©) studocu Dalit Perspective - summary of Vivek kumar and other perspectives Studocu snot sponsored or andorsed by any calage or univeraty Downloaded by Bidisha Das (oidishadas8269@gmaicom)Vivek Kumar~ Dalit Perspective * Hindu Social order ~5® group ~ Ashprashya (Untouchable) ~ Chamars, Mahars, Matangs, Namashudra, Depressed classes etc. lableled by sacred texts or Upper Caste Hindus + GOI~1935~ Scheduled Castes ~ Now, 1038 castes ~ 16 % pop. Defining Dalits ‘+ Dalit Panthers manifesto ~ 1973 ~ class based definition ~ SC+ST+landless labourerstpoor peasantstwomen+poor people Difficult to specify nature and composition of the population '* Definition as per (Kumar, 2009) Dalits are: (These are basic tenets of Dalit perspective) (© Unique structural location in Hindu Social order © Suffering cumulative social exclusion © Un-alterable social status based on caste © Construction of consciousness anchored in the historicity © Evolved their own icons like Buddha, Ravidas, Ambedlar, etc. Dalits suffer cumulative social exclusion — exclusion spills over various spheres (© Exclusion ~ history of a thousand years ‘* Dalits have their own agency, culture, icons, organization, movements, style of protest etc Lack of mention in sociological literature Rege (2006) highlights erasure of Dalit intellectualism in social science curricula Theoretical rationale on Dalit Perspective ‘© Drawsits strength from Mills (1970), Bourdieu (1986) © Bourdieu talks about cultural and social capital ‘© Indian society can be divided (© Those who enjoy accumulation of social and cultural capital because of their structural location in the Hindu social order © Those who suffer from exclusion because of their structural location ‘+ Structural location of Dalits is intrinsically inked to their production of knowledge which can be called as ‘Dalit Perspective’ ‘+ Freire (1970:36) ~ argues ~ The pedagogy of the oppressed makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed - It cannot be developed or practiced by the oppressor © Oommen also argues “The perspective from below is necessitated due to the politics of location” This documents aval eof charge on @ studocu Downloade by Bidsha Das (bidishadat8269@gmai.com)Views similar to Dalit perspective ~ “Non-Brahmanical perspective", “De-Brahmanising History” Funetions of Dalit perspective: (© Understand and analyze the existing socio-political reality about the Dalits © Understand and analyze the reality about the Dalits established by other social scientists © Understand and analyze the existing socio-political reality about the Society as a whole Existing Reality and Book view about Dalits ‘Accd. To Book view of Caste system — Only 4 varnas, Manusmriti argues there cannot be a fifth varna Sociologists and Anthropologists like Ghurye and Dumont have characterized Dalits as fifth Varna Dalits question this view ‘The Varna — ashram — Dharma duty ~ prescribed only for — upper 3 varnas, Dalits have repeatedly struggled against there inclusion in the Hindu social order — yet sociologists have included them — so, Dalit perspective questions whether Hindu social order is a social construct or a social reality? Dalit Perspective and Field view ‘They try to analyse why their views, icons, values, movement have no presence in the field In the discussion of indian villages — description of Dalit villages, their properties, day-to-day sufferings, ridicule, dirt, filth and poverty were never discussed DP declares that the perspective of mainstream sociologists is erroneous — It happened because they stayed only in the upper caste localities Dalit autobiographies portray spatial, cultural, and occupational etc. differences among the resident of the same village ~ Valmik's description of his village, Madhopurl (2010) in his autobiography argues that sources of water for each caste in rural Punjab were different DP gives us a framework in understanding Dalit Society DP asserts that there isa difference b/w Dalit women and general caste women ~ they are triply exploited on the basis of gender, class and caste Dalit women are stereotyped - they are termed as Dai, Dayan, Devdasis They also differ from upper caste women because of the nature of sexual violence they suffer at the hands of upper caste males (© Such sexual assault is an act prompted by Dalit women's location in the caste structure Dalit women are treated as touchable Rape of Dalit women on number of occasions is a group activity It isa caste activity because violence is perpetrated when upper-caste men attack Dalit localities ~ Dalit women’s age does not deter the assaulter Dalit youths within the Dalit society (© The ‘injured psyche’ with which they live and grow Downloaded by Bidisha Das (bidishadas8260@omaicom(© Their consciousness constitute the treatment they had to suffer at the hands of their peer group, or in the informal or formal groups of which they are members © Ex: being ridiculed by upper-caste mates who use the epithets like Sarkari Damads, Sonar Chand ‘* DP questions the blackout and the reductionism of their icons like Phuley, Periyar, Sahuji maharaj etc. © DPalso tries to analyze the nature of invisible existence of Dalit Diaspora within the Indian Diaspora © DP successfully demonstrated that Dalit Diaspora has established themselves as a separate community with the help of their celebrations and organizations © Establishment of Buddha viharas, Ravidasi temples © Dalit Diaspora has highlighted the issue of Human rights violations back at home with their host nations © Hence, indian Diaspora is not monolithic whole and divided on caste lines ‘* DP has analyzed caste as an Institution © Ambedkar (1973) has refuted racial theories of caste and simple understanding of hierarchy within the caste system © Caste as Division of laborers not just a simple DOL © Caste system stands on the principle of ‘graded inequality’ © Refuting that Caste is a colonial construct ‘© Claiming of status such as ~ Adi-Hindu, Adi-Dravida, Adi-Karnataka (© Trying to assert that they are original inhabitants before Aryan subjugation ‘+ Dalit literature produced by Dalits themselves ‘© OP accepts that DL grew as apart of the Dalit movement. © DP highlights that Dalit autobiographies are the most effective genre ~can be seen ‘as meta-narratives to make sense of lives of Dalits © These autobiographies have deconstructed socio-cultural and political realities as depicted by the mainstream sociologists ig organizations like Political parties from DP © PP can be seen from the perspective of leadership, ideology and membership © Vivek Kumar (2002) divides Dalit political leadership into dependent and independent leadership © Most of the parties are led by Dalit themselves ~ ILP, RPI, BSP, UP = Led and dominated by Dalit themselves © DP suggests that Dalits have organized different shades of movements on the basis of issues faced by the community © There are at least 8 type of movements organized by Dalits: Indian society. These movements are: (i) Soci cligious reform movement, ipottical movement, (ii) Dalit Literary and intellectual movement, (iv) Dalit employee's movement, (v) Dalit NGO's movement, (vi) Dalit women's ‘movement, (vi) Dalit media movement, (vii) Dalit Diaspora movement (Rar, 1999, Kumar, 2010a), ‘+ DP on Modernization and Globalization © DP emphasizes that the process with its liberalization and privatization and informal revolution have been detrimental to the Dalits © Hence, Dalits have suffered on the account of globalization policy © Conclusion Inescemerriawnereectromeon Ly studocu Downloaded by Bidisha Das (bidishadat8269@gmai.com)‘© This perspective emerges out of thoughts and experiences of millions of Dalits who have unique structural location in the society Downloaded by Bidisha Das (bidshadas8269@gmail.com)