Whose Reality Counts?

Abstract

The low caste, Dalit and Tribal social movements in India have reconfigured the fabric of Indian society in significant ways over the past decade. Likewise, the movement of these same groups into anthropology, a discipline previously dominated in India by uppercaste intellectuals, has created a dynamic force for change in the academy. At a time when India is vying with the global economic powers for supremacy, the people severely affected are low caste, Dalits and Tribal peoples, who see their lands being lost and their lifestyles in rapid transformation. Some from these same groups are also witnessing some of their daughters and sons pursuing higher studies and entering into the social sciences. The entry of these young scholars not only challenges the caste-based status quo in the academy, but it also forces these scholars to question their own position in relation to these social movements and in relation to Indian society more broadly.

Vulnerability as best practice?

“…Fields utilizing autoethnography include feminist studies, post-and decolonial scholarship, critical race or caste studies, queer and trans studies, crip studies, and indigenous studies (e.g. Adjepong 2019;Bishop 2021;Chen 2014;Dutt 2018;Griffin 2012;Hancock, Allen and Lewis 2015;Ocasio-Stoutenburg 2021;Ortiz-Vilarelle 2021;Schiffer 2022;Skott-Myhre et al 2012;Yalamala 2020). I locate this text within transgender studies, heavily intersecting with debates in critical race studies and post-or decolonial work.…”