Ants Among Elephants Explained

Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
Author:	Sujatha Gidla
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Genre:	Non-fiction
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date:	2017
Pages:	320
Isbn:	978-0-86547-811-4

Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India is a book by Sujatha Gidla on how India's untouchables (Dalits) struggle to overcome poverty and social ostracism due to the rigid caste system. The book deals with the humiliation and caste-based discrimination which Dalits face in India.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]} The book also looks at the various levels of oppression faced due to caste, gender, and familial norms. Writing in The New York Review of Books, Pankaj Mishra says that the book "significantly enriches the new Dalit literature in English" and that the book is a "devastating critique" of India's independence leaders and the caste politics of the Naxalite movement in India.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Book on discrimination against Dalits written by an "untouchable born in Andhra Pradesh", creates buzz in US . . 9 August 2017.
2. Web site: Memories of an 'untouchable' New York subway staffer . 25 July 2017 . Hindustan Times . 9 August 2017.
3. News: Book on discrimination against Dalits creates buzz in the US . 28 July 2017 . . 9 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170731185743/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/book-on-discrimination-against-dalits-creates-buzz-in-the-us/articleshow/59804487.cms . 31 July 2017 . dead .
4. News: The defiance of an 'untouchable' New York subway worker . 25 July 2017 . . 9 August 2017.
5. News: 'Ants Among Elephants,' a Memoir About the Persistence of Caste . Kakutani . Michiko . 17 July 2017 . . 9 August 2017.
6. God's Oppressed Children. Mishra. Pankaj. The New York Review of Books. 21 December 2017.