ABSTRACT

Looking at the early educational activities of the anti-caste movement in the Western Indian Bombay Presidency (1848–1882), the article sheds light on the diverse, and sometimes contradictory social effects of the colonial encounter. The military defeat of the Maratha Empire, the setting up of colonial educational governance, and the emergence of missionary education had disrupted social and religious certainties. In this moment of crisis, reformers turned to education to intervene in the ongoing social transformation processes. From the perspective of the shudra-atishudra – the serving, labouring, and untouchable castes, who formed the lowest stratum of Western Indian society – the new political situation provided a space to challenge the established structures of caste and gender domination. The article starts with a discussion of colonial-governmental and missionary educational interventions, and proceeds to analyse anti-caste radicals’ educational activities against this background. Schools, popular literature, and public performance aimed to create a reflexive knowledge among the shudra-atishudra about their own position in society, and the ways to change it. Finally, the article explores the anti-caste movement’s varying interpretations of the changes in education and society. While anti-caste writers of the 1850s welcomed the new educational opportunities, their voices were highly critical of colonial education policy in the 1880s. In the nineteenth century’s struggles over caste, gender, and education, privileges and exclusions had been reworked in a colonial-modern framework. Still, important steps had been taken towards democratising and universalising Indian education.

摘要

文章审视了西印度孟买总统任期（1848-1882）反种姓运动的早期教育活动，揭示了殖民遭遇所带来的多样化、有时甚至是矛盾的社会影响。马拉塔帝国的军事失败、殖民教育治理的建立以及传教教育的出现扰乱了社会和宗教的确定性。在这个危机时刻，改革者转向教育来干预正在进行的社会转型进程。从首陀罗-阿提首陀罗的角度来看——服务种姓、劳动种姓和贱民种姓，他们构成了西印度社会的最低阶层——新的政治形势为挑战现有的种姓结构和性别统治提供了空间。本文首先讨论了殖民政府和传教士的教育干预，并在此背景下分析了反种姓激进分子的教育活动。学校、通俗文学和公共表演旨在在首陀罗-阿提首陀罗中创造反思性知识关于他们自己在社会中的地位以及改变它的方法。最后，本文探讨了反种姓运动对教育和社会变化的不同解释。虽然 1850 年代的反种姓作家欢迎新的教育机会，但他们的声音对 1880 年代的殖民教育政策持高度批评态度。在十九世纪，关于种姓、性别、教育、特权和排斥的斗争在殖民现代框架中得到了重新诠释。尽管如此，印度教育民主化和普及仍采取了重要步骤。