The Aboriginal Alibi: Governing Dispossession in Colonial Bombay

This article analyzes representations of the Koli as aboriginal in colonial Bombay, and explores the ends to which various actors have narrated Koli aboriginality. It examines the relationship between the historical deployment of the concept of aboriginality and its mediating role in the power of ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative studies in society and history 2018-10, Vol.60 (4), p.1096-1126
Main Author: Chhabria, Sheetal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Caste
Colonialism
Compromises
Deployment
Edges of Sovereignty
Governance
Group identity
Guidebooks
Hindus
History
Identity
Indigenous peoples
Land settlement
Liberalism
Modernity
Native peoples
Politics
Power
Society
State power
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Summary:This article analyzes representations of the Koli as aboriginal in colonial Bombay, and explores the ends to which various actors have narrated Koli aboriginality. It examines the relationship between the historical deployment of the concept of aboriginality and its mediating role in the power of capital and state-making practices in one colonial urban context. The article shows how the Koli, as Bombay's “aboriginals,” gained concessions that served as an alibi for the market-based dispossession of the remainder of the city's population, and also as a pretext for claim-making by peoples with competing collective identities who used the tale of Koli identity and history as a narrative resource to argue for their own nativity. The Koli case helps us understand the co-emergence of the powers of caste and capital in Bombay, and compels us to revisit important, broader questions about relationships between aboriginal or indigenous peoples, capitalism, colonialism, liberalism, and governance.
ISSN:0010-4175
1475-2999
DOI:10.1017/S0010417518000397