120 days of Writing Caste

The brief autobiography of Rettaimalai Srinivasan describes his continued thirst to mobilise his community politically, the fear of a child making its way through school in the time when classes of 400-strong would have only about ten non-Brahmin students, the ardour of a young man to learn the history of his community, his coming into awareness of the political value of publishing and of his participation in the Round Table discussions (excerpts in forthcoming blogposts). Rettaimalai Srinivasan’s incisive commentary on Gandhi’s attempts to ‘uplift’ the Depressed Classes is among the many historically valuable sections of the book. The colonial government saw fit to honour Rettaimalai Srinivasan with honorific titles for his work to empower Dalits. This book will be translated and made available in its entirety over the coming days. Our gratitude is due to the Dalit Sahitya Akademi for making this work available – with the older Tamil font that must have been in use when this work was published in the 1930s. While the fonts could not be reproduced, I have attempted to retain the tenor of an older formal Tamil in the translation too.

In another excerpt from the colonial archive, William Wilberforce, best known for his work against slavery, pleads with the British Parliament for evangelising India, citing the abhorrent practice of caste as an important reason.

From the series on violence against dalit Panchayat presidents, here is a set of observations that emerged out of a visit by a documentary filmmaking team to the Thalaiyuthu Panchayat, where Panchayat President Krishnaveni was brutally hacked. A translation of Chellamma’s testimony is here.

Priya (name changed on request) shared, in an interview, her love story and how it was driven and shaped by caste in two parts: One and Two

MC Raj has written about the buffalo, the symbolic role it plays in rituals and the work of his organisation in eradicating rituals that sanctify free caste labour.

Rupesh Kumar has written about his work as a dalit documentary filmmaker and how he participates in political debates, both from behind the camera and on-screen in his personal narrative in two parts – One and Two.

The transcript of another documentary about the links between untouchability and bonded labour – drawn from interviews with caste-affected people and bonded labourers – is published in two parts: One and Two

A voice from the UN against caste – the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ statement is here.

In Blog Excerpts: Corey Black writes on the unexpected effects that developmental aid has on the caste composition and relations of a region.

In Research Excerpts: Masood Alam Falahi writes from personal experience, conversations and research on the practice of caste among Indian Muslims. There is a report on how inequalities of caste are coded into primary education. There is also a study that exposes the casteist biases of the private sector, the sector that is often claimed to be a repository of merit.

In Caste in South Asia: Sergio Targa attempts to unravel the origins of caste in Bangladesh. An earlier-published interview with Durga Sob, Nepal’s trailblazing Dalit feminist, is here.

In Journalism: An Australian wonders at the caste of the Indian cricket team. A Dalit view of climate change, courtesy the International Dalit Solidarity Network.

In the Dalit Writing section: Kamalakar introduces Siddalingaiah’s autobiography, Ooru Keri. From the Telugu Dalit Writing blog, a poem by Jupaka Subadhra.

There are earlier round-ups of posts published during the first 30 days and the subsequent lists marking 60 days and 90 days of Writing Caste. In case you are counting the links, you will realise that posting has faltered and five days have been mysteriously lost this time round. I hope to make it up in the coming month. Keep reading.

- Malarvizhi Jayanth

90 days of Writing Caste

Here are links to the posts published over the past month. The eighteen posts on the theme of dalit panchayat presidents have been grouped first. The links to personal narratives, excerpts from other studies and other posts published over the last 30 days are below.

In response to the brutal attack on Thalaiyuthu Panchayat President Krishnaveni, a series of eighteen posts have been carried about attempts on the lives of dalit panchayat presidents. This series is set to continue with occasional postings through the next month too. This attack has hospitalised an award-winning and popular elected leader and underlines the threat that caste poses to democracy. Here is a picture of Krishnaveni.

Here are the excerpts from the fact-finding report on the attack on Krishnaveni: Krishnaveni’s testimony, her daughter, Bhuvaneswari’s testimony, facts about the incident determined by the fact-finding committee (part one and two), followed by recommendations to prevent such murderous attacks from taking place in the future.

Ravichandran has written about the response of the dalit movements to the attack on Krishnaveni.

Here is a statement from the Arunthathiyar Human Rights Federation on this incident and a poem by S Raj.

There are also excerpts from earlier fact-finding reports on the murders of Jaggaiyan and Servaaran – dalit panchayat presidents in the same district. From the fact-finding report into the murder of Jaggaiyan, there are excerpts titled ‘Announcing a Murder‘, ‘Pappa’s Testimony‘ and ‘Jaggaiyan’s Complaint‘.  Here is an excerpt from the fact-finding report on the murder of Servaaran.

There are also excerpts from other interviews with dalit panchayat presidents, detailing the continued and brutal suppression of dalit elected representatives within their own panchayats. There are also interviews with women dalit panchayat presidents, Jayanthi and Chellamma.

This discrimination against dalit panchayat presidents has been repeatedly documented but little action has been taken to protect these elected representatives who ensure that democracy thrives at the grassroots. Some excerpts from studies on discrimination against dalit panchayat presidents have been posted: Krishnaveni’s panchayat finds mention in this report. Here is an excerpt from a study on women panchayat presidents in TN and Gujarat.

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Both civil society and political movements seem to have become used to physical atrocities against dalits – the murderous attacks on three panchayat presidents within the same district in the last four years have scarcely received any attention.

This issue should be of concern to all those who believe in democracy.

Yet these attacks have been represented as ‘only’ a dalit issue on some platforms and as the outcome of ‘inter-personal conflict’ on others.

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Now, there are new examples of harassment and attempts to suppress dalit assertion. A case was filed against a dalit poet and translator, a dalit leader and a publishing house for ‘misrepresenting’ the caste of gods – here is a selection of writing on the case. Planning Commission member Gladson Dungdung was interrogated on suspicion of being ‘anti-national’ – his letter of protest to the authorities is here.

Temsula Ao draws from the beliefs of her people to write the Tiger-Woman’s Prayer.

In the Personal Narratives section: Adhimoolam describes his work of cleaning sewers. Namit Arora’s personal narrative expands to include a reflection on the nature of caste privilege and how blind dominant castes can be to their own privileged location on the caste hierarchy. Kancha Ilaiah’s interview describes how his childhood and family background have shaped his political project. Reds Raj writes about how he became an author – part one and two.

In the Research Excerpts section: An excerpt from a study on dalit children and access to healthcare demonstrates how and why ‘dalit children routinely die due to discriminatory practices by ‘merit’ doctors’. Here is a survey of caste in South Asia. There are excerpts from articles on caste in children’s literature.

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There are earlier round-ups of posts published during the first 30 days and the subsequent list marking 60 days of Writing Caste.

60 days of Writing Caste

Please write for this blog. Please write for this blog. Please write for this blog.

You can follow the good example of Ajith Kumar A.S. who has written about his experiences of Reading writing and living caste , Rhoda Alex who asks What am I supposed to do now? with her collection of memories and experiences of casteism, or Rama Srinivasan who wrote Why I am a Hindu , reflecting on how she is marked by religion and caste. P.D. Sathyapal has given an insightful interview, providing us with an understanding of how caste produces sexual violence, and how it functions in educational institutions and at the interface of academia and activism.

Khalid Anis Ansari has shared an earlier interview ‘On Faith Solidarity and Transformation’ (published in two parts here – Part one and two ). Vijay Prashad has shared his obituary for Bhagwan Das. Pooja Saxena has shared an earlier blog post about a caste-specific script that fell victim to the Sanskritisation of Hindi in From a line of traditional scribes.

There have been excerpts from several studies: on Caste discrimination in AIIMS , on Caste on Orkut , on Caste discrimination in Britain , on Caste in the diaspora , an especially fascinating study of Caste and social capital that shows how the strength of our social connections are determined by caste, far more than class.

Other blog excerpts featured here, include the incredible story of Govind Majhi  and an account of the discrimination against adivasis in Orissa, an explanation of the role of caste among Syrian Christians and a day in the life of Jyothi

The sole book excerpt was on Caste in colonial Madras There is also an account of dalit journalism in the early 20th century published in two parts: 1 and 2

In the Milestones in the Struggle against Caste section: Periyar speaks on Untouchability, A student from the school run by Jotirao and Savitribhai Phule, Muktabai writes  About the griefs of Mangs and Mahars , a biographical note on the man who created Graffiti for the Self Respect Movement

In the Poetry section: Khasi Lullabies , Oral Poetry of the Bodos , Mizo Folk Songstresses

In the Caste in South Asia section: Inter-Caste marriage in Nepal

In the Dalit authors section: Storyteller Bama – an excerpt from an interview with links to her other writing and to a page carrying recordings of her telling stories in Tamil for children and adults.

You can find an earlier round-up of posts published during the first 30 days here.

30 days of Writing Caste

Malarvizhi Jayanth does her version of the ‘From the Editor’s Desk’ column thingie by pleading for help, listing reactions to the blog and presenting a round-up of blog posts for the month.

Thirty days of writing caste. On this momentous occasion, I have three requests to make:

1. Please write for this blog.

2. Please write for this blog.

3. Please write for this blog.

Please do write personal narratives of caste – describing personal encounters and practice and understanding of caste. I can conduct interviews, if you do not want to write. If you know people who can be interviewed and I can contact, please do pass on contact information.  If you have seen blog posts, books, articles or any material that you think is relevant to the purpose of this blog, I would be very glad to hear about them.

And, now, for your reading pleasure, here is a cross section of the reactions to this blog and its aftermath…

‘Why are you doing this?’ ‘Isn’t gender more important than caste?’ ‘I’m so glad to see this blog doing so well.’ ‘How can you carry posts that are critical of the left?’ ‘Isn’t this a divisive form of political engagement – a language of emancipation that includes all of us, rather than resentment against some, is going to be more valuable, isn’t it?’ ‘What an irresponsible post.’ ‘The quality of posting is uneven, that could lose you readers.’ ‘This just shows how socially isolated you are.’ ‘May a thousand Malars bloom’ (Thank you, Anu, for that one) ‘Why are all your recent FB posts about caste?’ ‘Why is there so much Tamil on your blog? You should just rename it ‘writing caste in Tamil’.’

Also, members of the extended family have been complaining to my mother that I am using ‘violent’ language and that I ‘hate brahmins’ – a sin, apparently, since Christ has ordered us to love everyone. I warmly encourage the complainers to find spouses for their children from outside their caste and spread the love. Come to think of it, almost every family wedding has been just another brick in the walls of caste. Ugh.

Now that we have settled scores,  here is a round-up of the posts this month:

In the Milestones in the Struggle against Caste section: We have excerpts of the personal narratives of Ambedkar and Iyothee Thass, a reminiscence from Meenambal Sivaraj of how Periyar got his name and some memories of the Dravidian movement.

In the Poetry section: poetry from Kalahandi and Tamil Nadu.

In the Critical Writing section: An insightful taking-apart of a poem and its worldview by Anu Ramdas, some excerpts from Nicholas Dirks’ Castes of Mind.

In the Caste in South Asia section: A documentation of caste in Pakistan

Under the Personal Narratives section: Experiences of discrimination at IIT Delhi, a story of the boy who fought back, personal narratives from P. Padmini, Meena Kandasamy, Vizhi. Pa. Idhayavendhan,  J. Balasubramaniam, Shruti Padmanabhan, A.N. Sattanathan, Gayathri Bashi, Prasanth Radhakrishnan, Ashley Tellis and S. Anand, excerpts from a conversation on caste and Indian history and reflections on how caste governs social interactions in this country.

In the Dalit authors section: Writing by Tamil author Bama, an interview with Telugu writer Vemula Yelliah and a preface to a book on Dalit literature from Tamil author Sivagami. Also, excerpts from a community publishing effort to document the history of a dalit community in a village.

In the newly inaugurated Visual Art gallery: Drawings by children depicting caste discrimination they have experienced.

Thank you for reading. Do stay with the conversation. Do write.