Search

The paper aims to focus on how children are being represented in Dalit Literature. The paper will further answer the question of whether there can be any Dalit Children's Literature. To answer the question of how children are being represented in Dalit Literature, my paper will include Surviving in My World: Growing Up Dalit in Bengal, Poisoned Bread and Interrogating my Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit. Dalit children are mostly portrayed as a labourer and the hardships of their lives are depicted vividly throughout. They are often tortured immensely for even a drop of water. It can be perceived that there prevail innumerable deaths of Dalit children which are often reported in newspapers oftentimes. My paper thereby will formulate the portrayal of Dalit children and will answer my research question as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes caste contestations around the Bhutaradhane tradition in the Tulunadu region of coastal Karnataka. Bhutaradhane is a pantheistic tradition of spirit worship which has been a key site for the assertion of regional identity claims in Tulunadu. The Bhutas (spirits) are ranked along a graded hierarchy that reflects the caste structure of the region. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the paper describes the interventions of a Dalit caste, the Mundalas, to rupture this hierarchical structure and challenge their low assigned status in the tradition and in society. It explores how they draw on narratives of the past to appropriate and reshape the Bhutaradhane tradition in line with their aspirations for upward mobility. The paper situates current contestations around the caste's patron Bhuta within the growing socio-political consciousness of the Mundalas, who have challenged the hegemonic discourse of Bhuta heritage, laying bare the operations of caste within the ritual as well as caste inequalities and exclusions in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies indicate that Pentecostal teachings center the egalitarian move of the Holy Spirit with empowering effects on the social lives of the Dalits in the South Indian Pentecostal landscape, the persistence of ethnocentric behavior from "Syrian Christian" Pentecostals continues. Hence, this paper focuses on exploring the historical development of a Syrian Christian identity marker as a privileged one that became prefixed by the Pentecostals in Kerala, especially in Travancore. In this regard, this paper seeks to answer questions such as: How did caste dynamics structure the formation of Christian communities in Kerala? How did the historical Western missionary interactions deal with local caste-influenced distinctions (especially between the "Syrian Christian" and Dalit communities)? How did Pentecostalism challenge and perpetuate the Syrian Christian caste identity? Through an intersectional (religion and caste) historical analysis, this paper shows that the Syrian Christian community has been integrated into the caste system for the last two thousand years of Christian history in Kerala. At the same time, via a more inclusive historical narrative, the paper highlights Dalit conversions to Christianity since the sixteenth century as a critique against the privileged status of Syrian Christianity, even more so when Pentecostalism arrived at its shores, impacting the emergence of Dalit Pentecostalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Transforming occupational therapy (OT) practices and services to be more inclusive and political so that everyone has an opportunity to engage with meaningful occupations to advance their health and wellbeing is critical. An occupational justice framework locates occupations in a socio-cultural-historical context influencing the community or person's choice and participation. Communities marginalized due to socio-cultural-historical context struggle with participating in preferred occupations, which in turn affects their well-being and sense of self. Patriarchy, Gender binarism, Heteronormativity, Ableism, Casteism, and Classism are some dominant systems of oppression that affect how communities and people choose and participate in occupations. As occupational therapists and researchers, it becomes imperative to understand the experience of marginalized communities to contextualize interventions and evaluations to address the cultural practices of oppression. Objective: To understand how marginalized identity locations are represented in the Indian Journal of OT (IJOT). Study Design: A scoping review. Methods: Arksey and O'Malley's methodology was used to review research papers published in the IJOT from January 2012 to April 2022. Results: Disabled people have been the most represented in the last decade. Women's experiences are represented as lesser than that of men. Within studies focusing on disabilities, men's experiences are represented more than women's. There are two papers in the last decade that focus on Adivasi people. Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Bisexual, and Asexual + communities are absent from OT research in the IJOT. Dalits and Bahujans are also absent from research. Few studies use the person-centered model of intervention by partnering with clients, whereas most studies use a medical model where the therapist is the only expert. Conclusion: In this study, we derive three themes to explore possible explanations on why marginalized communities are underrepresented. These themes of "unconscious bias," "history repeats itself" and "medical model of research" help us understand factors we need to reflect on as OT researchers and therapists as we engage with communities and people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though Bombay has been hailed as the capital of Indian Cinema, film enthusiasts and connoisseurs would agree that it is South Indian Cinema that deserves the honour. It was 1936 when the 'social' films tainted with politics infiltrated the sphere of Tamil Cinema and since then, it has become extremely pervasive in all spheres of life, particularly political life. During the first phase of Tamil Cinema, that is in the pre-1950s, films such as Sevasadanam (1938), and Sabapathy (1941) were an instrument to represent the upper caste communities with upper caste protagonists revelling in their privileges. The recent phase not only addresses the caste issues explicitly but lets the Dalit occupy the centre stage. This was initiated by director Pa Ranjith in his films Madras (2014), Kabali (2016), Kaala (2018), Sarpatta Parambarai (2021) and as a producer for Pariyerum Perumal (2018). The film industry of Tamil Nadu is as heterogenous as the Indian society and has metamorphosed into an instrument incumbent for understanding the battleground of the caste system of India. My paper attempts to analyse the ways in which caste-based films are affecting the politics of Tamil Nadu and vice versa. My paper intends to reflect on how the caste-based cinematic themes have created class consciousness on one hand, but have given rise to caste-based narcissism among the people of the same caste on the other. Among this chaos and dichotomy, the enormous popularity, as well as the commercial success of films like Pariyerum Perumal and Asuran (2019), and Karnan (2021), deserves a detailed study that would enable us critically assess the cinematic representation of Dalits and their perils in the quest for social identity and acknowledgment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of the trope of the Dalit female in the literary and cultural narratives as the most disenfranchised entity of the social ladder is not without its foundational truths. This paper deals with the concept of Dalit patriarchy and how it relates to Brahmanical patriarchy as a co-constitutive category and not an antithetical category. It looks at the formation of Dalit masculinities and femininities in the larger patriarchal narrative through an analysis of Baburao Bagul's "Mother" that deals with the representation of Dalit woman, especially the construction of motherhood. As a theoretical framework, the paper critically looks at and applies V.Geetha's concept of Dalit patriarchy in its analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed article would attempt to draw a relationship between the political and ecological disaster through select Bengali Dalit migrant narratives. Narratives of Bengali Dalit migrant writers like Manohar Mouli Biswas or Jatin Bala, dislocated from East Pakistan/Bangladesh to India, suggest in their narratives how an event like the Partition of Indian subcontinent makes the caste subalterns permanently precarious and vulnerable before natural disasters. The spatial destitute becomes doubly dislocated by dual forces of political and ecological catastrophe. Elaborating upon Timothy Morton's concept of hyperobjects (2013), the Partition of the subcontinent here would be viewed as a hyperevent produced by humans that become immanent, and like second nature, creating and naturalizing patterns of social inequalities. The article would explore the entanglement of the natural and the biopolitical which produces a hyperevent. The hyperevent this paper would argue, unlike a generic event like Partition which marks a moment in history, sublimates it as a transhistorical longue duree. This study would attempt to fracture the temporal and structural hierarchies of nature and politics and examine the continued effect of an entangled form of geopolitical catastrophe like Partition on caste subalterns in West Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the concept of knowing in caste-ridden Dalit lives using the analogy of seeing in the context of the Black African-American racial society, where race is identified primarily through skin colour. Thus, the 'Black body' is marked by the act of seeing. A Dalit body, however, is usually discovered through knowing caste. Knowing is a complex mediated by caste, class, race, religion, occupation, spatiality, language and other forms of placement. Knowing is imperative in the context of a representative democracy to ensure social justice and the equitable distribution of government services. But does knowing someone's identity lead to equal treatment and equal respect, which constitute the substantive measures of democracy? I argue that knowing is a mode used to perpetuate caste, based on everyday ways in which Hindus live their lives. Pursuing this question, I problematise the concept of knowing in the trajectory of Dalit lives. I then take Ambedkar's 'Waiting for a Visa', situated in the genre of Dalit autobiographies, to illustrate the concept of knowing. Finally, I ask: given the politics of knowing, how do Dalit lives matter when practising caste? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's a matter of great regret to note that women even in this century play second fiddle to men. The condition of marginalized women in this context is quite inexplicable. Many writers have tried to focus their attention on this unfortunate section of the society. A number of authors have emerged over the recent years to represent them as they are so as to elevate their condition and way of life but no such spectacular improvement is marked in the society so far.Bama through her novel Sangati has made her voice more articulate over the deplorable plight of the Dalits in general and the subjugated people of Tamil Nadu in particular. The paper will also try to show the three fold discriminations that these marginalized in their day to day life. Here, Bama has not just portrayed these characters as victims, rather, they have come forward to assert their existence and have put up strong protest whenever they are humiliated and discriminated. Their voice becomes more distinct, serious and acute when they raise concern over the unjust issues they face in life. The author has given a concrete picture of the life of these female characters who maintain their life as worse as their generations of ancestors put together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of social movements on the Indian state's support for cow protection vigilantism, which forms a key aspect of its adherence to the Hindutva ideology. Adopting Varigonda's framework, the paper argues that the movement's impact is determined by its collective action repertoires, politicisation of its affiliated identity and openness of state input structures. The paper tests this framework through a comparative study of two movements: the Dalit-centric post-Una and the Muslim-centric post-Dadri movements. It demonstrates how stronger action repertoires, characterised by protracted mass mobilisation; effective politicisation of the Dalit identity and its propensity towards electoral mobilisation of the Dalit populace; and open state input structures, characterised by the consistent support of major political parties, enabled the post-Una movement – unlike the post-Dadri movement – to impede state support for cow protection vigilantism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conceptualisation of masculinity in the traditional sense has been viewed as a complex mix of attitudes, behaviours, and abilities (powers) possessed by diverse groups of individuals. It is supposed that neither these sets nor the individuals who compose them have remained consistent across time and among societies. In this paper, I will be exploring the varying degrees of masculinity that is exhibited by men of different communities portrayed in Tamil Karisal literature. Gender relations are also defined along the lines of Caste and status. 'Karisal' meaning 'black soil' encompasses the arid regions of Southern Tamil Nadu and Karisal literature depicts the lives of the people living in such regions. Traditional traits of masculinity such as being valiant, dominant, and knowledgeable is more expected from the upper caste men whereas such traits are not encouraged among men belonging to the marginalised sections of the rural Karisal landscape. This paper will also look at how gender relations exist between the men and women of both dominant and lower castes in the Karisal region. It can also be noted how virtues associated with femineity such as chastity, subordination and obedience are expected from upper caste women who do not cross household boundaries but Dalit women, out of economic necessities, are made to work as agricultural labourers in the fields and are prone to being harassed by men of all castes. For this study, the texts for analysis are short stories from Along with the Sun (2020) compiled by Ki. Rajanarayanan and the novel Koogai (2015) written by Cho Dharman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the lack of income opportunities for Dalits in Nepal, as they are the most affected group in any disaster. The presence of vulnerable family members in Dalit households may further increase their income deprivation. We therefore studied Dalit households' income sources and identified income determinants in Gandaki Rural Municipality in Gorkha District—the epicentre of the 2015 earthquake. We observed a higher dependency of Dalit households on daily wages, livestock sales, social security allowances, and vegetables sales; however, remittance and seasonal job earnings represented the largest share of household incomes. We observed a significant difference in per capita income between farm (US$46) and non-farm (US$273) income sources, with the difference smallest in the lowest income quantile and the largest in the highest quantile. When the household head was a single woman, we observed a reduction in non-farm (by 29%) and total incomes (by 23%). Likewise, when the household head had a chronic health problem, or the household included an elderly family member, there was a reduction in the household's income. We suggest economic interventions for Dalit households to prevent increased social exclusion in the development process, specifically focusing on vulnerable individuals and households in the lowest income quantile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographical understanding of the Indian subcontinent can be learned in its entirety from the availability of Colonial registers. Before the colonial rule, territorial regions forming India were not marked by distinctive geographical boundaries. Availability of Colonial registers and its records happened to provide us with a peculiar documentation of not just India's regional/geographical boundaries, but its social and political formation/development as well. The introduction of colonial education policy within the subcontinent is another significant aspect that resulted in furthering socio-cultural, economic and political changes within the Indian society. Colonial education policy, in its effort to impart education to Indians majorly, helped Indian Upper-caste intelligentsia to emerge. With its liberal principles and educative measures, it could also help people from the lowest rungs of the social ladder to familiarise themselves with education. We could see social revolutionaries like Phule and Ambedkar (among others) hailing from the subaltern castes being introduced with colonial education, who revolted against the unjust socio-cultural practices and redefined the notion of freedom, human dignity, equality and democracy. It is this very moment where one could also witness the inception of modern and rational thinking shaping up the idea of India, and modern-day Maharashtra we see today is no exception to it. In this paper, an attempt is made to map colonial intervention into the Maharashtrian society and provide a critical commentary on the social and political conjuncture of colonial Maharashtra. While presenting the critical commentary, the paper emphasises on the formation of caste relations and subaltern/Dalit response as the most significant points of breaks in the making of modern Maharashtra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his 1936 essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", Walter Benjamin establishes that it is the 'aestheticization of politics' or 'politicization of art' which streamlines the cultural discourse of a nation at a given moment. The present paper attempts to critically analyze the 'politics of visuality' vis-à-vis 'visuality of politics' as an elemental framework in the making of Indian national discourse. To understand or rationalize this elemental framework, the paper postulates its hypothesis, that the politicization of art is a valid inquiry into how a certain ideological discourse is pre-selected and pre-programmed with a certain grid of features and structures of perception. It is this ideological discourse that needs to be exposed through a visual text namely, Vijay Pawar's Bhim Garjana. This visual text broadly represents what Kancha Illaiah terms the Ambedkarite phase of Dalit history spanning over two decades - 1936-1956i. Bhim Garjana is an aesthetic artifact directed by a Dalit himself - an 'insider's'ii document on Ambedkar's life and philosophy. There have so far been three films on Ambedkar including Bhim Garjana, one directed by Jabbar Patel titled Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000) and second by Anand Patwardha titled Jai Bhim Comrade (2011). All the visual texts though do not follow the definition of biopic strictly, but more or less, the paper places them in the category of biopics. Each text focuses on the life and struggle, both in historical and ideological terms, of Ambedkar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews, some field research, and an analysis of online material, this paper focuses on the rights struggles of diasporic Indian caste groups formerly considered "Untouchable" whose self-chosen descriptor is "Dalit." It examines Dalit activism in the United States around caste discrimination in both India and the U.S. The goal of this study is to demonstrate how Dalit American leaders use racial analogies in their international activism, and why race is a contested frame within the community. It makes clear that "universalistic" frames can obscure crucial particularities, making it harder to address the issue at hand. But it also reveals that dogmatic, particularistic frames can compromise the unity and mission of transnational movements. A 2020 lawsuit against Cisco Systems alleging caste discrimination toward a Dalit employee by Brahmin supervisors has opened the opportunity for anti-caste activists to develop a global norm specifically around how to address caste-based discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's complex social fabric is marked by a rigid caste system that has perpetuated discrimination and marginalisation for centuries. The caste structure not only establishes clear boundaries between castes through endogamous social relations, but also determines control over resources, productivity, and sexuality. Among the most vulnerable groups within this hierarchical structure are Dalit women, who face compounded forms of oppression due to their caste and gender, spanning economic, physical, and mental aspects. At the core of this oppression lies the Dalit woman's body, a battleground where power dynamics intersect and the struggle for autonomy and dignity unfolds. This paper delves into the exploration of female Dalit body politics in India, with a particular focus on two influential literary works: Baburao Bagul's When I Hid My Caste (2018) and Yashica Dutt's Coming Out as Dalit (2019). The aim is to unveil, through these texts, the intersectionality of caste and gender, both past and present, revealing the violence, exploitation, and marginalisation that reflects on the Dalit female body, stemming from and affecting the economic, physical, and psychological dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Indian and Pakistani Punjab, this paper focuses on how, despite membership in or conversion to majority religious communities, former untouchables in both countries continue to experience caste-based discrimination. In India, a rights-based idiom for caste politics is limited by fragmentation within the Dalit community and the compromises required by electoral politics, while the imposition of a totalising Islamic identity by the state has resulted in the erasure of caste from the political discourse in Pakistan. This paper suggests that class-based mobilisation may be a better route to Dalit empowerment on both sides of the border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship of Dalits with exclusion is a common scenario in India over several periods of time. Since ancient times, Dalits have faced different social, political, and cultural exclusion in the Indian society. When it comes to education, the exclusion is still prevalent in various part of modern India. Especially in the low-access, caste dominant areas, the situation is worse for the higher education of Dalits. For girls, it becomes more complicated to access the general resources to continue education without hassles. Therefore, the literacy rate (56.6% from census 2011) of Dalit women is still very low in India compared to the general population of this country, which creates a gap in their social, political, and economic engagements in the country. Irrespective of constant governmental efforts, the complexities of the Dalit women's education are still very much persistent in India, after over 74 years of independence. Thus, this paper mainly focuses on factors such as gender- and caste-based discrimination, low enrolment in schools, scholarship issues, violence against them, and so on, based on secondary data, which create exclusion in Dalit girls' education. This paper also tries to highlight the constitutional provisions. It further highlights the history of Dalit girls' exclusion and their struggle for education in India. The ultimate goal of the paper is to underline the current situation of Dalit girls' education and the root cause of the problem, to ensure closing of the gap between governmental efforts and Dalit girls' education in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fandry (2013) is the first feature film written and directed by Nagraj Manjule. The film received a national award for the best debut director and several accolades in national and international film festivals. This paper offers introductory remarks on the representation of the de-notified tribe- Kaikadi in the film Fandry (2013). It starts with the observation about the social location of de-notified tribes and stigmatization around these communities and how Fandry as a film becomes a vehicle of resistance and formation of defiant identity. I also offer a critical reading of contemporary scholarship on Fandry, which overlooks the de-notified tribe identity and appropriates the struggle in the film with the larger Dalit struggle and caste issues. While the Dalit framework forms the background of the film, I argue that Manjule, through his film Fandry, is asserting personhood by bringing in lived experiences in his cinematic narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how queer/feminist practices and articulations—by offering critical perspectives on the intersections of caste, labour and sexuality—have tried to draw attention to the marginalisation of people expressing non-normative genders and sexualities. Adapting lessons from the women's movement, which resonates with some of the principles of an Ambedkarite vision of democracy, queer and feminist activists adopt and practise a transversal politics in continuing their struggle for solidarity and justice. Specifically, the paper addresses how queer/feminists use the transversal dialogic political space to highlight contentions around sexual labour, from the 2005 ban on bar dancers to the 2017 Chalo Nagpur campaign. The practice of this politics draws upon the experience of queer and feminist collectives in western India, and finds resonance with Ambedkar's radical conception of democracy via a steadfast commitment to learn and engage in politics under changed circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Synergies Inde is the property of GERFLINT (Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches pour le Francais Langue Internationale) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Beef festivals are a dramatic and visible form of protest against the Indian government's ban on beef. These festivals are framed popularly as an assertion of Dalit ‘cultural rights’ and identity, with beef represented as the cultural food of Dalits. While it is clear that the beef ban is a casteist ban based on a Brahmanical food hierarchy, this paper explores the limits of resisting casteism through the assertion of caste-based cultural rights and identities, or as an assertion of an individual right to food choice. It argues that such a politics of resisting casteism runs into problems of the culturalization of caste, and limits the kinds of radical Dalit subjects and actors who could emerge as liberatory political subjects. The paper calls for reframing beef festivals as ‘antagonistic’ moments that articulate the degradation of Dalit labor in the politics of beef, reassert Dalit identity as an anti-caste identity rather than a cultural caste identity, and herald a politics of ‘multiculturalism against caste’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractHow can ethnographic methods track implicit & explicit forms of structural casteism in Indian public health policy and praxis? How can a critical attention to ordinary stories and subjectivities of casted lives reveal the underlying Brahmanical moralities, assumptions and imaginations of public health but equally also unravel anti-caste counter-framings/counter-theorizations of symptoms, afflictions, injuries and chronic wounds wrought by caste? How, in other words, can the horizons of anti-colonial theory-making be expanded to capaciously conceptualize casteism as a core determinant of community health outcomes and life-chances in India? By mobilizing ‘counter-storytelling’ as a concept and method for critical medical anthropology from the Global South, and case studies from longitudinal ethnography in northern India, this paper provides a dual critique of: 1. Public health praxis in relation to questions of caste, addiction, respiratory debilitation, air pollution and TB. And, 2. Epistemologies of health policy making pertaining to wellness for ‘the poor’ and the gendered and casted labour of community care workers like ASHAs and non-institutionalized health actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young Dalit men and women are changing the narrative of casteist oppression in India. Youth activists perform protest songs in the genre of rap and gaana, using elements of slam poetry and rap from African American artists and blending them with local musical innovations. The performances have deliberate messaging, signaling particular caste and gender injustices, both current and historical. This paper will analyze Dalit youth performances of rap, gaana, and street theater (koothu) in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, to understand the poetics of protest against caste and gender oppression. It will look at the notion of space in these performances. Since social space has historically been restricted for marginalized groups such as Dalits, and even private space has never existed for Dalits, more so for women, the performance space-the screen, the theatre, or street-becomes a heterotopia, or a third space for voicing injustice through song. Taboos are tossed aside in this space; transgressive, private-public fused in-your-face musical phrasings appear on every audio and visual device through the globalization of the internet. Rap and gaana queer accepted caste and gender narratives. This paper will look at youth rappers, such as Arivu, the latest sensation, gaana performer, Isaivani's performances, as well as "The Casteless Collective" and inquire into the reasons for their appeal despite their iconoclasm. Affect is another area of inquiry in the analysis of Dalit performance, since caste and gender oppression meant invisibilizing Dalits and not seeing them as humans with emotions. Examining the value of affect within performances as well as its effect on audiences is important, since both coalesce to make historically restricted speech appealing and far-reaching in effecting change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A journey of biocultural diversity begins with monocultural mindset and it moves slowly towards intercultural interaction. Biocultural diversity with thousands of human cultures and languages lead us to fertile interaction among the people from all races, classes, creeds and ethnicities. There are several worlds, visible and invisible, inside and outside us. Our entire life is a struggle for fitting into those worlds. A lively society always accepts change and her citizens try to adapt themselves in the changing environment. Diversity, equality and democracy are common goals of all nations who have emerged as transnational, cross cultural and multicultural entities in the twenty first century. The modern societies are trying to increase intercultural competence and then adapt multicultural competence. If we share and learn to respect our differences the world will be a better place to live in. Preserving our indigenous culture and adapting new global multicultural phenomenon is a huge challenge especially to the marginalized sections of all societies. These people struggle to come into the main stream and then to adapt the culture of the dominant. The Caribbean today are the former slaves and indentured labourers from almost all continents of the world who strive to stick up to their roots and to practice emerging multicultural way of living. The similar case is with the Indian Dalits, who are the low caste people in India. They are desperate to come into mainstream but do not want to lose their cultural heritage. The present paper deals with two authors with Indian origin but with different social ethos. It investigates the Caribbean mindset through V. S. Naipaul's The Mimic Men (1963) and the Dalit mindset of the Indians by Baby Kamble's The Prison We Broke (2008). The paper will be divided into four parts. The origin of the Caribbean and the Dalits in brief, the identity issues, their encounters with foreign cultures and finally development of multicultural competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper views Hindutva hegemony in India today as authoritarian populism. Its focus is Hindutva's cultural-ideological work to make "peoples" by "fixing" meanings around socially constructed identities. Dalits and Muslims pose serious challenges to Hindutva's project of a Hindu rashtra (Hindu nation). Whereas Dalit presence questions the existence of a "Hindu", Muslim presence questions the existence of the "Rashtra". Consequently, Hindutva constructs Muslims as an "external" Other (to be excised) and Dalits as an "internal" Other (to be incorporated). It does this through two processes – "racialization" of Muslims and "ethnicization" of Dalits. While the former emphasizes "difference" of Muslims to show them as permanent outsiders to a Hindu Rashtra, the latter represses the radical difference of Dalits to incorporate them within a Hindu multi-caste and patriarchal family. Yet, this "fixing" is unstable, rife with contradictions and tensions, that threaten the discursive suturing of a Hindu Rashtra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the complex nature of untouchability by examining its connections to space and racialization in Ambedkar's political writings, including his experiences of using movement through space as a counter-hegemonic strategy. For Ambedkar, untouchability rested on a perpetual threat of violence which pushed Dalits to "self-racialize" or adopt bodily markers which gave away their caste status in specific places. This permitted the organization of caste hierarchies in space and its constant reproduction through time. Ambedkar became aware that places like the village facilitated the racialization of certain bodies as touchable or untouchable. Yet, the connections between space and racialization were not fixed. Ambedkar's memories of untouchability were linked to "in-between spaces", such as train stations or hotels, where the racialization of Dalits could not be assumed a priori. Such spatial indeterminacy allowed Ambedkar to challenge the behaviour Dalits were supposed to conform to in dominant caste spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the post-colonial nation's history (India) from perspectives of marginalized minorities in Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The aim of this research is to explore the marginalization of "the Others" and traces the otherized segments of contemporary Indian society that are marginalized on the basis of being a hijra, a Dalit, a woman, a Muslim and an Untouchable. This paper analyzes „binarism" and the conflict between the center and periphery: between Hindus and Muslims, between male, female and intersex, between Touchables and Untouchables, as well as between the graveyard and the surrounding wider city. Anjum, an intersex, Revathy, a Maoist comrade, Dayachand, an Untouchable, Tilotamma, a wandering Syrian origin half-Dalit woman, Musa Yeswi, a forced Kashmiri freedom fighter-narrate the untold and unheard tales about failure of a secular democratic country. This paper tours the fault lines of India and highlights the struggle of socially excluded people of society, against the established standards of the culture hence challenging contemporary stereotypical representation of "the Others" and eventually resistance. Roy explicitly advocates religious, racial and territorial degenerative system and reflects the challenges of telling national narrative from a multiple minoritarian perspective. The novel has multi-layered and multi-dimensional plot-structure and investigate the causes behind Roy's attempt to give voice to the voiceless (Indians). This research is carried out applying Edward Said's theoretical framework of "The Self" and "The Other", "Us" and "Them", and "Binary Opposition". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the relationship between caste, citizenship and nation through a study of Dalit refugee politics in the Indian border state of West Bengal. With the legal–official definition of the 'Indian' citizen being increasingly crafted along Hindu majoritarian lines, the marginalised sections of migrant communities live under perpetual threat of disenfranchisement. Drawing on fieldwork done in Namasudra-dominated villages in West Bengal, this paper shows how Dalit migrants could never fully integrate into the nation and had to repeatedly prove themselves as legitimate members of Indian society during processes of periodic scrutiny of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oppression, systemic bias, and racism have unfortunately long been part of the human experience. This paper is a review of basic elements of the Indian caste system, understanding its impact on the daily lives of different caste members, the role of colonialism in perpetuating the caste system, the Indian reservation system for mitigating disadvantages created by the caste system, and how categorization and labels can affect individual identity. This paper then discusses the global relevance of the caste system and its impact on mental health and psychological functioning. In India, the caste system is a comprehensive, systematized, and institutionalized form of oppression of members of the lower castes, particularly the Dalits. Formalized during the British colonial period, the caste system brings together two related Indian concepts of varna and jāti to create four social orders and multiple subunits. Sitting outside the traditional four orders are the Dalits, who experience social, economic, and religious discrimination due to an inherited status related to traditionally polluting occupations. Since the caste system extends beyond India to other South Asian countries, as well as to communities around the world that are home to the Indian diaspora, the inequities created by the caste system are a global issue. India’s affirmative action system provides important insights to policy makers, as well as researchers in the social sciences for how to counteract the effects of systematized oppression. Collectively, this can aid in a better understanding of the effects of discrimination and oppression on identity, self-esteem, and mental health, and how we can develop more targeted policies and procedures in our own local contexts.

This paper attempts to discuss the varying perceptions and interpretative responses of Jat Sikhs and Dalits of a Punjabi village with respect to Sunny Deol, the popular Hindi film star, and relates these variations to certain salient aspects of their respective identity constructions, in the context of their day-to-day patterns of being, including such identities as caste, class, gender, religion, age, education, exposure to media relating to ideas or values about masculinity, femininity, honor, shame, as well as propriety and morality. These factors become significant as Sunny Deol enters politics and attempts to make a transition from reel to real. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dalit autobiographies narrate the journey of protagonists from the 'untouchable' communities of India towards self-realisation and their struggle for human rights. A vigilant reading recognises the representation of animals as tropes in Dalit autobiographies that trace the reconstitution of the non-human limit of the Dalit as narrative subject. This paper reads Dalit autobiographies by Narendra Jadhav, Bama and Namdeo Nimgade to reveal the importance of animals as an analogy in Dalit literature, but then, following the work of Spivak and Derrida, it deconstructs the circulation of the hegemonic logic of the rational humanist subject in the radical gesture of Dalit subject constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life writings had time and again been used as source material for historical research both in theWest and the various literary cultures of South Asia. Considering the absence and a deliberate, socially conditioned erasure of Dalit history from the mainstream narratives of Indian historiography, some scholars have introduced the notion of viewing Dalit life writings as exercises in history writing. This article explores several Dalit autobiographies as instances of engagement with the process of constructing history of Dalit communities in India. Starting from this premise, it undertakes a preliminary analysis of various narrative strategies employed in Hindi autobiographies by Dalit authors in the hope of revealing the nature of their engagements with India's past and present. The study presented in this paper is based on four relevant examples of prose in Hindi--by Kausalya Baisantri, Sushila Takbhaure, Omprakash Valmiki, and Sheoraj Singh Bechain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most distinctive characteristic of India is its social system. It has been driven by casteism. It has partially been believed by the high caste Brahmins that casteism has saved Hinduism from disintegration. Therefore they have preached the proletarian and subaltern that they are specially created by Brahma to rule over them. Due to this they have divided the whole social system with four sections - Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. But their inhuman treatment over the marginalized and dalits has left no mark of identity for them. Therefore, they have been searching their identity with the periods of time either by embracing other faiths or by revolting against them. In this context, Matua Mahasangha or MMS is a religious reformative movement which was an initiative step for the Namashudra, a Scheduled Caste group to acknowledge their pangs and pathos in the Brahmin centric division and motivate them to revolt against the untouchabilities they have been faced since decades. This paper attempts at analyzing how the reformation of the Matua movement becomes a stepping stone for the upliftment of the Dalits in Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a fresh perspective on the complicated relationship between digital communication technologies and historically disadvantaged castes such as Dalits in peri-urban Bangalore (Bengaluru), India, a city popularly perceived as India’s “Silicon Valley.” Based on interviews with Dalit household members, entrepreneurs, and political activists, the study examines whether mobile phones have been insufficiently harnessed by Dalits in the region to overcome historic deprivation, or whether they may have even assisted in the reinforcement of caste-based exclusion. The paper uses oral histories and draws from feminist perspectives on technology to demonstrate how the contemporary socio-technological outcomes among Dalits in peri-urban south Bangalore is a result of a convergence between three elements - the durability of caste in peri-urban metropolitan India, the social construction of the usage of information communication technologies (ICTs), and myopia in the conventional understanding of the digital divide in India. In the process of disentangling this convergence, the paper offers a new perspective on the relationship between caste, ICTs, and development policy. The paper ultimately argues for a re-examination of the idea of a digital divide and the development assumption that access to new technologies will further positive development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the critique of Brahminical patriarchy in the radical poetry of MeenaKandasamy and UshaAkella. While both poets, one Dalit and the other Brahmin, represent polar nodes of the caste spectrum, their poems delve into the intersections of women's lives and examine the layers of oppression that women negotiate. In addressing gender-caste violence and the othering as a result of privilege, Kandasamy's and Akella's poetry offers us opportunities for a deeper critique and dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper articulates the injustice and discrimination faced by Dalit women. The paper highlights the pathetic real-life events and struggles underwent by a Dalit women. They are facing oppression not only against patriarchy but also against caste based society. They face triple oppression of casteism, economic deprivation and sexism. The present paper keenly observes Dalit people’s lives narrated by Bama being a representative of women of her community and their lives as downtrodden that underwent lot of struggles. The paper investigates the Bama’s Karukku as a Testimonio to uplift the whole community. The frequent skirmish between the Chaaliyar and Paraiyar communities resulted in police brutality and many killings have been discussed in detail in this paper. Bama’s role in cleansing the society from prejudices and discrimination has been further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Indialogs, Spanish Journal of India Studies is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ciencia Política is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay considers the methodological intervention of understanding a 'mother tongue' (matribhasha) as a gendered vernacular. It seeks to illustrate the subversive potential of the vernacular as a gendered lens though which we can understand the Dalit feminist critiques of caste hierarchies and Dalit and non-Dalit patriarchies, and the places they intersect. The essay considers the works of Anita Bharti and Meena Kandasamy, contemporary Dalit women authors who write in Hindi and English, respectively. Thus, this paper extends the definition of the vernacular beyond the confines of linguistic and regional specificity, allowing for a feminist reclamation of the term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent caste conflicts have revolved around discourses of honour, caste pride and shame. Although Dalit movements have been at the receiving end of the violence and have condemned the casteism underpinning it, they operate within a society in which questions of honour are highly significant. Dalit women activists are trapped in an unenviable position within the twin structures of caste and patriarchy, both of which speak to debates about group boundaries and honour. Taking the recent violence as its starting point, this paper draws on interviews with and observations of Dalit women in the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (Liberation Panther Party) in Tamil Nadu to chart how discourses of honour both facilitate and constrain their capacity to act. For all the party’s emphasis on women’s rights, women activists face an uphill struggle to secure recognition, respect and responsiveness both within the party as well as wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores intersectionality of identities within Dalit and Adivasi traditions through a review of contemporary research on practices of witchcraft. Witchcraft practices occur all over the Indian subcontinent and form focal points of intersectionality beyond fixed structures and stereotypes. By approaching witchcraft through the perspective of the lived experience of the ones involved, we gain better understanding of the individuals involved, of the larger socio-economic context and of the practice itself without falling into the trap of recasting stereotypes. By approaching witchcraft from the perspective of lived experience, it becomes clear that the occurrence of witchcraft is the outcome of complex intersectional power structures, such as gender, caste, class and religion/spirituality. However, the approach accomplishes even more by addressing diversity, ambiguity and dynamics within intersectional (power) structures. The knowledge drawn from the approach of lived experience of Dalits and Adivasis leads to new academic discourses such as 'Dalit and Adivasi Studies', 'Critical Caste Theory', 'Dalit Feminism' and the 'Dalit Queer Movement'. These discourses provide new counter-hegemonic knowledge, adding to and challenging academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbols play a significant role in politics and assertion. In India, different kinds of signs are used in Dalit assertions and politics. In his struggle for Dalits' rights, Dr. B R Ambedkar had employed different modes of verbal and non-verbal communication tools. He used various symbols to popularise his ideology and messages among his followers. Ambedkar's sense of clothing, Manu Smriti burning, and Buddha all had symbolic meanings. This paper, under the theoretical framework of semiotics, seeks to ascertain how these symbols helped Ambedkar to spread his ideas of Dalit emancipation and emerged as vital tools for Dalit rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]