part of the Social Movements and Transformative Dissent series, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of sociology, anthropology, social work, cultural studies, inequality studies, migration and labour studies. It will be of use to social activists and policymakers as well.

Full Product Details

Author:   Ritambhara Hebbar
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge India
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9781032870557

ISBN 10:   1032870559
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   17 February 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures. List of Contributors. Acknowledgements. The Editor’s Introduction Dissent: Migrant Lives and Mobile Ethnographies from India - Ritambhara Hebbar I Dereliction, Disaffection and Endurance. 1. The Rabaris or the ‘Rah-bari’- (Path makers) of Kutch, Gujarat: Traversing through fenced commons - Rachanadevi Ramprakash Vaishnav 2. Dissenting Margins: Paniyan Plantation Workers in Wayanad, Kerala - Soummya Prakash 3. The Stranger and the Sage: The Shifting Discourse and Dissent among the Musahars in Bihar - Priyanandini. II Intersections, Apologues and Affirmations 4. Mumbai, Migrant and Myth Making - Sheema Fatima 5. Homelessness as Active Housing: Migrants Claiming Spaces and Identity in Mumbai - Anup Tripathi 6. COVID-19 and Mobile Lives: Critical Narratives from the Field - Sana Khan. III Mobile Lives, Sites and Inflections 7. Domicile, Migration and Identity in Jharkhand: The Politics of Belonging - Joy Prafful Lakra 8. Migration and Gender Relations in Rural Bastar - Pushpam Kumar Jha 9. Mobility, Migration, Displacement and Dissenting Identities: The Char and the Char Dwellers of Assam - Prarthana Saikia. Index.

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Author Information

Ritambhara Hebbar, a professor and chairperson in the Centre for Study of Developing Societies, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, writes regularly on tribes in India, specifically on culture, self-rule, women and land rights. Her other research areas are sociology of mobility, social institutions and change in India. Her book publications include Ecology, Equality and Freedom: Engagement with Self-Rule in Jharkhand (2011), a coedited book, Towards a New Sociology in India (2016) and a special issue in the Sociological Bulletin on Tribes in Contemporary India (2024).

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