Caste and comics: an interview with Samarth

ABSTRACT

Indian graphic narratives of the post-millennial era have increasingly addressed pressing social issues such as casteism, environmental degradation, and urbanisation among others. Comics about caste typically showcase the remarkable lives of anti-caste icons in the form of graphic biographies, such as Bhimayana: Incidents in the Life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Vyam et al. 2011) and A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule’s Fight for Liberty (Natarajan 2011). Published in 2022, Samarth’s Suit continues a post-millennial trend by depicting safai karamcharis (transl. sanitation workers in India), who have been historically forced to engage in manual scavenging, as salaried employees in a futuristic setting with protective suits while also confronting the persisting social issue of casteism. In particular, Suit expands the conversation about caste and comics by boldly depicting the inhumane treatment and illegal practice of manual scavenging (which is rampant in Mumbai) and its entanglements with casteism. In this context, Samarth in an email interview shares his views on caste and comics in India, emphasising the need for greater representation and discussion of marginalised communities, and highlighting the importance of shedding light on issues like manual scavenging, which continue to affect Dalits and other oppressed groups in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Caste
• discrimination
• manual scavenging
• graphic novel
• suit

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Safai karamcharis is a Hindi term that refers to conservancy workers in India. The primary responsibilities of conservancy workers include maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene of their designated areas, which involves tasks such as sweeping the roads, installing sanitation equipment, and clearing public drains. Often, safai karamcharis are not adequately equipped with essential sanitation tools and, though it is illegal, are sometimes subjected to the degrading work of manual scavenging.

2. According to the Human Rights Watch’s 2014 definition, manual scavenging is ‘the practice of manually cleaning excrement from private and public dry toilets and open drains’ carried out predominantly by individuals ‘from caste groups customarily relegated to the bottom of the caste hierarchy’ (‘Cleaning Human Waste’).

3. In Samarth’s Suit, suitwalas are futuristic figures, embodying technologically-empowered safai karamcharis. Samarth envisions these suitwalas as equipped with stable income and protective gear. Ironically, the term suitwala itself evolves into a caste-based label, as these individuals continue to face discrimination and mistreatment like the present-day safai karamcharis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nandhitha Muruganandan

Nandhitha Muruganandan is an alumna of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Her research focuses on caste and comics, graphic justice and visual studies.

Sathyaraj Venkatesan

Sathyaraj Venkatesan is Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, where he specialises in health humanities and comics studies, with an emphasis on graphic medicine. He is the author of nine books and over hundred research articles. His articles have appeared in Web of Science/Scopus journals such as British Medical Journal’s Medical Humanities, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Journal of Medical Humanities, American Medical Association Journal of Ethics (AMA), Health, Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, World Literature Today (WLT) among others. He is the most recently editor of Pandemics and Epidemics in Cultural Representation (Singapore: Springer, 2022). Homepage: https://www.nitt.edu/home/academics/departments/humanities/faculty/sathyaraj/