Mapping Caste and Gender

Intersectionalities, Positionalities and Identity Politics

by Dharamdas Shende, Sanjay Palwekar and Rashmi Tikku

2018280 pages

About the book

All societies are based on imagined hierarchy which is detrimental to human civilizations across the world. What is alarming about it is that more than half of the population of the world has beenperipherized, subjugated, and oppressedfor millennia that has crippled the advancement ofhumanity in general and marginalized sections of societies in particular. Even in the twenty first century, human world is reeling under the specter of caste and gender discrimination that has become a matter of grave concern for those who envisage just, harmonious and better world for the whole human race on this planet. The festschrift Mapping Caste and Gender is divided into five sections according to the genres research papers deal with. It exclusively deals with gender and caste based issues and identities. The contributors of research papers have argued that both caste and gender are not singular epistemological entities, rather,they are compounded by intersectionality of ethnicity, religion, region and class. They have explored the seemingly inexplicable paradoxes of human beings through the characters in imaginative writings as well as discursive legal texts and subtexts. Sixteen research paperstogether from Indian and abroad provide broader spectrum of interrelated issues on caste and gender. We hope, this anthology comprising select research papers would inform all those engaged in academia and socio-political activism to further egalitarian and humane values for enhancement of life of theentire humanspecies.

Comments
The intersections of gender and caste are sometimes obvious and visible but frequently complex, invisible and indirect. Specific constructions of both caste and gender are deeply embedded in the Indian psyche and their resonance and can be seen in unexpected ways and places. Both arelegitimized by sacred texts and sages as a loose and diffusive of convenience, concretized with time into rigid and irrevocable categories as did the roles and second class status of women. In rich variety of essays, this book explores, analyses, and deconstructs core issues and questions pertaining to caste and gender discrimination—whether portrayed in literature, or in economic, social or cultural context—a common concerns are those who have a stake in building egalitariansocial structures.
SumitaParmar , Professor of English,
University of Allahabad
Mapping Caste and Gender offers a comprehensive insight into the variant forms and nuances of dilemma inherent in the world’s largest democracy in India and elsewhere. By addressing issues of seminal concern from multiple genres, this valuable collection of essays is bound to engage the attention of academics, scholars and activists committed to making the world better we inhabit.
Nibir Ghosh , Emeritus Professor
This thoughtfully compiled essays draw on texts as well as empirical evidence from one of the heartlands of the contemporary caste movement to extend the understanding of gender, caste class and crosscurrents that emerge in the confluence of the three. This book is an exemplary working life and witness to the history of our times.
Professor Susie Tharu