Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tribal church in the margins: Oraons of central India / Joseph Marianus Kujur -- Dalit encounter with Christianity: change and continuity / S.M. Michael -- Margins of faith: Dalits and tribal Christians in eastern India / Jose Kalapura -- Varieties of Dalit Christianity in north India / John C.B. Webster -- Christian piety and the emergence of Hindu nationalism in central India / Peggy Froerer -- Legally Hindu: Dalit Lutheran Christians of coastal Andhra Pradesh / Ashok Kumar M. and Rowena Robinson -- Contradiction and change in the Mizo Church / Lakshmi Bhatia -- The broken mirror: John Masih's journey from Isai to Dalit / Mathew N. Schmalz -- Christianization, hinduization and indigenous revivalism among the tribals of Gujarat / Lancy Lobo -- The Catholic Church and Dalit Christian activism in contemporary Tamil Nadu / David Mosse -- Identity, conversion and violence: Dalits, Adivasis and the 2007-08 riots in Orissa / Chad M. Bauman.

Description based on print version record.

This volume documents the ethnographies of regionally distinct Dalit and tribal Christian communities, raising new arguments pertaining to the autonomy and distinct identity of these communities, often in adverse social set-ups. Stressing upon the plurality of identities, the essays reject the idea of determining these exclusively on the basis of religion. They also chart the multiple levels of marginality experienced by both Dalit and tribal Christians and analyze how these groups negotiate their former religious faith and practices with Christianity. The book is a response to the urgent need