Overview

The caste system is supposed to be inescapable-you cannot change the caste into which you are born. But are there ways to elude the system? Concealing Caste tells the stories of women and men in India who, though born into communities stigmatized as 'untouchable,' are perceived by others as 'high caste.' Like the literature on racial passing in the American context, the short stories and autobiographical essays in this volume reveal the inner workings of a vicious social order, illuminating the contradictions of caste hierarchy through the experience of those who clandestinely transgress its boundaries. Concealing Caste is the first collection of Dalit writings focused on this public secret. Bringing together Dalit literature from Marathi, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, English and Malayalam-including stories and essays never before translated-this landmark anthology illustrates the agonizing choices and at times devastating consequences faced by Dalits who experiment with identity in a society shot through with the principle of birth-based inequality.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kusuma Satyanarayanan (Professor, Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad, India) ,  Joel Lee (Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Williams College, Massachusetts, USA)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.40cm
Weight:   0.390kg
ISBN:  

9780192865243

ISBN 10:   0192865242
Pages:   210
Publication Date:   05 July 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

1: Joel Lee/K Satyanarayana: Introduction 2: Baburao Bagul: When I Hid My Caste 3: Omprakash Valmiki: Dread 4: M.M. Vinodini: The Parable of the Lost Daughter: Luke 15: 11-32 5: Ajay Navaria: New Custom 6: Surajpal Chauhan: Raw Deal 7: Sharankumar Limbale: Friend of the Family 8: Jai Prakash Kardam: No Bar 9: Omprakash Valmiki: Sandstorm 10: C. Ayyappan: Madness 11: Ajay Navaria: Tattoo 12: BR Ambedkar: Waiting for a Visa 13: Kausalya Baisantry: Doubly Cursed 14: Omprakash Valmiki: Joothan 15: Jai Prakash Kardam: My Caste 16: Urmila Pawar: Weave of my Life 17: Manoranjan Byapari: Interrogating my Chandal Life 18: Shailaja Paik: The Flood 19: Yashica Dutt: Coming Out as Dalit 20: Pratibha Jeyachandran: In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

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Author Information

K. Satyanarayana is a professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at the English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad, India. He co-edited two volumes of new Dalit writing: No Alphabet in Sight (2011), Steel Nibs Are Sprouting (2013), Dalit Studies (2016) and, most recently, Dalit Text (2020). His research interests are in the fields of Dalit studies, literary history, and cultural theory. Joel Lee is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Williams College, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of Deceptive Majority: Dalits, Hinduism, and Underground Religion (2021), and his research interests lie in the critical analysis of caste, sensory studies, popular religion, and Hindi and Urdu literature.

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