Author: [Ambedkarite, Dalit Movement, Bahujan, Neo-Buddhist movements & publishers] various
Title: [A collection of 121 books & pamphlets issued by Ambedkarite, Dalit, Bahujan & Neo-Buddhist presses ca. 1985-2002]
Description: [Various: Northern India], Various Publishers, 1985-2002. orig.wrappers. 18x12 - 21x13cm, [4875] pp. Most in VG condition. ¶ This is a collection of 121 books & pamphlets, all in original wrappers, all in Hindi, all entirely in Devanagari characters, all issued by Ambedkarite, Dalit, Bahujan and Neo-Buddhist publishers and all concerning the life & teachings of Dr. Ambedkar, the Dalit & Bahujan Movements, Dalit Literature, Scheduled castes, Reservation policies, Neo-Buddhist movement, etc. The earliest dates from ca. 1985. Most are from the mid-to-late 1990s to 2002. Sizes vary: most are between 18x12cm to 21x13cm, and run from 6 to 175 pages. [18 items run from 70 to 175 pages each; 59 items run from 30to 69 pages each; 37 items run from 10 to 29 pages each]. [ "...these booklets get printed on cheap akhbari (news print) paper and contain 50-60 pages. They go not have an attractive get up, print or glossy papers in the contemporary consumerist and capital oriented publishing market...who are the readers of these booklets? One section of readers...comes from the newly emerged middle class among Dalits who are educated & employed in government or non-government salaried jobs...In Bihar...also in the traditional melas of lower castes, a similar phenomena of sale of folk and rural literature in the form of such booklets can be observed...an educated class of youth that has developed remains in search of such message-centered and counter-cultural booklets for discovering & reconstituting its identity" (from: Badri Narayan "Documenting Dissent: Contesting Fables, Contested Memories & Dalit Political Discourse" Shimla, 2001, pages 100-112)].

Keywords: Indian Social Movements, Dalit Movement, Popular Literature, Booklet Publishing, Dalits Neo-Buddhist, Untouchable Caste, Ambedkar Harijans, Political History, South Asia Bahujan