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Abstract
This article critically explores the implications of the recent turn to transnational efforts in activism that seeks to counter caste-based discrimination. In particular, it analyses the consequences of mobilising a concept of caste that is sufficiently expansive to accommodate occupation- and descent-based discrimination globally, and which primarily frames caste in terms of human rights. To what extent is it possible to maintain a nuanced conceptualising of caste and of what it means to occupy the margins of the caste system, if efforts to influence the workings of global governance institutions divest caste of its regional and local distinctiveness? The article demonstrates how, even though Dalit (‘untouchable’) activists have been successful in bringing attention to caste as a global concern, present endeavours, on the one hand, reinforce the marginalised identity that they seek to overcome and, on the other, fail to recognise the diversity and situated-ness of the Dalit experience.
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to Carole Spary, Owen Parker, Anders Uhlin and Catarina Kinnvall for having read and commented on earlier drafts of this article. It was written as part of Transdemos, a research programme funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (the Bank of Sweden Tercentary Foundation).
Notes
1. Cokhamela poem, cited in Zelliot, “The Early Voices,” 78.
2. hrw, Broken People, 4.
3. See Adler and Pouliot, International Practices.
4. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2513.
5. United Nations, World Conference against Racism.
6. European Parliament, “European Parliament Resolution.”
7. Grugel and Uhlin, “Renewing Global Governance,” 1710.
8. Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit, 267. See also Paik, “Mahar–Dalit–Buddhist,” 228ff.
9. Quigley, The Interpretation of Caste, 46.
10. For a critique of this, see Singh, “Caste, Class and Peasant.”
11. See Adler and Pouliot, International Practices, 8f.
12. See Deleuze, Bergsonism, 20.
13. Bob, “‘Dalit Rights’”; Lerche, “Transnational Advocacy Networks”; and Smith, “Going Global.”
14. Guha, A Subaltern Studies Reader; and Chaturvedi, Mapping Subaltern Studies.
15. Lerche, “Transnational Advocacy Networks,” 246.
16. Bob, “‘Dalit Rights’,” 168.
17. Ibid., 169.
18. See Jodhka, “Dalits in Business,” 42; Jodhka, “The Problem”; and Omvedt, “Caste in the Census,” 409.
19. Thorat, “Caste, Race and United Nations’ Perspective,” 143.
20. Ibid., 149.
21. Ibid., 152.
22. Thakur, “Dalit Politics,” 2, 6.
23. Some of the most significant organisations are the International Dalit Solidarity Network (idsn) with its eight national branches, the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights and the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations in India, and the Dalit ngo Federation in Nepal.
24. A parallel presence has been exercised at and through the World Social Forum. Smith, “Going Global,” 23ff.
25. Thorat, “Caste, Race and United Nations’ Perspective,” 152.
26. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2512.
27. Guru, “What it Means,” 173.
28. Gupta, “Caste and Politics,” 414ff. On ‘internal mechanisms’, see Jodhka, Engaging with Caste, 23ff.
29. Tallberg et al., The Opening up of International Organizations. In the case of Dalit activism, the increased access to international organisations consists of the submission of reports or other input to the Human Rights Council, UN Treaty Bodies, the Universal Periodic Reviews and the UN Special Procedures. In addition, it includes accreditation for idsn to the Durban Review Conference held in 2008 and a number of ‘UN parallel events […] in association with its ecosoc-accredited associates and national members’. See http://idsn.org/international-advocacy/.
30. Babu, “The Bhopal Conference,” 183. See also Oommen, “Sources of Deprivation,” 57.
31. Paik, “Mahar–Dalit–Buddhist,” 218.
32. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 128ff.
33. Tartakov, “Introduction,” 1.
34. Oommen, “Sources of Deprivation,” 46.
35. National Commission for Scheduled Castes, First Annual Report 2004–2005, 21.
36. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2512.
37. Thorat and Sadana Sabharwal, Caste and Social Exclusion, 7.
38. Quigley, The Interpretation of Caste, 9, 12.
39. Varna corresponds to the division of labour that finds its legitimation in Hindu scriptures (such as the Law of Manu), jati relates to the (discrete) social groups that are based on endogamy.
40. Cf. Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus.
41. Lindt, “Towards a Comprehensive Model,” 90.
42. Ibid., 96ff.
43. Ibid., 90.
44. Ibid., 92, 96.
45. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2512; and Guru, “What it Means,” 168ff. Cf. Gupta, Interrogating Caste, 86ff.
46. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2513.
47. Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism.
48. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2513.
49. Jodhka, “Caste, Culture and Clinic.”
50. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2514.
51. Bob, “‘Dalit Rights’,” 191; Hardtmann, The Dalit Movement, 195ff. See also idsn, Caste Discrimination, 6f.
52. For a critique of how existing work on caste fails to account for the centrality of ‘property and production relations’, see Singh, “The Real World.”
53. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2512.
54. Bob, “‘Dalit Rights’,” 175.
55. Jain, cited in Kumar, “Understanding Dalit Diaspora,” 114.
56. See ilo, Equality at Work, 35, 37.
57. See Geiger, Subverting Exclusion.
58. Thorat, “Caste, Race and United Nations’ Perspective,” 142, 158ff.
59. Bob, “‘Dalit Rights’,” 191.
60. Dirks, “Castes of Mind,” 56, emphasis added. See also Jodhka, “Engaging with Caste,” 4.
61. “Caste Discrimination to be Outlawed,” bbc, April 23, 2013. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-22267147.
62. See Dirks, “Castes of Mind,” 56.
63. Kumar, “Understanding Dalit Diaspora,” 115.
64. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2514.
65. Hardtmann, The Dalit Movement, 191.
66. Keck and Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders. Cf. Lerche, “Transnational Advocacy Networks,” 256.
67. Thorat, “Caste, Race and United Nations’ Perspective,” 154.
68. idsn, 2012 Annual Report, 4, 8f.
69. Jodhka and Shah, Comparative Contexts, 4, 7f.
70. Rao, The Caste Question, 267, emphasis in the original.
71. Teltumbde, “Mukhiya’s Assassination”; and Teltumbde, “Bathani Tola,” 11.
72. See Chowdry, “Caste Panchayats”; and Gorringe, “The Caste of the Nation,” 135.
73. Corbridge et al., Seeing the State, 102.
74. Deshpande, “Caste and Castelessness,” 36.
75. idsn, Caste Discrimination, 15.
76. Deshpande, “Caste and Castelessness,” 36.
77. “Dalit–Adivasi Delhi Declaration 2012.” http://idsn.org/fileadmin/user_folder/pdf/New_files/India/2012/Delhi_Declaration_-_Nov_23_-_FINAL.pdf. See also Gupta, “Caste and Politics,” 412, 421.
78. See S. Nagappa’s address on January 20, 1947. Constituent Assembly of India Debates (Proceedings).
79. Deshpande, “Caste and Castelessness,” 36.
80. Kothari, “Rise of the Dalits,” 1589.
81. Jodhka, “The Problem.”
82. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 113.
83. Ibid., 152, 159, 161f.
84. Ambedkar, a historically prominent Dalit politician, is today the ‘deeply internalised […] icon’, who ‘overwhelms even […] revolutionary politics’ among Dalits. Teltumbde, “Bathani Tola,” 11.
85. Oommen, “Sources of Deprivation,” 50.
86. Fitzgerald, “From Structure to Substance,” 280f; and Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit, 133.
87. Ganguly, Caste, Colonialism and Counter-modernity, 157.
88. Hayden, “Excommunication as Everyday Event.”
89. Thorat and Sadana Sabharwal, Caste and Social Exclusion, 9.
90. Spivak, “Woman in Difference,” 108.
91. Jodhka, “Nation and Village,” 57f (cf. Jaffrelot, Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability, 162); and Thorat and Kumar, B. R. Ambedkar, 352.
92. Rao, “Stigma and Labour.”
93. Jaffrelot, Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability, 119ff; and Ganguly, Caste, Colonialism and Counter-modernity, 155.
94. Gupta, Interrogating Caste, 29ff, 93, 115. Cf. Pandey, A History of Prejudice, 92f.
95. Dirks, “Castes of Mind,” 66.
96. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 222.
97. Ibid.
98. Ibid., 33.
99. Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe.
100. See Marchetti, “Mapping Alternative Models,” 134.
101. Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe, 101, 103.
102. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 150.
103. Tartakov, “The Hindu Temple,” 51, 61.
104. Rao, The Caste Question, 268.
105. Gupta, Interrogating Caste, 19.
106. Spivak, “Righting Wrongs,” 529.
107. Steur, “Dalit Civil Society Activism.”
108. Tartakov, “Introduction,” 2f.
109. See Nelson and Dorsey, “New Rights Advocacy.”
110. Visvanathan, “The Race for Caste,” 2513.
111. Hardtmann, The Dalit Movement in India, 204.
112. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 109.
113. Ibid., 114.
114. Tartakov, “Art and Identity,” 27.
115. Teltumbde, “Identity Politics.”
116. Dirks, “Castes of Mind,” 76.
117. Thakur, “Dalit Politics,” 12, emphasis in the original.
118. Heredia, “Subaltern Alternatives,” 49.
119. See Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 115f.
120. Rao, “Stigma and Labour”, emphasis added.
121. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 117ff.
122. Spivak, “Righting Wrongs,” 531.
123. Gupta, Interrogating Caste, 29. In India, according to Ashwini Deshpande, there have been no recognisable patterns of ‘upward caste mobility’ since 1947. Deshpande, The Grammar of Caste, 99.
124. Thorat, “Caste, Race and United Nations’ Perspective,” 144.
125. Ibid., 144f.
126. Mutua, “Savages, Victims, and Saviors,” 201ff.
127. Ibid., 204.
128. Chowdhury, “‘The Giver or the Recipient?’,” 40, 45, emphasis in the original.
129. Ibid., 36.
130. Grugel and Uhlin, “Renewing Global Governance,” 1713.
131. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 66.
132. Ibid., 45, 69.
133. See ibid., 67.
134. Ibid., 45.
135. Ibid., 46.
136. Baxi, “‘Global Neighborhood’,” 542.
137. Guru, in Jodhka et al., “Conversations on Caste Today.”
138. ilo, Independent Evaluation.
139. Nagaraj, The Flaming Feet, 30.
140. hrw, Broken People, 26.