Dalit-Renaissance in Bengal: Relocating Namasudras’ Literature and Culture in Colonial Bengal

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
The present essay investigates how the monolithic and mono-dimensional aspect of the Bengal-Renaissance which was pioneered and vanguarded by the so called upper-caste people somehow failed to address and attest crucial issues and multiple voices of the lower castes and other depressed and dispossessed people of Bengal province. One of the central postulates of this article is to foreground and put forward countless measures initiated by the Namasudra community in colonial Bengal through their socio-political and cultural assertions. It further critically engages with an investigative reading of existing archives and historiographies of Bengal that tend to explicate Namasudras’ ideological aspiration and identity consciousness as inseparable and integrative within the hegemonic dominance of upper-castes’ framework. Hence, it intends to provide a counter analysis against this approach by mapping countless Dalit political imaginative manifestos embedded within Namasudra movement during the latter half of the nineteenth century in undivided colonial Bengal province. The primary concern of this article, therefore, is to locate their sociocultural reform movement and other perceptions by tracing their fundamental texts—Sri Sri Harileelamrita and Sri Sri Guruchand Charita, Namasudras’ tracts, booklets, and their festivities, kabigaan, Harisangeet, and so on.

Reading the ‘Caste’ in the Minds of ‘Aspirant Teachers’

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This article explores the notions of caste among the student-teachers of a popular teacher education programme in India. The study attempts to gauge the abilities of the student-teachers to delve into the structures of inequality and address issues from different social, political, economic and philosophical viewpoints. Findings reveal that the common concern for most student-teachers was their discontent with the reservation policy for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. The majority of the student-teachers believed that economic class should be the single most criterion to define ‘deprivation’ while formulating any affirmative policies. Student-teachers’ narratives reflect how there is a need to engage in dialogue with their notions of caste as well as class. This article argues to take the preparation of teachers seriously as teacher’s own knowledge and beliefs on several issues of identity vis-à-vis caste come to influence their pedagogical interactions with the learners in a great way.

Can Valmiki Become a Poet?

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Dayachand Mayna is one of the most robbed folk poets of Haryana. The article attempts to highlight the ways in which his poetry is stolen by Jaat singers and editors to build the reputation of a Jaat poet, Mehar Singh. The aim of article is to present how Dayachand suffered due to caste barriers, and it is caste that becomes one of the hurdles that blocked his path to success. The hypothesis will present how Dayachand was a victim of caste-based politics that did not allow a talented Valmiki poet to flourish.

Book review: Amit Ahuja, Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Amit Ahuja, Mobilizing the Marginalized: Ethnic Parties without Ethnic Movements. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019, 266 pp., ₹550.00 (Paperback). ISBN-13: 9780197529515

Book review: Narrations about the Fringe Review of Reading the Margins, History, Culture, Literature

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Narrations about the Fringe Review of Reading the Margins, History, Culture, Literature. Edited by Provakar Palaka (Mumbai: People’s Literature Publication, 2020), 279pp., ₹750. ISBN-13: 978-8193485668 (Paperback)

Book review: Looking Back: The 1947 Partition of India 70 Years On, Edited by Rakhshanda Jalil, Tarun K. Saint and Debjani Sengupta

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Looking Back: The 1947 Partition of India 70 Years On, Edited by Rakhshanda Jalil, Tarun K. Saint and Debjani Sengupta (Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2019). xxxviii + 355pp, ₹995.00 (Paperback).

Book review: The Intersectional Ties of Caste, Class and Language in the Making of the Goanese

Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
Jason Keith Fernandes, Citizenship in a Caste Polity: Religion, Language and Belonging in Goa. New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan, 2020, 361 + xvi pp., ₹900 (hardback). ISBN-10: 9352879945; ISBN-13: 978-9352879946.