DISCUSSION
Caste and the Mainstream
Narratives
L N Venkataraman
The changing nature and
forms of the caste system are
often assumed to be static in
mainstream discussions, as
the continuing debate on Ashis
Nandy’s remarks on corruption
and the marginalised castes
shows. Neither academia nor the
state understands the changing
dynamics of the nature and
forms of caste.
L N Venkataraman (lakshmi_narayanan.
[email protected]) is a
development sociologist at Universität
Bielefeld in Germany.
76
T
his is in reference to the ongoing
discussion in the Economic &
Political Weekly on Ashis Nandy’s
remarks about corruption and the marginalised castes (EPW 2013; Roy 2013;
Krishna 2013; Guru 2013; Menon 2013;
Cybil 2013). The mainstream narratives’
persistent assumption of upholding dalits
in the same scale as that of the “collective”
mind is a sweeping generalisation. The
relentless rush in coming to conclusions
about complex realities is empirically
problematic. The charlatans of victimhood have been constructing identical
arguments. These narratives are neither
theoretically rigorous nor open to generating or even listening to new ideas.1 In
fact, the self-appointed spokesmen’s
identical arguments have been fashionably constructed over the years. This exclusive academic reconstruction, most
often, is done in the name of egalitarian
ideals. The self-evident conclusions of
these meta-narratives are familiar even
without reading their arguments. These
narratives from the academic ivory towers are proving to be detrimental to the
very cause they reportedly “stand for”.
This can be obser ved in the light of the
public intolerance in pressurising Nandy
to apologise for bringing some nuance to
the mainstream discussion. The oft-cited
ideal of “organised scepticism” of the
academia is seemingly useful only in
critiquing the demographically insignificant “others”. The reproduction of predictable monotones thus fails to help
the marginalised people in whose name
everyone claims to speak.
The changing nature and forms of the
caste system are often assumed to be
static in mainstream discussions. However, in contrast to this assumption,
social dynamics can be seen in some
recent incidents in Tamil Nadu. The
violence that followed an inter-caste
romantic relationship in Dharmapuri
for instance, has its repercussions in the
caste pyramid. The regrettable death of
the youth Ilavarasan due to his love
marriage across caste boundaries created
a new wave of primordial consciousness
in society. The re-emergence of caste in
modernity is most often the result of
neighbourhood pressures. This is due to
the social reality that in rural India
people belonging to a certain caste tend
to reside in the same neighbourhood. The
consequences can be seen where the perception of neighbourhood creates notions
of “honour” which end up devouring
precious human lives.
From Caste to Class
Though the Dharmapuri incident took
place despite the “draconian” antiuntouchability laws, one must understand
the sociological reasons that led to it.
The growing disappearance of economic
dependency which was a product of
caste-based division of labour is freeing
the erstwhile “lower” castes from the
dominance of the “others”. This is an
important aspect. Caste-based division of
labour is changing to a class-centric one.
The role of education in this change is
intersectionally influential in the villages.
The Pallars of Sripuram for instance are
increasingly turning away from casteprescribed occupations (Venkataraman
2013). This is in sharp contrast to the
preceding generations. The growing
irrelevance of the dependency framework
of caste can thus be seen in the classcentric division of labour. This is essentially due to the agricultural decline as
well as non-farm employment in the
informal service sector (Anandhi 2013).
Against this backdrop, the socioeconomic consequence can be seen in
the emergence of “empowerment-ideals”
and the resurgence of casteism of the
backward classes. The shrinking space
commanded by agriculture is being
facilitated by the importance of education. The alterations of caste based on
newer forms of division of labour provide a fertile ground for disputes between the social groups. There is a
harsher social reality which often gets
february 8, 2014
vol xlIX no 6
EPW
Economic & Political Weekly
DISCUSSION
overlooked. For instance, Deliege (2011:
47) reports that
the diversification of occupations related modernity has transformed traditional caste
interdependence into mutual­ ­riva­lry and, at
times, outright competition.
Though the politics of “middle” and
“lower” caste groups are based mainly
on the antagonistic attitudes towards
each other, the brahmins who are part of
the erstwhile higher ­social echelons most
often do not seemingly get in to this
“mud-slinging”. This is seen in Fuller’s
(2011: 83) analysis wherein the nonbrahmin movement and the reservation
policy have made them look for new opportunities. Thus, their politics is generally development-centric in Tamil Nadu
where education is often understood “as
a weapon” for economic mobility and social stability.
The emergence of public narratives in
Tamil Nadu with notions of “honour
­killing” of the “stage-marriages” creates
­social tensions. It is important to conceptualise the “organised” riots as attempts
to protect social boundaries in the time
of globalisation. Marriage as a social
­institution is still determined according to
primordial identities. Though often understood mainly in terms of caste background,
the essential sociological fact is the economics behind it. Most ­often, similarity
of caste background has to be supplemented by the economic ­status of the
families in the “contract”. In terms of
gender dimensions, the marital alliances can be planned even bet­ween a poor
bride and non-poor groom of ­similar
castes in the village. This highlights
the hypergamy (of anuloma) where a
woman can marry a man who is above
her social status in the caste hierarchy.
This is often underscored in terms of
class ­dynamics of the caste structure in
the village.
Blind to Changing Dynamics
In this changing dynamics, the perceived
marginalisation of caste groups have
been neither understood by the state nor
by academia. The obsession for power of
the former appeases social groups according to their numbers with an eye on
the vote bank. The egalitarian idealism
of the latter most often reinvents the
same old wheels where the stereotypical
analysis is reproduced in the name of
­research. This is seen in the ­absence of
authoritative works on the Other Backward Classes who are a conglomeration
of diverse caste groups.
Note
1 For instance Sengupta complains that the
mainstream intellectual life in India “has not
yet learnt to think beyond, below or besides
identity based categories”. See for instance,
Sengupta, Shuddhabrata (2013): “Ashis Nandy’s
Predicament and Ours”, 30 January, viewed on
10 October 2013 (http://kafila.org/2013/01/
30/ashis-nandys-predicament-and-ours/).
References
Anandhi, S (2013): “The Mathammas: Gender,
Caste and the Politics of Intersectionality in
­Rural Tamil Nadu”, Economic & Political Weekly,
4 May, Vol XLVIII, No 18, pp 64-71.
Cybil, K V (2013): “A Dalit Reason for Character:
Inheritance and Re-emergence”, Economic &
Political Weekly, 48(41): 67-68.
Deliege, Robert (2011): “Caste, Class and Untouchability” in Isabelle Clark-Deces (ed.), A Companion to the Anthropology of India (USA:
Blackwell Publishing Ltd), pp 45-61.
EPW (2013): “The Nandy Controversy”, Editorial,
Economic & Political Weekly, 48(7): 7-8.
Fuller, C J (2011): “The Modern Transformation of
an Old Elite: The Case of the Tamil Brahmans”
in Isabelle Clark-Deces (ed.), A Companion to
the Anthropology of India (USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd), pp 80-97.
Guru, Gopal (2013): “Freedom of Expression and
the Life of the Dalit Mind”, Economic & Political
Weekly, 48(10): 39-45.
Krishna, Sankaran (2013): “The Substance of Style”,
Economic & Political Weekly, 48(9): 26-28.
Menon, Dilip M (2013): “Minding One’s Words”,
Economic & Political Weekly, 48(16): 59-60.
Roy, Indrajit (2013): “Ashis Nandy’s Critics and
India’s Thriving Democracy”, Economic &
Political Weekly, 48(8), http://www.epw.in/
web-exclusives/ashis-nandys-critics-and-indiasthriving-democracy.html
Venkataraman, L N (2013): “Caste, Class and Education: The Social Construction of Capabilities
in a Tamil Village”, Universität Bielefeld, Germany.
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