Mapping Dalit Feminism Towards an Intersectional Standpoint
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Mapping Dalit Feminism Towards an Intersectional Standpoint ANANDITA PAN Foreword by J. Devika Copyright © Anandita Pan, 2021 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2021 by SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd STREE B1/I-1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area 16 Southern Avenue Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044, India Kolkata 700 026 www.sagepub.in www.stree-samyabooks.com SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320, USA SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP, United Kingdom SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 18 Cross Street #10-10/11/12 China Square Central Singapore 048423 Published by Vivek Mehra for SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. Typeset in 11/14 pt Goudy Old Style by Fidus Design Pvt. Ltd, Chandigarh. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945415 ISBN: 978-93-81345-55-9 (HB) SAGE Stree team: Aritra Paul, Amrita Dutta and Ankit Verma To Ma and Baba. Thank you for choosing a SAGE product! If you have any comment, observation or feedback, I would like to personally hear from you. Please write to me at [email protected] Vivek Mehra, Managing Director and CEO, SAGE India. Bulk Sales SAGE India offers special discounts for purchase of books in bulk. We also make available special imprints and excerpts from our books on demand. For orders and enquiries, write to us at Marketing Department SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B1/I-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, Post Bag 7 New Delhi 110044, India E-mail us at [email protected] Subscribe to our mailing list Write to [email protected] This book is also available as an e-book. Contents FOREWORD by J. Devika ix PREFACE xiii Introduction 1 1 Theorizing ‘Intersectional Standpoint’ 21 2 Being a ‘Dalit Woman’ 47 3 Representing a ‘Dalit Woman’ 109 4 Exercising Agency 139 5 Revisiting History 159 6 Becoming a Dalit Feminist: Towards a Conclusion 201 APPENDIX 213 BIBLIOGRAPHY 235 INDEX 261 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 265 vii Foreword J. Devika When I see something that looks racist, I ask ‘Where is the patriarchy in this?’ When I see something sexist, I ask ‘Where is the heterosexism in this?’ When I see something that looks homophobic, I ask ‘Where are the class interests in this?’~ Mary Matsuda, 1991 ntersectionality is one of those unique ideas the usefulness of Iwhich seems to vary from researcher to researcher. Or, each of us has a unique reason for finding the concept useful. Much discussed as a path-breaking innovation arising from gender studies but relevant across the social sciences, poised tantalizingly between quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the idea of intersectionality refuses to condense into a concept with clear- cut meaning and significance. Perhaps the only other concept that matched the intellectual excitement it generated was Amartya Sen’s understanding of ‘capabilities’. Both concepts are of liberal provenance but seem to promise much more. In general, the interest in the idea of intersectionality marks a time of intellectual maturity in which the limits of identity politics and the scholarship accumulating around it could no longer be ignored; but identity politics in itself could by no means be treated as irrelevant. Whatever its origins may be, or however it may be characterized (as a heuristic device, a buzzword, or analytical tool, and so on, to mention just a few), intersectionality forces us to ask ‘the other question’, as Mary Matsuda puts it. ix x Mapping Dalit Feminism In India too, feminist researchers have debated the idea closely. For many, the idea was merely putting a name on a practice already underway in Indian feminist research, if not in activism. They pointed to key concepts of Indian Feminism like ‘brahmanical patriarchy’ which clearly conceive Indian patriarchy as produced in the intersection of two axes of power, caste and gender. Many raised objections to this claim, pointing to intersectionality as entwined inextricably with the standpoint of Black/Dalit women. In this view, identifying such concepts as ‘brahmanical patri- archy’ as a product of intersectional analysis could potentially be an elite appropriation of the very idea. For me personally, the crucial advantage that the idea may yield, when recalibrated effectively for Indian feminist activism, is the potential it opens up for femi- nist maitri (in the Ambedkarite sense). That is, it could potentially work to ameliorate the rigidifying of identities which cuts off effec- tive and non-reductive communication. As I have argued else- where, a framework for intersectionality ‘adequate to the spaces of feminist maitri would perhaps be a version that can be deployed as a tool of self-reflexive analysis to theorize the different experiences of all feminists who have quarrelled with their respective caste-communities of birth. In other words, we must forge it as an “unhoming tool”— that makes us feel sufficiently not-at-home in our familiar environ- ments.’ For Pan, the intersectional standpoint is central to Dalit Feminism but is conceptualized as ‘a way of looking … concerned less with who is speaking for/as a dalit feminist … a mode of analy- sis of a text/issue/event from a caste-gender angle that challenges dominant readings and thereby transforms our understanding of the text and of the intersecting systems of oppression. It is in these interventionist and transformative capacities that Dalit Feminism may be seen to be operative’ (p. 209). For those who wish to join the debate in Indian Feminism on intersectionality, the urgency of which is surely accentuated by the stifling political climate prevalent in the country now, Anandita Pan’s book is a very accessible introduction. It contextualizes Foreword xi the interest in the idea within the rise of Dalit Feminism in the 1990s as a unique movement with transnational connections and echoes, which advanced a searing critique of both mainstream Indian Feminism and the Dalit movement. The critique, Pan argues, was shaped in and through the lens of the ‘intersectional standpoint’. In her chapters, Pan takes the reader through some of the most important moments in radical dalit self-actualization through cultural production, specifically, through the genre of autobiography to demonstrate the intersectional standpoint articu- lated in the autobiographical writings of dalit feminists; she introduces some of the most productive and significant debates in Indian Feminism, around sexuality and caste. She also shows how an intersectional reading allows us to break the victim/agent binary in understanding the everyday struggles of dalit women. In the end, Pan leaves the question open, adding an appendix which allows the reader to explore the idea by herself. Reading her, I have had many questions; and that is probably what she expects of the reader. Centre for Development Studies Thiruvananthapuram REFERENCE Matsuda, M. 1991. ‘Beside My Sister, Facing the Enemy: Legal Theory out of Coalition’, Stanford Law Review 43, 6: 1183–92. Preface y engagement with Dalit Feminism began purely as an Macademic venture, and ended up as an adventure of sorts. I still remember the day I was introduced to Sharmila Rege’s article, ‘Dalit Women Talk Differently’ as a part of the feminist theory syllabus.1 It was a moment of inspiration, revelation and retrospection. I was excited to have come across a field that interested me (and continues to do so), and at the same time, I became aware of my sheer ignorance about the area. What ensued from this fortunate discovery was a feverish energy to procure every possible document/text in the area that I could access. When the time came to choose a ‘topic’ for my doctoral dissertation—a compulsory process faced by all students pursuing a doctorate degree—there began the moment of truly thinking about what and how I could contribute to the field called Dalit Feminism. This attempt at mapping the field, to give this vast area some coherence, is my answer to that. In this endeavour, my thesis supervisor, Professor Suchitra Mathur, has been my greatest support. It was due to her guidance and encouragement that I dared lay my hands on mapping a discourse. In her, I found the researcher and the teacher I always aspire to be. A research, as I would gradually come to understand, is a collective process. Though penned by me, it has been immensely inspired by my teachers who instilled in me the spirit of a learner and the seed of critical thinking. I owe immensely to conversations with my teachers, Professor G. J. V. Prasad and Professor Saugata xiii xiv Mapping Dalit Feminism Bhaduri of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Professor Ananya Dutta Gupta of Visva-Bharati University, which enriched the research further. Special thanks to Dr. Navneet Sethi of Jawaharlal Nehru University. I will carry her ideals of dedication and love for the rest of my life. I owe a tremendous debt to Gogu Shyamala, author and poet, and Professor. R. Azhagarasan at the University of Madras for their suggestions and comments on various aspects of this work, both creative and academic. During the course of writing this book, discussions with my best friend and husband, Sreenath, helped me shape my ideas to a greater precision and clarity. Our mutual interest in varied areas of research has both enriched and expanded my perspective as a researcher. Sajit, with his expertise in editing and writing, constantly came at my rescue. This book would not have materialized without Stree’s support. My gratitude also to the reviewers and the editors who gave their valuable inputs and went through several drafts of the manuscript.