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The Dialectics of Identity and Resistance Among Dalits in Nepal

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The Dialectics of Identity and Resistance Among Dalits in Nepal THE DIALECTICS OF IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE AMONG DALITS IN NEPAL by Sambriddhi Kharel B.A. in Sociology Honors, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, 1999 M.A. in Sociology, University of Louisville, 2003 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2010 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Sambriddhi Kharel It was defended on 04/16/2010 and approved by Cecilia A. Green, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Kathleen M. Blee, Professor, Department of Sociology Deborah Gould, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Joseph S. Alter, Professor, Department of Anthropology Dissertation Advisor : Cecilia A. Green. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology Dissertation Co-Advisor: Kathleen M. Blee, Professor, Department of Sociology ii Copyright © by Sambriddhi Kharel 2010 iii THE DIALECTICS OF IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE OF DALITS IN NEPAL Sambriddhi Kharel, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2010 Based on two broad constituent samples, this dissertation investigates the dialectics -- content, modalities and processes -- of identity across and between two sites of Dalit life in Kathmandu, Nepal: everyday community and organized political advocacy. These samples comprised, respectively, (1) householders from three occupationally segregated Dalit neighborhoods, encompassing discrete communities of sweepers, metalworkers and tailors/musicians; (2) individual Dalit activists in the political sphere. Through 43 interviews with community members and 41 interviews with activists, the research investigated the modalities of identity across everyday and civil-society space and across class, caste, gender and generation. Research questions specifically sought to uncover constraints and possibilities of everyday identities and organized/activist political identities and further differences of gender, class and generation. The study revealed strong evidence of the continuing embeddedness of caste in Kathmandu. Their everyday experiences of discrimination force both community and political actors to strategically reveal or conceal their Dalit status depending on the situation. Evidence of resistance ranged from everyday individual acts to collective organized forms. The community ethnography revealed important differences across the sweeper, metal-worker and tailor- musician communities. The gender neutrality of the sweeper occupation allows sweeper women relatively more autonomy than that found in the two other occupational caste groups. The tailor/musician group showed all indicators of social mobility into the middle class and had iv adopted a caste-denying discourse that allowed them to embrace their musical traditions as an ethnic asset that was parlayed into commercial success. The political site revealed two important contradictions. First, Dalit activists based in political parties tend to privilege the nation-state and its bounded sovereignty as the strategic and ultimate terrain upon which the struggle for full Dalit inclusion is fought, while Dalit advocates based in non-governmental organizations appeal primarily to international human rights and the claims to universal human dignity. Second, there is a tension between the private lives of Dalit activists in which they negotiate everyday oppression and their public lives as proactive and empowered political actors. Finally, the important political moment of the People’s Movement of April 2006 united Dali activists to fight locally for full citizenship rights. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH ................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Brief Description of Research ......................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Relevance of the Study .................................................................................... 3 1.1.3 Research Rationale .......................................................................................... 4 1.2 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................ 8 1.2.1 A Brief History of the Caste System in Nepal ............................................. 12 1.2.2 Context of Dalits in Nepal ............................................................................. 20 1.3 EMPIRICAL PARAMETERS: SUBJECTS, SETTINGS, AND TIMING . 27 1.3.1 Intersecting Identities (caste, class, gender, political organization) .......... 27 1.3.1.1 Caste group .......................................................................................... 27 1.3.1.2 Ethnic/Indigenous group .................................................................... 28 1.3.1.3 Class...................................................................................................... 28 1.3.1.4 Gender .................................................................................................. 32 1.3.1.5 Political Group .................................................................................... 33 1.3.2 Selected Sites/Spaces...................................................................................... 35 1.3.2.1 Kathmandu .......................................................................................... 35 1.3.2.2 Community/neighborhood space ....................................................... 35 1.3.2.3 Organizational space........................................................................... 36 vi 1.3.3 Levels of Consciousness and Agency ........................................................... 41 2.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 45 2.1 TIMING OF RESEARCH & IMPACT ON FIELDWORK ......................... 45 2.2 DETAILS OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................ 49 2.2.1 Description of Sample ................................................................................... 50 2.2.1.1 Community Sample............................................................................. 50 2.2.1.2 Activist/Leader Sample....................................................................... 52 2.2.2 Strategies of Inquiry ...................................................................................... 53 2.2.2.1 Participant Observation ..................................................................... 53 2.2.2.2 Interviews ............................................................................................. 55 2.2.2.3 Documentary Evidence ....................................................................... 56 2.3 DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 57 2.4 DETAILS OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS ................................................. 60 2.4.1 Pre-dissertation field trip .............................................................................. 60 2.4.2 Pretest/Pilot Study ......................................................................................... 60 2.4.3 Selection of new communities and beginning of formal fieldwork ........... 63 2.4.4 Key role of insiders ........................................................................................ 64 2.4.5 Gaining entry and presentation of self ........................................................ 67 2.4.6 Gaining trust and establishing rapport ....................................................... 70 2.4.7 Access to organizational space ...................................................................... 71 2.4.8 Researcher Identity ....................................................................................... 72 3.0 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM: THEORETICAL CONTEXT ............................ 79 3.1 INTERSECTIONALITY AND MATRIX OF DOMINATION .................... 79 vii 3.2 PLACE AND SPATIALITY (EVERYDAY SPACE AND CIVIL-SOCIETY POLITICAL SPACE) ........................................................................................................ 85 3.2.1 Everyday Space .............................................................................................. 87 3.2.2 Civil-Society Political Space ......................................................................... 90 3.3 CASTE AND SOCIAL MOBILITY ................................................................ 96 3.4 DIALECTICS OF IDENTITY AND RESISTANCE ..................................... 99 4.0 COMMUNITY ETHNOGRAPHY: EVERYDAY LIVES AND AGENCIES ... 108 4.1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF NEIGHBORHOOD SETTINGS.................... 109 4.1.1 Deula Neighborhood .................................................................................... 110 4.1.2 Biswakarma Neighborhood ......................................................................... 113 4.1.3 Pariyar Neighborhood ................................................................................. 115 4.2 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 116 4.2.1 Meanings of Dalit Identity .......................................................................... 116 4.2.2 Narratives of Equality and Intra-caste Hierarchy ................................... 122 4.2.3 Experiences of Discrimination .................................................................... 124 4.2.4 Everyday Acts of Accommodation and Resistance .................................. 129 4.2.5 Non-Dalit Narratives of Caste Practices .................................................... 134 4.2.6 Relationship
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