"Militant Hindus and Buddhist Dalits: Hegemony and Resistance in an Indian Slum" reflection

“Militant Hindus and Buddhist Dalits: Hegemony and Resistance in an Indian Slum” Janet A. Contursi. American Ethnologist 16(3):441-457.

I read this article and it was not exactly what I expected. It was hard to start off reading because the writing style is very complex and filled with a lot of jargon from what I could see. This was a difference from the textbook which we just finished reading, so that was a bit of an adjustment. The article was different than I expected because it was very political. It talked a lot about politics and leadership of the different factions (high caste Hindus, Brahmans, Dalits, etc.) which was hard for me to understand in parts just because the political system was not explained from the beginning of the article, so it was hard for me to understand the intricacies that Contursi described without having a background in the overall structure. However, I did some away with some very important observations and knowledge that I did not have before, so that is what I will talk about.

First of all, the article gave me some insight into what a “slum” in India means. In an American context, the word “slum” makes me think of a bad part of town, where you would see people living on the street and obvious signs of depravity. However, when describing this Indian slum, Contursi describes it as a very “heterogeneous group” (442) that includes about 2000 families. Now, in my picture, I saw a good spattering of people living on the street, but my did not make the jump to the people in the slum housing. I think that is because I have a passion for homelessness so that is where my mind goes first, but just because you have some sort of structure in a slum to live in, does not undermind the fact that the conditions are deplorable. So, that information helped me put that 2000 family number in perspective. (and if that is 2000 families, how many people does that mean?)

It was also interesting to me how Dalits and Muslims were kind of grouped together in the same sphere of oppression. I do not know if this was the intent of the author, but that is the sense I got from the text. (443) I think this may be because militant Hindu groups are trying, at least in part, to maintain a Hindu influence in the slums, but Dalits and Muslims represent a deviation from that standard, so they are grouped together, perhaps as deviants according to the militant Hindu’s, making them a more visible and easier target. In the process of this, they are also trying to reconvert Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists in the area because, as the author states later, the enemies of the Hindu militants are the Buddhists, Muslims, and British. (449) I thought it was interesting that when listing these enemies, there are 2 religions named, and then a country, England. I wonder what held over resentment there is from colonialism not for anything tangible or observable in the current culture but just from the idea of occupation and dominance in the Indian people in the slums. It seems to me like of all the concerns they are legitimate in having, resentment of the British would be less so because they are no longer bound to them. If they were still a colony, I could better understand this enemy status.

Finally, I was encouraged to hear about how Dalits in the slums are trying to better their situation. The main avenue in this is education. I think sometimes in the States, education is such a way of life, that it can be taken absolutely for granted. But for these Dalits in the slums, education is their ticket out of a life of heartache and oppression due to economic levels. I that thought, I will finish this post with a quote I found particularly eye opening about Dalit’s passion for education as a way of improving their slum status: “ ‘…Dalit parents make tremendous sacrifices to educate their children” ‘They work as agricultural labor, they remain half naked, they don’t eat enough, but they feel that they must educate their children.’” (451)