---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: C Lakshmanan <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 2:34 PM Subject: Re: [ANN:2747] Empowering villagers through education To: [email protected]
*Myriad forms of humiliation * C. LAKSHMANAN From ‘walking carrion' to ‘walking storm' — a telling comment on Dalit struggle HUMILIATION - Claims and Context: Gopal Guru; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 595. “Humiliation is not so much a physical or corporeal injury; in fact, it is more a mental/ psychological injury that leaves a permanent scar on the heart.” For Indian social scientists today, philosophy, logic and theoretical explorations are a rare passion. A bold effort towards theorisation of infernal feeling, this book deserves appreciation for such an endeavour. Gopal Guru, who has edited the volume, is a committed academic and a leading intellectual in theorising Dalit epistemology. The book has, in three sections, 11 learned articles by distinguished scholars. Complexity Bhikhu Parekh's ‘Logic of Humiliation' is an insightful engagement with the concept. Apart from analysing the complexity of the problem, he identifies the 11 different real life cases of humiliation of moderate to high magnitude. It is an amazing way of explaining the theory of humiliation. Parekh probes the multiple definitions of humiliation with varied notions/explanations, the dialectics of institutionalised humiliation and remedial prescriptions and, finally, citizenship and understanding of Kant's theory of [self-] respect. His analyses are significant and, in a way, immensely useful to students of political theory. For Ashis Nandy, humiliation is directly linked to the asymmetric power system that exists at the family, state and societal levels. He argues that as long as a person does not understand the humiliation meted out to him/her — one cannot say he/she is humiliated. However, Nandy argues against third party intervention in situations where people do not realise that they have been numb to their own humiliation, But this is debatable. When a person lives in a state of inhuman bondage, how could he or she realise that he is being humiliated? And this goes for a group as well. As V. Geetha argues, “the untouchable is associated in different ways, [with] waste, trash…one which he bears for the well-being of a commonweal that has no use for him.” Parekh makes the pertinent point that “extreme situations arise when the social structure so crushes their spirit that they fail to develop even a weak sense of self-respect…” Nandy's resentment towards renaming of the oppressed sections — Negros, Blacks, and African-Americans, for example — is understandable. Negro (or even the ‘untouchable') has been associated with resistance and protest against the oppression. His analysis of the positive side of humiliation (Gandhi's humiliation at Pietermaritzburg) is too emphatic. Valerian Rodrigues explains the nature of public sphere/ space/domain and civil society and its predominance. On the other hand, he raises some basic questions to the scholars who are conditioned by their own notions of colonial prescription of modernity and seeks to show how they negate themselves when they engage with issues of public concern. He critiques the viewpoints of two globally well-known scholars, Dipesh Chakrabarty and Sudipta Kaviraj. For Chakrabarty, particularly of public domain, public hygiene and health concerns, such an analysis negates scavengers' humiliation. So are Supitha Kaviraj's concerns for public parks in Calcutta(Kolkata) and elsewhere that suffer defacement because of migrant workers. But Kaviraj does not address the flawed bourgeois modernity. The article on ‘Protective Discrimination' by Neera Chandhoke is no testimony to her declared pro-reservation stance. The volume should have had a paper by a Dalit who is made to suffer humiliation while availing himself of the caste-based benefits in school, college or work place. Consider her factually incorrect statement: “A Dalit university has been set up in the country.” Can the name of a Dalit icon prefixed to a university make it a ‘Dalit university'? She displays a penchant for drawing upon western studies in her attempt to score a point on ‘shameful revelation'. For instance, Wolff's observation about how “demeaning” it must be to “admit to oneself” that one lacked the qualifications for a job and had to “rely on the state and its sanction” to get it. But she chooses to condone the practice of dominant caste Hindus/Indians taking their caste names as suffix, harping on their primordial supremacy. It must be clearly understood that positive discrimination is a necessary correction to the caste prejudice that reigns in public domain. Dalit struggle In his paper based on issues related to a common crematorium in Goa, Peter Ronald deSouza highlights the complexities in the contemporary caste milieu arising from religious conversions, inter-caste/inter-caste marriages and so on. The concluding essay by Guru is a powerful exposition of the need for universalising the Dalits' struggle. Quite telling is his observation: “…he [Ambedkar] along with his people sought to walk out from the given image of ‘walking carrion' and went on to become the walking storm.” The other articles are equally meritworthy in comprehending the various types of humiliation. The book should be of benefit to social scientists and students of Indian political system. However, the fact that the humiliation women suffer across the class, caste, and race divides is hardly discussed — although it came in for some reference in articles by Parekh and Rodrigues — is indeed a lacuna. ----- Original Message ----- *From:* critical quest <[email protected]> *To:* [email protected] *Sent:* Tuesday, February 09, 2010 11:04 PM *Subject:* Re: [ANN:2665] Empowering villagers through education If it is some place to stay and write that she is looking for I will be very happy to meet her and discuss soem possibilities. Josna On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 8:35 AM, Raghavan Prakash <[email protected]>wrote: > Empowering villagers through education > http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/06/stories/2010020651120200.htm > > Social activist Daya Bai in the city recently. > > Daya Bai is looking for a space away from the media and publicity. Her > journey from Mercy Mathew, an aspiring nun from Kottayam, to Daya Bai, > social activist deep inside the villages of Madhya Pradesh, has > already become history. > > Now, she wants a break. > > “I am a grassroots person. I am not used to publicity,” she said > during a brief visit to the city recently. Also, she wants to record > her vision and lessons learnt through her life in a book, along with > collecting some of her poetry. > > The problem is that she does not find enough time. Her hut back in > Barul in Madhya Pradesh does not have power connection and darkness > falls early in the evening over there. “I scribble down something > during my travels. But that is not enough, I really need to find some > time to write.” > > Daya Bai had been staying in Barul village and working with the > villagers since 1995. She had tried to empower the villagers to avoid > exploitation and also done experiments to revamp the traditional > methods of agriculture. > > “It is a huge task, as most of the villages have switched to soya bean > cultivation. They get support from the government and also > money-lenders for that. Especially, with a big soya oil mill > functioning in the neighbouring district. However, I could make some > aware that extensive soya cultivation will deplete the life of the > soil.” > > Daya Bai tried to bring about the change by community-based primary > education. Even though she could get results, with many batches of > students coming out with good results, Daya Bai is not all that > optimistic about the future. > > “The community has a very low self-esteem and it is easy for others to > misguide them. All the good work done till now could be easily > derailed. For example, they do not prefer to use their own language. > Their dialect of Bhojpuri is fast being replaced with Hindi.” > > Daya Bai is now attempting to counter this by sharing her experience > with a wider world through a book, and her street theatre. And also > attempting to move beyond her village. > > “Sharing my experience might give an impetus to those who dare to > tread the path not often taken in life. I know many people who are > willing to go out of the mainstream path, but get stuck in between. > This is what I can do to support them.” > > Daya Bai had been in constant touch with leading human rights and > environmental activists in the country. Manipur is one such area where > she might have a role to play, she believes. > > Anand Haridas > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ACTIVISM NEWS NETWORK" group. > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<activism-news-network%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/activism-news-network?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ACTIVISM NEWS NETWORK" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<activism-news-network%[email protected]> . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/activism-news-network?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ACTIVISM NEWS NETWORK" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<activism-news-network%[email protected]> . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/activism-news-network?hl=en. -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
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