Repertoires of Resistance: The Handloom Weavers of South India, c.1800-1960

Abstract

The article describes and analyses contrasting forms of protest employed by handloom weavers in South India at two key points in time - the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Following Tilly, it examines how changes in the state's regulatory regime influenced modes of resistance, but extends this analysis to the influence of production structures and social/cultural factors such as caste. It also maps internal structures of solidarity and the changing role of caste and class in shaping them. It tries to show how repertoires of resistance altered with changes, not just in the regulatory regime, but the broader socio-economic context, and foregrounds their adaptability and dynamism. It explores forms of protest and organization shared by weavers with workers from a wide range of occupations (including factory workers). Above all, it questions the notion of the unchanging character of primordial identities while seeking to provide a fuller understanding of the emerging dynamic of collective consciousness amongst non-factory workers in modern India.