A wealth of field experiences: six compact 'subaltern studies', essentially of destitute rural women, put the latter's capacity to think, speak up and act with autonomy under a new light: initial unwillingness, ambivalence of discourses and practices, protracted processes of symbolic reconstruction, painstaking initiation to social critique, unsecured conquests. In short, there is no one single and scientifically correct blueprint for social transformation, but a number of specific strategies.A depth of reflection: a rigorous analytical framework takes us step-by-step from the most intimate assertion of dignity to social commitment via variety of forms of discourse, dissent and protest. In doing so, through reviewing and assessing methods and concepts, the book proves an outstanding contribution to the vexing debate on the essence, means, and ends of a social knowledge worth a status of science, as well accurate and relevant to the needs of social actors. It also suggests new approaches to the study of culture.An epistemological innovation: meaningful suggestions between construction of knowledge and social action are clearly spelt out so as to dissipate the usual dilemmas of the researcher and subject's emotional involvements. Weaving of theory, method and epistemology makes the present study a pathfinder.