Remapping Caste, Dalits, and Nature: Socio-Ecological Realism in Bheda

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the workings of the caste system and its negative impact on Dalit lives and Nature as represented in Akhila Naik’s Bheda. Using the broad approach of ecocriticism, it focuses on ‘environmental casteism’ to assess various dimensions of caste discrimination meted out to the Dalits. It exposes the paradoxical underpinnings of the naturalisation of caste and varna system through which Dalits and various landscapes, water bodies, and forests have been subjugated and appropriated in different times and spaces. The study will also identify the eco-precariousness of Dalits through different casteist, state-backed, ecological, and educational institutions that underwrite casteism, and it also argues for Dalit socio-ecological struggle coupled with Dalit ‘consciousness of kind’. Furthermore, the study not only divulges the Brahmin-Bania duo’s black marketeering that has deprived the Kalahandi district of its rich natural resources but also celebrates Dalit socio-ecological egalitarian approach espoused, particularly, by Laltu, the protagonist.

KEYWORDS:

• Bheda
• Dalit
• Akhila Naik
• caste
• environment
• discrimination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Swachh Bharat Mission ;(SBM) or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defaecation and improve solid waste management. The objectives of the mission included eradication of manual scavenging, generating awareness and bringing about behavioural change regarding sanitation practices, and augmentation of capacity at the local level.

2. ‘New Traditionalism’ appeared in the late twentieth through early twenty-first centuries in opposition to secular liberalism and is considered to be a new phase of traditionalism.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vijay Kumar

Vijay Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Jammu and Kashmir Higher Education Department, India. His research focuses on the interrelationship among Dalits, Caste, and Nature in Dalit autobiographies and novels. He has already published some papers on several incumbent themes in Dalit literature such as environmental casteism, feminism, social exploitation, etc. One of his recent publications is “Environmental Casteism and the Democratisation of Natural Resources: Reimagining Dalit Testimonies” in South Asia: The Journal of South Asian Studies (T&F).

Binod Mishra

Binod Mishra is a Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. He is the author of Multiple Waves and Existential Concerns in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand. He has published a good number of papers. He is also the Vice-president of the Association for English Studies of India.