Urban Dialectics of Caste in Modern India: Reflections from Select Dalit Autobiographical Narratives

Abstract

In India, caste is generally seen to be practiced in the villages and the urban spaces are considered to be liberal and casteless under the effect of modern education, industrialization and economic growth. In contrast to the generally perceived notion, the paper, through a systematic analysis of the select instances from the Dalit autobiographical narratives such as Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan, Aravind Malagatti’s Government Brahmana and Sharankumar Limbale’s Akkarmashi tries to exhibit how the caste structures are very much present in the urban spaces in more sophisticated and complicated forms. It becomes a difficult task for the Dalits who come to the cities to pursue education and livelihood to adjust in such caste ridden spaces. The analysis of the aporia of such conditions and the pain undertaken by the educated Dalits to exist in such caste-ridden urban spaces is the goal of this paper.