Jacob Riis, "HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES"

How the other half lives, a fascinating book written by Jacob Riis, more fascinating fact is a book written in the year 1890, mostly deal with the poor and underclass and their housing needs, the tenements and landlords and government policies. The whole book is available in an hypertext format, this format was aimed to reproduce the whole book. Look at the 130-140 year old images and pictures of New York residential buildings and the graphics of people.

Here is the introduction of the Book and a link to the whole book in hypertext format.
"Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives"

Introduction:

1. LONG ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and crowding below were so great, and the consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to inquiring what was the matter. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.

2. In New York, the youngest of the world's great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain. Greed and reckless selfishness wrought like results here as in the cities of older lands. "When the great riot occurred in 1863," so reads the testimony of the Secretary of the Prison Association of New York before a legislative committee appointed to investigate causes of the increase of crime in the State twenty-five years ago, "every hiding-place and nursery of crime discovered itself by immediate and active participation in the operations of the mob. Those very places and domiciles, and all that are like them, are to-day nurseries of crime, and of the vices and disorderly courses which lead to crime. By far the largest part--eighty per cent. at least--of crimes against properly and against the person are perpetrated by individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to be sufficiently separate, decent, and desirable to afford what ate regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family. . . . The younger criminals seem to come almost exclusively from the worst tenement house districts, that is, when traced back to the very places where they had their homes in the city here.'' Of one thing New York made sure at that earls stage of the inquiry: the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements.

3. It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. To-day three-fourths of its people live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is sending ever-increasing multitudes to crowd them. The fifteen thousand tenant houses that were the despair of the sanitarian in the past generation have swelled into thirty-seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them home. The one way out he saw--rapid transit to the suburbs--has brought no relief. We know now that these is no way out; that the "system" that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private greed has come to stay, a storm-centre forever of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best of a bad bargain.

4. What the tenements are and how they grow to what they are, we shall see hereafter. The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the "other half," and the evil they breed, are but as a just punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth. The boundary line lies there because, while the forces for good on one side vastly outweigh the bad--it were not well otherwise--in the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hot-beds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of pauperism and crime that fill our jails and police courts; that throw off a scum of forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses year by year; that turned out in the last eight years a round half million beggars to prey upon our charities; that maintain a standing army of ten thousand tramps with all that that implies; because, above all, they touch the family life with deadly moral contagion. This is their worst crime, inseparable from the system. That we have to own it the child of our own wrong does not excuse it, even though it gives it claim upon our utmost patience and tenderest charity.

5. What are you going to do about it? is the question of to-day. It was asked once of our city in taunting defiance by a band of political cutthroats, the legitimate outgrowth of life on the tenement-house level.[1] Law and order found the answer then and prevailed. With our enormously swelling population held in this galling bondage, will that answer always be given? It will depend on how fully the situation that prompted the challenge is grasped. Forty per cent. of the distress among the poor, said a recent official report, is due to drunkenness. But the first legislative committee ever appointed to probe this sore went deeper down and uncovered its roots. The "conclusion forced itself upon it that certain conditions and associations of human life and habitation are the prolific parents of corresponding habits and morals," and it recommended "the prevention of drunkenness by providing for every man a clean and comfortable home. Years after, a sanitary inquiry brought to light the fact that "more than one-half of the tenements with two-thirds of their population were held by owners veto trade the keeping of them a business, generally a speculation. The owner was seeking a certain percentage on his outlay, and that percentage very rarely fell below fifteen per cent., and frequently exceeded thirty. [2] . . .

The complaint was universal among the tenants that they were entirely smeared for, and that the only answer to their requests to have the place put in order by repairs and necessary improvements was that they must pay their rent or leave. The agent's instructions were simple but emphatic: 'Collect the rent in advance, or, failing, eject the occupants."' Upon such a stock grew this upas-tree. Small wonder the fruit is bitter. The remedy that shall be an effective answer to the coming appeal for justice must proceed from the public conscience. Neither legislation nor charity can cover the ground. The greed of capital that wrought the evil must itself undo it, as far as it can now be undone. Homes must be built for the working masses by those who employ their labor; but tenements must cease to be "good property" in the old, heartless sense. "Philanthropy and five per cent." is the penance exacted.


6. If this is true from a purely economic point of view, what then of the outlook front the Christian standpoint? Not long ago a great meeting was held in this city, of all denominations of religious faith, to discuss the question how to lay hold of these teeming masses in the tenements with Christian influences, to which they are now too often strangers. Might not the conference have found in the warning of one Brooklyn builder, who has invested his capital on this plan and made it pay more than a money interest, a hint worth heeding: "How shall the love of God be understood by those who have been nurtured in sight only of the greed of man?"
http://www.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/about.html
http://www.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/introduction.html

Thanks to David for making this book available online free for our readers
David Phillips,
davidp@minerva.cis.yale.edu
New Haven, CT, November 13, 1995

Professor C.Parvathamma -Scholar of the Year 2006

Great Scholar Blog pays tribute to late Professor C.Parvathamma,
the first woman economist of India, one of the most brilliant Indian woman & a top class
Ambedkarite Dalits of India. She just accomplished what our Savior Dr.Ambedkar
dreamed of the educated dalits to do to India.

Prof. C. Parvathamma 1927-2006
Here is piece wriiten on the obituary of C. Parvathamma
the first woman Sociologist published in the latest issue of Economic and Political Weekly (EPW Vol.42-No.3 25 January)

We mourn the passing away of Prof. C. Parvathamma (1927-2006) the first Dalit woman Sociologist of India and of course, the first generation of Dalit Sociologist. She passed away on 1st of August, 2006 at the Age of 79 in Mysore . She was former Head of the Department of Sociology, University of Mysore, and a recipient of and Rajyothsava Award (1990), Gargi Award (1999), Nadoja Award (2005). Widely admired Sociologist, prolific writer and respected teacher, Prof. Parvathamma was possibly the best Sociologist Mysore ever produced along with Prof. M N Srinivas.She obtained her Ph.D. at Victoria University , Machester under the supervison of Max Gluckman and contributed immensly to our understanding of South Indian village society and Dalits in India . In her pioneering ethnographic work and volumes on northern Karnataka villages, Prof. Parvathamma brought out with great sensitivity the power relations in village society and the oppression of landowning communities. Her writings, especially on Lingayats and their beliefs, are very impressive. Her discussions and research on Virasaivism as an anti-Brahmanical movement in South India is a much acclaimed contribution in the subject of Sociology. As an insider, she also evaluated the role of Dalit politicians and vehemently criticized them for their self-fulfilling prophesy and paying lip service to the problems of Dalits. Scheduled Castes at the Cross-Roads and New Horizons and Scheduled Castes both from Ashis Publications, New Delhi were pionreering works on Dalits by a Dalit in 1980s.
Through her dedicated study and research, she produced some of the best reports on the depressed classes and other marginalised sections of the society,
which, at one time, enabled the State Government to take corrective policy measures for the upliftment of these classes. Her academic credentials cannot be judged only though her seventy research articles and eleven books as the second genration Dalit Sociologists reveal the baggage of cultural capital she has passed on to them by sharing her life experiences as a pioneer in the profession . At the XX All India Sociological Conference in 1993 held at St. Aloysius College Mangalore she mesmerised one and all with her powerful lecture which was full of ideologcial anecdotes. Her one sentence which still resonates in my conciousness is, “If this nation needs one Gandhi then it needs thousnds of Ambedkar to break free form the age old tyranicl Hindu Social Order”. As an institution builder, Prof. Parvathamma played a critical role in building the Sociology Department of Mysore University. She was instrumental in creating a tradition of research and also in publishing Sociological works through Prasaranga. She also was member of a number of commiteees and of the first Govering Body of the ICSSR at the time of its inception.Even after her retirement from the university service in 1988 she continued her urge and zeal for research, and established the ‘Center for Research in Rural and Tribal Devlopment’ in Mysore itself. Coming from an untouchable family and being a woman, she suffered from triple discrimination. She faced a great ordeal when she could not find a rented accomodation in Mysore even after completing a Ph. D. from Menchester and becoming a Lecture at Mysore University . But through her grit and hard work she made a space for her in corridors of acedimeia where Dalits were never welcomed. It is really unfortunate that her contribution was not recognised either in Karnataka or outside and she remained in oblivian, although through her writings she kept on reminding her unpresent presence in the subjct of Sociology and in the policy formulations. She will remain alive for ever in the profession of Sociology and keep on inspiring the coming generation of Sociologists.

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2006/08/03/prof-parvathamma/
http://atrocitynews.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/c-parthamma-paases-away/


A Pie in the Sky ? by Mrs Dr C Parvathamma,
studies the reservation policies implemented in the 1950's by the Indian
government.These policies, which were supposed to last for ten years, are still used in
the contemporary Indian society and have dangerous consequences.

Indeed, since reservations within government jobs and schools keep increasing, upper caste members try to get scheduled castes’ certificates and the latter try to get tribal certificates. The reservation race has become, as the author says, « a national sport », each trying to get his share, with the political support of the community members. This certificates smuggling is reinforced by the various lobbies, more powerful for the caste than for the tribes.The study mixes historical, cultural, sociological and anthropological elements and shows – through the comparative analysis of a tribal population (Katu Kuruba) and a schedule caste population (les Kuruba)- the perversity of a caste-based policy. The author points out the differences between these two groups and enables the reader to understand the very notions of caste and tribe. Mrs Parvathamma insists on the role of the NGO, such as DEED in Mysore District, in the construction of a political consciousness enabling the tribals to claim their rights.« The implementation of the reservation policy just underlined the differences and divisions, the author writes. It encouraged caste spirit and corporatism, instead of promoting secular, democratic and republican sentiments. »…or how the dreams of social unity promoted by independent India heroes, Gandhi and Dr Ambedkar, are being threatened by a positive discrimination for which they fought. How the very notion of diversity represents a danger for social cohesion. How a society that abolished the caste system makes it the basis of its social policy. The book is built on a series of themes: after introducing the evolution of the caste system, the author presents anthropological aspects of Kuruba and Katu Kuruba and, in the last chapters, gives a political and historical analysis of the reservation policies’ evolution.The conclusion offers suggestions for corrective measures: assessment of the impact and rationalization of the policy, classification of the eligible social groups, definition of a calendar, un-enrollment of currently eligible groups for more democracy, more efficiency, more secularism and more ethics.

http://doc-aea.datapps.com/pub_cgi/document_sho.pl?document_id=1312&lang=fr

A Poem in response to Bant Singh's Video Letter!

Simpe, gentle and golden quality, Ravi you have got the creative talents and fine writing quality, that can send thousands of arrows into casteistic people's heart, yeah, straight into their heart!.


Ravi - Birmingham Jan 18th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wellsPumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold minesDiggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I riseUp from a past that’s rooted in painI rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I riseInto a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I riseI riseWe riseWe rise

Anti-Conversion Law- This is a disgrace to India and disgusting to the society

Anti-Conversion Law- This is a disgrace to India and disgusting to the society.
State governments after state governments in India are becoming cruel to Dalits in their administration by passing such barbaric laws like anti-conversion laws to prevent people from choosing the religion or beliefs of their choice.

States such as Tamil Nadu alredy bitten the dust in creating a anti conversion law that is against the very human rights and the anti-conversion law in TN was later revoked what a shame on this Jayalalitha and those involved in such crimes. And now, Himachal Pradesh became a clown state among the clowns who are destroying the dalit's progress and their basic rights.

These leaders and the law makers are nothing but goons and scoundarals of the nation of India and must be funished with highest legal actions for voilating the human rights in India by illegal laws and legal mishandling of the state administration.
They all must go to jail for discriminating and humiliating dalits using anti conversion law.

The governor of Himachal Pradesh state, Shri Justice Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, has given his assent to the anti-conversion law passed by the state legislature in December 2006. The bill has now passed into law.

Minority groups had expressed grave concern that the ‘Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Bill, 2006’ was passed by the secular Congress Party, after similar laws were passed and strengthened in states ruled by the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year, report human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). CSW partner organisation, the All India Christian Council (AICC) is considering a legal challenge to the law at the Supreme Court.

CSW previously reported that Christians faced a fresh wave of harassment by Hindu extremist groups after the bill was passed. Further attacks have subsequently takenplace.

Dr Joseph D’souza, President of the Dalit Freedom Network and the All India Christian Council, said, “It is highly regrettable that the secular Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has chosen to pass this law, which severely undercuts the fundamental right to freedom of religion, particularly for exploited Dalits and tribals.

“The assent of the governor amounts to an endorsement of the discrimination and persecution against religious minorities in that state, which has already begun since the bill was passed on 29 December.”

CSW’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said, “Hindu extremist groups already seem to have been bolstered by the passage of this law, encouraged by the state-sponsored religious freedom restrictions which are becoming ever more common across India. This is a very troubling trend, and we urge the international community to make urgent representations to the Indian government about the proliferation of anti-conversion legislation.”

Jaykanthan- A Socially Consious Writer

A Tamil Writer very well regarded for his intellectually stimulating short stories and tamil literature in the modern years. His ability to bring the life of downtrodden people to the mainstream thinking and to the public is something very special, only a few can accomplish with a style and genuine interest.

The following review by S.Viswanathan on the work of Jayakanthan is very interesting and informative.

A writer in his world

S. VISWANATHAN
in Chennai
An outstanding oeuvre that reflected the travails of the downtrodden and challenged the belief systems of the middle class wins the Jnanpith Award for the Tamil writer Jayakanthan.

Dr.Ambedkar-The Arising Light

In and For the Post-Ambedkar Dalit Movement

The whole book is freely available on the internet, a great book.

'AMBEDKAR'
IN AND FOR THE POST-AMBEDKAR
DALIT MOVEMENT

(A paper presented in the seminar on the Post-Ambedkar Dalit Movement organised by the Department of Political Science, University of Pune on 27-29 March, 1997)
By Anand Teltumbde
Sugawa Prakashan, Pune

ROOMS with a View- Caste, Race and Stupidity, how it develops?

THE MALLEABLE LANGUAGE OF MANY CULTURES IS PRESERVED IN THE WOOD AND STONE OF PITT'S NATIONALITY ROOMS.
By Mark Collins
If a group of people are isolated long enough, author John Updike once observed, they soon develop an accent, then a dialect, then a language all their own.
The same happens to many Americans, only in reverse. Time and oceans isolate us from our forebears' native lands. Succeeding generations lose their language, then their dialect, then their accent altogether. Folk clothes and folk customs give way to suburban houses and Chevrolets. Soon our identity has melded into the melting pot, which is exactly what our immigrant ancestors wanted: a new life in the New World. Subsequent offspring, however, begin yearning for the past. Lost in the hegemony of modern culture, they feel along the bark of the family tree, mapping the limbs, seeking the route to the roots.

Dr.Ambedkar & America?

Dr. Ambedkar and America
By Prof. Eleanor Zelliot A talk at the Columbia University Ambedkar Centenary, 1991
Introductiory remarks
Dr. Ambedkar was one of the first (and one of the few) Indian leaders to be educated in the United States. I am not sure what influence his years at Columbia University in New York City had on his life, but I know we can be proud to claim some part of this remarkable man's early development. Two of the qualities which mark his life and career – optimism and pragmatism – may have been enhanced by his contact with this country, which prides itself on its charactersitics of hope and practicality.

The three years Ambedkar spent at Columbia, 1913-1916, awakened, in his own words, his potential. Columbia was in its golden age, and a list of Ambedkar's professors reads like a catalog of early 20th-century American educators. The transcript of Ambedkar's work at Columbia reveals that he audited many classes, more than he could have taken for grades, including such subjects as "railroad economics." Later, Ambedkar wrote, "The best friends I have had in my life were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey, James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman and James Harvey Robinson. II (Columbia Alumni News, December 19, 1930).

Gajendran Ayyadurai- Scholar of the Month [January 2007], due to serious questions about if he deserves to be a scholar, I removed him from the list

Gajendran Ayyadurai has been removed from scholar of the month. A appropriate candidate will be reviewed and profiles here in this column.