Dalit Academic Journeys: Stories of Caste, Exclusion and Assertion in Indian Higher Education

266 Pages·2022·1.902 MB·English

by  Bharat Rathod

Dalit Academic Journeys
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the academic journeys of
Dalit students and their lived experiences of systemic exclusion in Indian
higher education. It explains their educational journeys beyond caste-based
discrimination, specifically analyzing the power dynamics, resilience, and
resistance in their institutional life.
The volume
• Describes institutional culture, practices, and contexts that contribute
to a negative environment for Dalit students and explains what changes
would be required to create a positive campus climate for them
• Provides a comparative analysis with the U.S. higher education contexts
while drawing theoretical frameworks from critical race theory in
educational settings, social reproduction theory, and diversity research
• Discusses the significance of developing anti-casteist, democratic, and
inclusive university spaces in India, with an emphasis on how Indian
university campuses can be transformed through diversity, equity, inclusion
initiatives, and indispensable support programs to assist Dalit and other
vulnerable students
Nuanced and accessible, this book will be of interest to students, teachers,
and researchers of education, higher education, sociology, exclusion studies,
and Dalit studies. It will also be useful for policy makers; social activists;
NGOs; research centers; and those working in the areas of higher education,
reservations, public policy, caste, anti-caste, and exclusion studies.
Bharat Rathod has completed a doctoral degree in International Education at the
College of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst).
His research interest comprises caste, Dalit students, higher education in India,
diversity framework, and qualitative research methods. His research articles are
published in the Journal of Exclusion Studies and Journal of Social Inclusion
Studies. Over the past decade, Bharat has been associated with youth mentoring
activities to promote higher education among the unrepresentative communities in
India. He has been associated with community development initiatives in Gujarat
and involved with civil society organizations in India and the United States. He has
been coordinating the “Anti-caste Campaign’ ” at UMass Amherst, to add caste
as a protected category in the anti-discriminatory framework of UMass Amherst.

Dalit Academic Journeys
Stories of Caste, Exclusion
and Assertion in Indian
Higher Education
Bharat Rathod
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Bharat Rathod
The right of Bharat Rathod to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of author
and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Routledge.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-10942-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-12501-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22482-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003224822
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Foreword vi
Preface xii
List of Abbreviations xvi
1 Introduction 1
2 Autobiography: My Higher Education Journey 32
3 Caste and Diversity in Higher Education Context 48
4 Contextualizing Dalit Identity 78
5 Academic Journey: Aspiration, Struggle, and Caste 98
6 Campus Climate and Institutional Support 132
7 Counter-Narratives and Resilience 163
8 Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion 194
References 223
Index 243
Foreword
Exclusion of ex-untouchables from access to education in India goes back
to about AD 200, the period when untouchability began and took a firm
and definite shape (although early symptoms of the institution of untouch-
ability had begun to emerge as early as BC 600). By AD 1200, it reached its
peak (Jha, 2018).1 Later in the post-twelfth-century period, caste/untouch-
ability remained an integral feature of the Islamic regime (Nandi, 1973).2
When the British took over from the Islamic regime in mid-1700, the British
also incorporated the caste system in its Anglo-Indian legal system, without
much relief to the untouchables. Warren Hastings, the then governor of
Bengal, made the following rule in 1772: “That in all Suits regarding Inher-
itance, Marriage, Caste, and other religious Usages as Institutions, the Laws
of the Koran with respect to Mahometans and those of the Shastra’s with
Respect to Juntoes, (the Hindus) shall be invariably adhered to” (Banaji,
1933; Galanter, 1963).3 Thus, the British succumbed to the prejudice for
open education to all. Since the rule of caste/untouchability had been carried
forward by the British in its legal system, keeping its essential restrictions on
education, the untouchables continued to suffer from the denial of access to
education. It was only after 85 years of British rule that the order of July 19,
1854, made education open to all. This order is regarded as having laid the
foundation of mass education in British India.
However, the difficulties of the untouchables did not end with the enact-
ment of law that guarantees equality in education, because in practice, how-
ever, the access to education remained confined to “upper classes,” which
mainly included the Brahmins and other upper economic classes. Ambedkar
observed “whether this policy was right or wrong is another matter. The
fact, however, is that during this period the Depressed classes were not
allowed to share in the blessing of education” (Ambedkar, 1928). As a con-
sequence, in 1881–1882 the share of the Depressed classes in primary edu-
cation was 0.87 percent; middle school, 0.14 percent; and high school and
college, nil. Ambedkar provided an example of a Mahar Boy from Dharwar
who in June 1856 had filed a petition complaining that though willing to
pay the annual schooling fee, he had been denied admission to the Dhar-
war Government school. In response, the government took an unfortunate
Foreword vii
decision, although with hesitation that it would not be right for the sake
of a single individual, the only Mahar (untouchable) who had ever come
forward to beg for admission in to a school attended only by the pupils of
castes and force him into association with them, at the possible risk of mak-
ing the institution practically useless for the great mass of native. (Ambedkar,
1928, p. 418)4. The result of this was that the Depressed classes were
left in the cold because the touchable classes would not let them sit at the fire
of knowledge that the government had lit up in the interest of all its subjects
(Ambedkar, 1928, p. 419). As an alternative, the government resorted to
special schools for the Depressed castes and the school by Christian mis-
sionaries, which did not improve the educational lot of the untouchables.
The result was extremely low educational attainment among the Depressed
classes. In 1923, the untouchables remained at the bottom of educational
attainment. One would hardly find an example in the world of any excluded
group like the untouchables suffering exclusion from the right to education,
for such a long period of time in history, for more than two thousand years,
without any break.
This contradiction between the open education by the government to all
and simultaneous opposition by the higher castes to the education of the
untouchables in one form or another remains even today an ugly legacy
of the past despite provision of equality in right to education in the Indian
constitution since 1950. Although the Constitution secures equal right to
untouchables, but in practice the resistance by higher castes of particular
ideological pursuit to the non-discriminatory access to education for the
untouchables continues to persist.
Hence, the inequality in educational attainment for the Scheduled Castes
and the high castes continues. In 2017–2018, the educational attainment
rate (gross enrolment rate) of the Scheduled Castes was 21 percent, which
was lower than 26 percent of all India average and 41 percent of high
castes. The educational attainment rate of the Scheduled Castes was half
of the higher castes. An exercise that tried to find out the reasons for this
gap (of about 20 percentage points) in enrollment rate in higher education
between high castes and Scheduled Castes revealed that endowment factors
such as lack of ownership of capital assists, regular salaried jobs, and oth-
ers explain about 64 percent of the total gap, while the remaining 36 per-
cent gap is caused by persisting caste discrimination faced by the Scheduled
Caste students in the higher education institutions. Thus, caste discrimina-
tion depresses the access of the Scheduled Castes to higher education, as
the legacy of resistance to equal access to Scheduled Castes by higher caste
continues in present India. And recent evidence shows that this legacy of
caste discrimination travels with the Hindus wherever they go, even outside
India, presenting it as a global problem as is the case in the United States.
Studies tried to comprehend the nature of discrimination faced by the
Scheduled Castes students in higher education institutions. In 2007, as a
Chairman of the University Grants Commission, I was asked to inquire into
viii Foreword
the nature of discrimination faced by the Scheduled Castes students in one of
the premier medical institutions in India – the inquiry forced by the suicide
of a Scheduled Caste medical student (Thorat, 2007).5 The inquiry revealed
empirical evidence of discrimination – the discriminatory behavior of high
caste students, teachers, and administrators, including the discrimination in
the social and cultural life on the campus toward Scheduled Caste students.
Although this report revealed for the first time the fact of caste discrimina-
tion faced by the Scheduled Caste students in a most explicit term, it indeed
hides much more than it reveals, given the scope of the inquiry; it could not
develop an insight into the aspects of discrimination, its nature and forms in
its social and psychological dimension, or the consequences of discrimina-
tion, faced by Scheduled Caste students, given that discriminatory behavior
is deeply entrenched in interpersonal relations.
It needs to be recognized that discrimination is something that is deeply
embedded and ingrained in interpersonal social relations. Some aspects of
discrimination can be captured in quantitative terms, but most of it is expe-
riential, which may not be easily captured by quantitative methods – an
experience of unfair treatment, humiliation, condemnation, hearted, anti-
social attitude, condemnatory language in the form where it hurts the most,
immense psychological harms that it causes and pushes the students to
ultimate end; it requires much more innovative ways to capture the actual
reality of caste discrimination. Therefore, besides numerical methods, alter-
native methods have evolved, such as focus group discussion to capture the
collective view of those who faced discrimination; case studies which go
deeper into the nature of discrimination; observation which captures the
reality in visual form; and video and lately experimental methods.
After having gone through much absorbing manuscript of the book Dalit
Academic Journeys: Stories of Caste, Exclusion and Assertion in Indian
Higher Education, which is based on the author’s PhD dissertation, I felt
that Bharat Rathod has done a commendable job in capturing the multi-
ple and inner dimensions of caste discrimination experienced by Dalit stu-
dents in a higher education institution in Gujarat (India) (the state where
education is being shaped and molded under the deadly influence of the
Brahmanical ideology and practice). Capturing the innermost aspects of
discrimination and its social and psychological consequences in higher edu-
cation classrooms and campuses was made possible due to the innovative
method used by Bharat Rathod. The research was designed to examine
the lived experiences of Dalit students in higher education settings, which
mainly rely on the personal narratives/stories of graduate Dalit students.
Narrative research mainly focuses on examining a narrative account of the
interlocutors through the collection of stories and analysis to reiterate the
stories and highlight the interlocutors’ experiences and the meanings attrib-
uted to their narratives – narratives are retrospective meaning making – the
shaping or ordering of past experiences. It is this innovative method that
enables the author to comprehend and capture the innermost experiences
Foreword ix
and feelings of those who suffered from caste humiliation from the interac-
tion with peers, teachers, and administrators and in the social and cultural
life on the higher education campus. The study was particularly facilitated
and enriched by a deep motivation of personal experiences of discrimina-
tion of the author during his undergraduate and graduate journey in India.
Bharat Rathod revisited and reflected on his own experiences in compre-
hending discrimination of similarly place Dalit students in higher educa-
tion institutions. However, Bharat Rathod is immensely conscious of the
subjectivity in judgments and biases, which generally come into play in data
collection as well as in the analysis of data. Because of this awareness, he
has constantly guarded against the subjectivity and tried to be as objective
as he could in interpretation of filed notes and texts to preserve the intended
meanings of the respondents.
The book is comprehensive in coverage in terms of aspects covered. It
focuses on the themes that include Dalit students’ social background and
childhood experiences, caste experiences during their educational journey
in the schools and higher education institutions, resistance to the discrimi-
nation, strategies to deal with discrimination, and counter-narratives and
their perspectives about campus climate and inclusion issues. The book is
informed by a comparative dimension with the U.S. higher education con-
texts, where it draws theoretical frameworks from critical race theory in
educational settings, social reproduction theory, and diversity research and
discusses its significance for developing anti-casteist, democratic, and inclu-
sive university spaces in India. Learning from the research in the United
States on this theme helps the author to add new dimensions such as “cam-
pus climate” and the “need for curriculum for civic learning and education”
in the recommendation section. But the most important aspect is the sug-
gestions based on evidence of discrimination on higher education campuses
in India and U.S. experience of dealing with diversity, discrimination, and
inclusion.
The final analysis brings several fresh insights on the nature of discrimi-
nation faced by Dalit students, its consequences, the strategies used by the
Dalit students to deal with discriminatory milieu, and the policies to deal
with unfair treatment meted to Dalit students. The discrimination came out
quite clearly that assumes various forms in inter-relation of Scheduled Caste
students with their higher caste student peers, teachers, and administra-
tors and on the campus in social and cultural engagement. Bharat Rathod
observed that caste remains a foundation of social relations, and it manifests
in schools and higher education institutions. Instead of rejecting caste cul-
ture and oppressive practices, high caste students, teachers, and administra-
tors institutionalize these and make them part of normal practice. It is not a
place for me to discuss these very insightful results of the study; it is for the
readers to read most absorbing material and its interpretation.
An equally important addition relates to the policy implications from the
insights of the study. This, in my view, is a very important takeaway of