Caste Away: Writing Caste in India and Great Britain - Einzelansicht

This course engages with the phenomenon of caste and traces it through different forms of cultural production. Departing from the established genre of Indian Dalit literature, we will look at Dalit as well as non-Dalit engagements with caste in the Indian diaspora with special emphasis on Great Britain. Rather than a survey of authoritative scholarship on such diasporic cultural production, this research-oriented course represents a first foray into or tentative engagement with this field.

Below, you will find a list of essential terms you are encouraged to use to familiarize yourself with the topic:

Ambedkar, B.R.

Ambedkar-Gandhi debate

Annihilation of Caste

caste

Dalit

Dalit literature

Dalit Panthers

Equality Act 2010

harijan

jati

NCDHR/IDSN

scheduled castes/scheduled tribes

varna

WCAR/Durban I

Please buy and read Sathnam Sanghera's novel Marriage Material (Windmill, 2014) as well as the British Government Equalities Office's report "Caste in Great Britain and Equality Law" (available online). Other materials will be provided via Moodle.

active participation, in-class presentation/response paper