First We are People... : The Koris of Kanpur between Caste and Class

This is a study of a group of Koris in the city of Kanpur, the big industrial center of the state of Uttar Pradesh in north India. The Koris, who are artisan weavers by caste, have traditionally been regarded as Untouchables or near-Untouchables and are now on the Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh. In Kanpur, where they have resided in sizeable numbers for nearly a century, they have resided in sizeable numbers for nearly a century, they constitute a small segment of the urban working class. They are particularly numerous in the large-scale textile industry, Kanpur’s biggest industry, but are also found in other working-class occupation. In recent decades a few of them have even started to climb out of the working class, usually on the ladder reserved for the Scheduled Castes.