The Gender of Caste: Representing Dalits in Print (Global South Asia)

354 Pages·2016·5.024 MB·English

by  Charu Gupta

GLOBAL
SOUTH
ASIA
Padma Kaimal, K. Sivaramakrishnan,
and Anand A. Yang, Series Editors
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The Gender of Caste
representing dalits
in print
Charu Gupta
University of Washington Press
Seattle and London
Copyright © 2016 Charu Gupta
Printed and bound in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in South Asia by Permanent Black
Delhi, India
http://permanent-black.blogspot.com/
University of Washington Press
www.washington.edu/uwpress
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gupta, Charu.
Title: The gender of caste : representing Dalits in print / Charu Gupta.
Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015035762 | ISBN 9780295995649 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Dalit women—India, North—Public opinion. | Dalit women—India, North—
History—Sources. | Caste—India, North. | Sex role—India, North. | Public opinion—
India, North. | Dalits in literature. | Dalits—India, North—Social conditions. | India,
North—Social conditions.
Classification: LCC DS422.C3 G864 2016 | DDC 305.48/44—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035762
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984. ∞
for
Peter Robb
my teacher and guide
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Contents
Abbreviations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Gendering Dalits 1
1 Dirty “Other” Vamp: (Mis)Representing Dalit Women 28
2 Paradoxes of Victimhood: Iconographies of
Suffering, Sympathy, and Subservience 52
3 Dalit Viranganas: (En)Gendering the Dalit
Reinvention of 1857 86
4 Feminine, Criminal, or Manly? Imaging
Dalit Masculinities 111
5 Intimate and Embodied Desires: Religious
Conversions and Dalit Women 166
6 Goddesses and Women’s Songs: Negotiating
Dalit Popular Religion and Culture 208
7 Caste, Indentured Women, and the Hindi
Public Sphere 232
Conclusion 267
Glossary 271
Bibliography 276
Index 321
vii
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Abbreviations
BSP Bahujan Samaj Party
CMS Church Missionary Society
Deptt Department
EPW Economic and Political Weekly
Home Poll Home (Political) Department
IESHR Indian Economic and Social History Review
JAS The Journal of Asian Studies
Judl Judicial
MAS Modern Asian Studies
NAI National Archives of India, New Delhi
NICTBS North Indian Christian Tract and Book Society
NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
NNR Native Newspaper Reports of UP
NWP The North Western Provinces and Oudh
(later United Provinces)
OBC Other Backward Castes
OIOC Oriental and India Office Collection, British
Library
PAI (Secret) Police Abstracts of Intelligence of UP
Government
UP The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
(later Uttar Pradesh)
UPSA Uttar Pradesh State Archives, Lucknow
ix