Faculty Seminar | When the Subaltern Speaks Supremacy

In this week’s faculty seminar, Dr. Karthick Ram Manoharan will present his paper titled ‘When the Subaltern Speaks Supremacy’.

Abstract

In the Dravidian and Dalit anti-caste discourse in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, two identity terms are used frequently – pirpaduthappattor (literally, those who have been made backward) and thazhthappattor (literally, those who have been oppressed), referring to the backward castes and the Dalits respectively. These sections have been identified by anti-caste narratives as oppressed in relation to the elite upper castes and concomitantly, as subalterns. However, within these populations, there are vocal protests against being identified as ‘backward’ or ‘oppressed’, along with counterclaims of being original natives and/or indigenous kings of the land. Specifically, the label of ‘Shudra’ is denied, while the status of ‘Kshatriya’ is coveted. How then to understand the politics of the subaltern if they seek to speak not the language of subalternity but of supremacy? In this paper, I explore the uses and abuses of vernacular terms of backwardness, and it implications for an understanding of a ‘subaltern caste’.