BREWING RESISTANCE:
Indian Coffee House and the Emergency in Postcolonial India
Winner of the Global Sociology Book Award
Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences
“This is a rich and informative historical account of an iconic institution, a space of dissent and debate that came into its own during the Emergency years in India. Plys tells a compelling tale and evokes distinct resonances without sacrificing a historian’s rigorous craft. Written with admirable lucidity, Brewing Resistance is at once the story of a fabled coffeehouse and a narrative about the challenges and pitfalls that manifest themselves on a nation’s road to decolonization.”
— Priyamvada Gopal, Professor of Postcolonial Studies, University of Cambridge
“Admittedly, the contribution of the Indian Coffee House movement towards ‘the [post-Emergency] restoration of democracy in India’ is significant, but sadly this link had gone unnoticed until now. Indeed, Plys deserves credit for opening our eyes to this incredible connection between café going coffee drinkers and combat for a cause. ”
— Nabanipa Bhattacharjee, Professor of Sociology, Delhi University in The Book Review & Literary Trust
“Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rigorous, it is a timely intervention toward a much overdue ‘sociology of emergency.’”
— Yael Berda, Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at Hebrew University in American Journal of Sociology
“This is a rich book that links the scholarship on social and labour movements with that of economic development, colonial policies, democratic politics, and post-colonial states. The book provides an exemplary model of research to the students of historical sociology. ”
— Anand Badola, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Punjab University in LSE Review of Books
Interview with Sneha Annavarapu, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College
Brewing Resistance
In 1947, decolonization promised a better life for India’s peasants, workers, students, Dalits, and religious minorities. By the 1970s, however, this promise had not yet been realized. Various groups fought for the social justice but in response, Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi suspended the constitution, and with it, civil liberties. The hope of decolonization that had turned to disillusion in the postcolonial period quickly descended into a nightmare. In this book, Kristin Plys recounts the little known story of the movement against the Emergency as seen through New Delhi’s Indian Coffee House based on newly uncovered evidence and oral histories with the men who led the movement against the Emergency.
En 1947, la décolonisation a promis une vie meilleure aux paysans, ouvriers, étudiants, Dalits et minorités religieuses de l’Inde. Dans les années 1970s, cependant, cette promesse ne s’était pas encore réalisée. Divers groupes se sont battus pour la justice sociale mais en réponse, le Premier ministre, Indira Gandhi a suspendu la constitution et, avec elle, les libertés civiles. L’espoir de décolonisation qui s’était transformé en désillusion à l’époque postcoloniale sombra rapidement dans un cauchemar. Dans ce livre, Kristin Plys raconte l’histoire peu connue du mouvement contre ‘The Emergency’ vue à travers le café indien de New Delhi sur la base de preuves nouvellement découvertes et d’histoires orales avec les hommes qui ont dirigé le mouvement contre ‘The Emergency’.