I value personal histories which are one and all unique,
defying any generalisations.
I am not antithetical to the painful efforts at
engendering one'self' in myriad ways, destabilising
the determinisms of all sorts( sexual/economic/political etc).
identitisations being a process in flex, fixing it any particular
moment ( whether it be from outside or inside ) will be mechanical and
disarming.
So, I was a bit perplexed while Neelan fixed his identity negatively
in this discursive context. Dalit being a political identity which is
not determined by birth ( not all those born in subaltern castes claim
Dalit identity) ,such negative identifications
may easily fall into essentialism.
you might have noticed one usage in my original post in this thread.
viz: "sociological ". It was not fortuitous that I suggested such an exercise
to socilogy students. It enables us to look at subjects from outside and see
what are the social webs and connections which inflences ( not determine) their
perspectives/biases/emotions etc. of which the individual participants
may not be aware of.
As active subjects are subject of enquiry here, I don't rule out the
sort of resistence
put forth by Neelan.
Being reflexive of our advantages, blindnesses, assumptions,symbolic
capital etc will enrich
the discussion.
No question of disqualifying or devaluing anybody's response. On the contrary,
I was questioning such disqualifying of Sanni Kapikkad by some people.
Let me end this by relying on my Foucault fixation yet another time :-)
"The notion of mode of life seems important to me.Will it require the
introduction of a diversification different from the ones due to
social class, differences in profession and culture, a diversification
that would also be a form of relationship and would be a "way of
life"? A way of life can be shared among individuals of different
age,status,and social activity. It can yield intense relations not
resembling those that are institutionalised.It seems to me that a way
of life can yield a culture and an ethics.To be 'gay", I think , is
not to identify with the psychological traits and the visible masks of
the homosexual but to try to define and develop a way of life"
-- Friendship as a Way Of Life
On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 5:22 PM, neelan neelakandan
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Prasad,
> You know what a " decasting " life some of us lived. But such factors ,
> which are beyond one's control shouldnt be a qualification/disqualification
> in discourses. Its something like disarming one!
> I dont want to go autobiographical in a public domain.
> Neelan
>
> --- On Wed, 27/8/08, damodar prasad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> From: damodar prasad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [GreenYouth] Re: Sanni Kapikkad and savarna peace in Google groups
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Wednesday, 27 August, 2008, 2:31 PM
>
> Well, Neelan sir you are very forthcoming. Caste in not a choice of anyone
> unless we believe in some im-mmaterial divinity (material divinity is also
> there!!). The modernist secular self unitedly holds to conveniently to erase
> traces of caste in appearances.Don't mistake surface to the core!! The class
> is a cover-up in this respect to avoid debates on the caste -dom that one
> has been domineering for long. By the way Its all going. Yes the cataclysm
> is not a fantasy, the tremble is more than real, as yeats said: Things fall
> apart, center cannot hold..and the ceremony of innocence is drowned". As you
> may very well-know Class was once again invoked typically by the dominating
> castes to dissect into caste configuration by way of creamy-layer.
>
> What is actually sought from the holders of caste power and the
> propertariat is to open up, share and equalize the resource, don't hold to
> what is waning out... basically nothing radical, it is a demand for
> bourgeois -civil rights. The movement for reservation is only a movement
> towards de-reservation. De-reserving the constituencies kept secure for ones
> own genetic generations.
>
> By the way I had read you quoting Foucault recently. In Madness and
> Civilization, he mentions about Ship of Fools.. Ya, ship of fools.. It
> speaks at large on our contemporary issues than any metaphors.
>
> damodar prasad
>
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 9:33 AM, neelan neelakandan
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> I am not a dalit , but not by my personal choice.
>> Neelan
>>
>> --- On Tue, 26/8/08, Dileep Raj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> From: Dileep Raj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Subject: [GreenYouth] Re: Sanni Kapikkad and savarna peace in Google
>> groups
>> To: "Greenyouth" <[email protected]>
>> Cc: "sanil v" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Date: Tuesday, 26 August, 2008, 8:10 PM
>>
>> Let me suggest n academic exercise for those interested/involved
>> in social scientific studies of media.
>> Can you check whether there is a SINGLE dalit member who is active in
>> Fourth estate Critique?
>> My hypothesis ( assumption , perhaps) is that
>> there won't be any.
>> And this is not a surprising 'find' but what is 'natural' about
>> all
>> left friend circles!!
>> On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:44 PM, Dileep Raj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> > Some friends told me that Sanil
>> > forwarded my response to his take in Fourth Estate Critique and
>> > couple of people there are irritated by it. They are particularly
>> irritated
>> > by my reference to Sanni Kapikkad.
>> >
>> > I took Sanil's writing as a public document and responded to
>> > the text (irrespective of my personal friendship with him)
>> > out of the immediacy of the political context.
>> > I am happy that Sanil showed the academic decency to
>> > forward it to the forum where I am not present.
>> >
>> > I am more happy to learn that reference to Sanni Kapikkad
>> > troubled the savarna 'peace' prevailing in so called
>> "left"
>> > private spheres..
>> >
>> > Intense political struggles will disrupt the elitist
>> > consensus , however they try to keep a safe distance to it.
>> >
>> > Let us celebrate it
>> > Cheers!!
>> > --
>> > Dileep R I thuravoor
>> >
>> --
>> Dileep R I thuravoor
>>
>> ________________________________
>> Download prohibited? No problem. CHAT from any browser, without download
>>
>
>
> ________________________________
> Download prohibited? No problem. CHAT from any browser, without download
> >
>
--
Dileep R I thuravoor
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