Hugo Gorringe
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- March 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199468157
- eISBN:
- 9780199088829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199468157.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Social Movements and Social Change
One of the key criticisms of Dalit politics across India is that it is too focused on a politics of symbols and identity rather than issues like redistribution. Ambedkar images and statues—or his ...
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One of the key criticisms of Dalit politics across India is that it is too focused on a politics of symbols and identity rather than issues like redistribution. Ambedkar images and statues—or his portrayal in school text-books—exercise as much time as campaigns against atrocities and for land rights. This chapter will chart the VCK’s politics in relation to these issues and engage with the debates over the primacy of symbolic politics. It will be argued that the distinction between ‘symbolic’ and ‘substantive’ politics is often blurred in a situation where Dalits can still be attacked for raising a flag or unveiling a statue.Less
One of the key criticisms of Dalit politics across India is that it is too focused on a politics of symbols and identity rather than issues like redistribution. Ambedkar images and statues—or his portrayal in school text-books—exercise as much time as campaigns against atrocities and for land rights. This chapter will chart the VCK’s politics in relation to these issues and engage with the debates over the primacy of symbolic politics. It will be argued that the distinction between ‘symbolic’ and ‘substantive’ politics is often blurred in a situation where Dalits can still be attacked for raising a flag or unveiling a statue.
