Political identity in the context of globalisation a study of educated dalits in Mumbai city

Abstract

In 20th century the Dalit emerged as a political subject and responded to the caste based discrimination with varied strategies with an explicit objective of annihilation of the caste system. The present study attempts to contribute to the understanding of the Dalit political subject in the backdrop of the process of globalisation in general and explore and analyze the phenomenon of political identity among the educated Dalits in Mumbai city in particular. Although the literature available on the linkages between Dalits and globalisation in India (Jogdand 2002, Patil 2003, Teltumbde 2001, Teltumbde 2007) highlighted the impact of later on the social and economical aspects, the arguments are implicitly based on the assumption that victimisation and exploitation being the least common denominator of the Dalit experience, brings them close to other victims of the globalisation. In this context it is necessary and relevant to understand and analyse the paradox of political identity construction of those among the Dalits who have secured higher education. Forces of globalisation intersect their political identity, which was under tremendous pressure from its birth. The present study attempts to explore and analyse theoretically and empirically the political identity of the Dalits in Mumbai city pertaining to its nature, formation and impact. Framework of identity theory with formulations of Erickson along with Tajfel and Turner, has been employed with three offshoots; primordialism, instrumentalism and constructivism.