1.5 The Emergence of Dalit Identity:
The word ‘Dalit’ encompasses communities known as untouchables, usually refers to that portion of the population falling outside the pale of ‘Indian caste society’. The term is an ancient Marathi words that may be define as ‘ground’ or ‘broken to pieces’. It has been said that the word was use in nineteen century by revolutionist thinker ‘Mahatma JyotibaPhule’, who used it to describe the appalling condition of the untouchables at the same time, it has been argued that Dr. Ambedkar first used the term ‘Broken men’ in his ‘The Untouchables’ published in 1948, to refer the original anceslaters of the untouchables for reasons which must have been self-evident. The concept ‘Dalit Identity’ has emerged as an avoidable phenomenon in intellectual and political sphere of this country due to the emergence of movement of the oppressed people. Walter Fernandes in his edited work understands the emergence of Dalit identity. His Contributions analyze the struggle of Dalit in different parts of India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar chooses the term ‘broken men’ an English translation of ‘Dalit’, to refer to the original ancestors of the untouchables. The Dalit panthers revived the term and in their 1973 manifesto expanded its referents to include the schedule castes, schedule tribes, neo Budhists , the working people , the
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It has emerged as the primacy theoretical tool designed to combat feminist hierarchy, hegemony, and exclusivity. Leslie McCall stresses intersectionality’s importance, calling it ‘the most important theoretical contribution in women’s studies, that in conjunction with related fields, has made so far’ (McCall 2005). This ‘important theoretical contribution’ has now become the ‘gold standard’ of multidisciplinary approach for analyzing subject’s experiences of both identity and oppression (Nash
The theory of intersectionality as a whole can be applied to more than the experiences of race and gender, incorporating the various aspects which make up an individual, to better explain the unique experiences felt by various groups of similar individuals. Within the field of feminist discourse, there are two theorists who have employed the theory of intersection to more powerfully punctuate the issues which they discuss. This paper shall focus on how the theory of intersectionality is applied to two articles, put forth by Angela Davis and Julietta Hua, to further explain and understand the complexities of the particular fields of discourse they represent.
“[T]he cage may or may not be specifically developed for the purpose of trapping the bird, yet it still operates (together with the other wires) to restrict its freedom” (Alexander, 184). This metaphor used by Michelle Alexander gives a good basis on the idea of intersectionality within feminist theory. What Alexander has stressed hugely in ‘The New Jim Crow’ is the idea of racial hierarchy, which bell hooks also stresses in her chapter Men: Comrades in Struggle in her book ‘Feminist Theory: from margin to center.’ She discusses the hierarchy of men and women while also discussing race. She claims that the history of the feminist movement has not wanted to “acknowledge that bourgeois white women, though often victimized by sexism, have more
Feminism analyzes how men have more social power than women and as a result, they use their social privileges above women (Ravelli and Webber 70). Likewise, feminism examines the political and social inequality occurring between both genders and highlight the patriarchy of men (Ravelli and Webber 70). Patriarchy is used to describe how male dominate the culture and the social system (Ravelli and Webber 71). When feminists understand a women’s experience, they consider her race and social class this is the concept of intersectionality (Ravelli and Webber 73). In intersectionality, they recognize the oppression women experience various for every individual (Ravelli and Webber 73). In the Aboriginal community, violence occurs because of the men’s inability to be superior. Although functionalism and feminism explain the disruption in the Aboriginal community, functionalism demonstrates a greater responsibly the police force has for the
According to feminist Victoria L. Bromley, if feminism is about combating all forms of inequalities, including oppression, towards all social groups, then feminists must study how masculinity oppresses both men and women. Patriarchy, men’s powers and dominance, hegemonic masculinity, the idea that the “dominant group” in society is most powerful, and hyper masculinity, the exaggeration of the emphasis on male characteristics, all lead to oppression through multiple forms: privileges and unearned privileges, hierarchies of power and exclusion. Bromley argues that the feminist approach towards eliminating oppression, is to use an intersectional analysis, a theoretical tool used for understanding how multiple identities are connected and how systems
In Tina Grillo’s essay, Anti-Essentialism and Intersectionality, her claim is that when speaking about essentialism, and the experience of being an oppressed woman, “race and class can never be just ‘subtracted’ […]. The attempt to subtract race and class elevates white, middle-class experience into the norm, making it the prototypical experience” (19). In traditional feminism, feminist would approach a woman’s oppression by defining the essence of what it meant to be a woman. In order to create that definition, they had to look at a woman who didn’t suffer from any other oppressions whatsoever, other than simply being a woman. What that entailed was subtracting the essence of a woman’s race and class, which unfortunately meant taking any woman
Vrushali Patil’s position on intersectionality in her essay, “From Patriarchy to Intersectionality: A Transnational Feminist Assessment of How Far We’ve Really Come,” gives a different perspective on intersectionality and patriarchy. Patil critiques patriarchy and the shift in domestic intersectionality. She defines patriarchy as, “a convenient designation of not only the particular concept of patriarchy, but homogenous, monolithic accounts of gender oppression…” (p.204). From a feminist approach, Patil believes a critical conversation is necessary regarding the wide range of uses for patriarchy as a form of oppression in women’s and gender studies and intersectionality. Patil argues, patriarchy has been blocked by intersectionality theory and it has neglected interrelationships of transnational
That is, Feminists now strive to take into consideration how race, gender expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, immigration status, and other axes of identity that impact women and inform their lived experiences. Intersectional feminism takes a detailed look at issues like income equality, gender equality, access to education, reproductive rights, oppression and violence affect all women differently. Trial and error has been a catalyst for change in the feminist movement. Adopting an intersectional framework is not an easy process. It involves looking to understand things that are difficult for you to understand, empathizing with people who are not like you, stepping back instead of speaking over others, and opening yourself up to a high level of accountability. However, it’s better to do all of that and fail than it is to avoid making an effort entirely. When we don’t make an effort to be intersectional, we are quick to dismiss other people’s lived experiences in favor of our own beliefs which is exactly the division Lorde experienced and spoke
The textbook definition of intersectional feminism states that “Women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity.” It works on the premise that no women are the same and thereby experience different struggles. The current wave of feminism, 4th wave feminism, focuses on intersectionality and many intersectional feminists have noted that feminism that isn’t all inclusive is not truly feminism. Julie
“The root of the word “oppression” is the element “press”… Something pressed is something caught between or among forces and barriers which are so elated to each other that jointly the restrain, restrict or prevent the thing’s motion or mobility” (Frye, 84-85). Oppression is something felt by many different social groups in societies around the world. The feminist movement is one that sets out to dismantle sexist oppression. Marilyn Frye describes an oppression that she believes is common to all women despite ethnic or racial differences. Kimberlé Crenshaw, in her Tedtalk, however, argues that there is a common experience between females of different social groups due to certain constructs in society, and Audre Lorde discusses how crucial it
Patricia Hill Collins outlines the existence of three different dimensions of gender oppression: institutional, symbolic, and individual. The institutional dimension consists of systemic relationship of domination structured through social institutions, such as government, the workplace or education institutions. In other words, this dimension explains “who has the power”. This is completely related to a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is the manifestation and institutionalism of male dominance. This means that men hold power in all institutions, while women are denied the access to this power. The symbolic dimension of oppression is based on widespread socially sanctioned ideologies used to justify relations of domination. It reflects inequality
Intersectionality is a term used to describe a situation whereby an individual has multiple identities and as result, the person feels that he or she doesn’t belong to one community or another. Because of the many conflicts in an individual’s identities, he or she could be a victim of multiple threats of discrimination (Williams, 2017). The discrimination could be a result of race, gender, age, health and ethnicity among others. To give an example, a black transgender woman could be discriminated in the workplace because of being black and also because she is transgender. From an intersectionality perspective, the woman faces multiple threats of discrimination because of the overlapping identities of gender and race and therefore the transwoman faces a bigger struggle (Barber, 2017). Transwomen of color will most likely encounter prejudices in the form of homophobia, racism or sexism in many dimensions of their life. The perspective of intersectionality is not only applicable to women but it can also be applied to males. For example, a gay Latino man could be discriminated based on race because he is an immigrant into
Intersectionality also known as intersectional theory originally was a theory which was encoded in feminism. Intersectionality was a term in which feminists developed to explain how they were being socially oppressed because they were woman, in particular this theory addressed issues of the women’s suffrage movement and women wanting to retain the same rights as their male counterparts. As time progressed it became more common to see see it branched out into multidimensional levels of institutions such as- race, class, sexism, culture, religion, and even biological transgender. Intersectionality by definition aims to analyze multiple identities exposing different types of discrimination and disadvantages that occur
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
Of the themes which dominate the representative writings of the forth world literatures include the theme of resistance, rebellion, opposition, assertion, challenge, sacrifice, suffering and displacement. All these general ideas are interconnected with the common concept of ‘freedom’ and an aspiration for which is truly a driving force for the indigenous people. In this paper an attempt has been made to look into the theme of resistance and how it contributes to the development of the spirit of self-determinism as it is reflected and re-presented in the Fourth World literatures with special reference to dalits’ writings in India in order to appreciate and advance the common cause of freedom in the larger interest of Humanity.
The current manifestations of the caste system are now far more generalized across the Indian subcontinent than was the case in former times. Caste as we now recognize has been endangered, shaped and perpetuated by comparatively recent political and social developments. This is evident even i...