Social exclusion, social inclusion and ‘passing’: the experiences of Dalit students at one elite Indian university

Ovichegan, Samson K.

doi:10.1080/13603116.2013.777129

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Recent empirical evaluations find that affirmative action has increased the representation of the targeted groups in higher education and had downstream positive impacts on their educational attainment (e.g., Cassan, 2019;Desai and Kulkarni, 2008). However, several accounts reveal that higher education institutions are exclusionary in nature and students from reserved groups experience discrimination at the hands of their upper caste peers and teachers based on their caste and stigmatizing attitudes remain prevalent (Ovichegan, 2014;Deshpande, 2019). Therefore, the university environment reinforces the underlying causes of marginalization.…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Identity, Behavior, and Personality: Evidence from India

et al. 2020

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Hierarchies in social identities have been found to be integrally related to divergences in economic status. In India, caste is one such significant social identity where continued discriminatory practices towards the lower castes have resulted in poor outcomes for them. While there is considerable work on such divergence on many economic outcomes along caste lines, there is no work on behavioral preferences and personality traits that can also be adversely affected by such identity hierarchies, and that are important determinants of educational attainments and labor market performances. We combine rich data from incentivized tasks and surveys conducted among a large sample of university students in a Seemingly Unrelated Regression framework and find that the historically marginalized Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCSTs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) fare worse than the upper castes along several dimensions of economic behavior such as competitiveness and confidence and personality traits such as grit, locus of control, and conscientiousness. Further, we find that parental investments only have limited compensatory effects on these gaps. This suggests a need for redesigning the structure of affirmative action policies in India as well as targeting interventions with an aim to improving soft skills among the disadvantaged.

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Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Identity, Behavior, and Personality: Evidence from India

et al. 2020

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“…Early scholarly accounts of the Indian student movement and campus politics barely mention Dalit and caste issues (for a literature review see Shah 2004), and Dalit political activism came to popular and scholarly attention only recently. SC students on Indian university campuses have been mainly analyzed in terms of their experience with caste discrimination and inequality in the field of higher education (Desai and Kulkarni 2008;Pathania and Tierney 2018;Ovichegan 2014Ovichegan , 2015Pandey and Pandey 2018;Sen and Gundemeda 2015). Meanwhile, Jeffrey (2008Jeffrey ( , 2010 analyzed Dalit student mobilization in Uttar Pradesh where Dalits asserted their moral superiority with regard to the dominant Jat student groups, and attempted to gain symbolic control of the university space.…”

Section: Dalit Activism On Indian University Campusesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these works largely explore the ways in which Dalit students position themselves with regard to other student groups and the broader social caste structure; less attention has been paid to SC intragroup relations and dynamics and the ways SC students perceive and relate to the Dalit political activism. Ovichegan (2014Ovichegan ( , 2015 showed the distinction between economically affluent, "creamy-layer" Dalits, and economically weaker SC students (2014:368). However, his analysis does not take into consideration the role of the Dalit movement and campus politics in determining intra-group ideological differentiation.…”

Section: Dalit Activism On Indian University Campusesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic Boundaries and Moral Demands of Dalit Student Activism

Garalytė¹

2019

samaj

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This article presents an analysis of a debate between two students of so-called "untouchable origin" 1 during which they discussed the moral dictate of "paying back to society." 2 Among Dalit activists, "paying back to the society" is a common explanation for why they engage in Dalit student activism. Such altruism is not solely a Dalit idiosyncrasy, but should rather be seen as reflecting a broader Indian moral concern (Bornstein 2012;Copeman 2011;Jeffrey and Dyson 2014;Srivatsan 2019). 3 Srivatsan has shown how sevā (social service), "the keystone of ethics of modern India" (2019:24), has reoccurred in different contexts by various forms in the postcolonial Indian history. This research also highlighted how through sevā (social service) hierarchical relations were maintained and altruism used as a means of domination. Contradicting the predominant image of youth in the global South as entangled in "predatory patronclient networks," Jeffrey and Dyson showed how Indian youth in Uttarakhand engaged in "generative politics," by "channeling their energies and time into serving...others," and thus generating new social and political relations (2014: 967-68).2 Dalit social responsibility ethics, while resonating with the broader Indian cultural values of altruism, also have their own characteristics and logic rooted in the Dalit movement's history and ideology. The idea of "paying back to society" was introduced by Kanshi Ram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh. It was based on the vision of the broader Dalit community, which encompasses different exuntouchable groups. Kanshi Ram suggested that having benefited from the quota scheme, upwardly mobile Dalits should reciprocate and work for the betterment of the community. This idea was intended to help overcome the prevalent caste-centrism and competitive division among the SCs while encouraging social responsibility. Naudet

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“…Unfortunately, the latter is compromised in most contexts. Universities have become spaces where caste stratifications between Dalit and non-Dalit students are reinforced and Dalit students routinely encounter "overt and covert discrimination based on caste" (Maurya, 2018;Ovichegan, 2013, quoted in Maurya 2018 which forces them to dropout (Anveshi Law Committee, 2002;Vasavi, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Un‘casting’ Universities: Examining the Intersections of Inclusive Curriculum and Dalit Pedagogies in a Private University in Bangalore, India

Das

2023

J-CASTE

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Despite India’s constitutional dream to achieve equity and justice, caste still remains an issue of concern. Especially in the context of education, reports indicate a disparity in access and participation across gender, caste and other parameters (Hickey & Stratton, 2007). The prevalence of caste-based discrimination across universities and Dalit student suicides continue to be widely reported (Anderson, 2016; Niazi, 2022; Shantha, 2023; Nair, 2023). While the University Grants Commission, especially Mandal Commission and the Thorat Committee have placed certain recommendations, many universities fall short of implementing the same and even if they do, they don’t percolate to an informed student/ faculty/ administration policy (Sitlhou, 2017). Lack of a well-defined policy, its implementation and the disconnect between curriculum and pedagogy has resulted in an erasure of the discourse on caste within higher education institutions. Furthermore, the disconnect has promoted a sense of alienation in educational institutions wherein some students graduate from school or universities without any exposure to caste as a social problem and some students face humiliation routinely. This project is an autoethnographic study of classrooms in a private university in Bangalore to understand the gaps that emerge from the disconnect between curriculum, pedagogy and comprehension of students about caste and present an alternative pedagogical paradigm that is situated, participatory, historical and critical.

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Social exclusion, social inclusion and ‘passing’: the experiences of Dalit students at one elite Indian university

Cited by 16 publications

References 14 publications

Social Identity, Behavior, and Personality: Evidence from India

Social Identity, Behavior, and Personality: Evidence from India

Symbolic Boundaries and Moral Demands of Dalit Student Activism

Un‘casting’ Universities: Examining the Intersections of Inclusive Curriculum and Dalit Pedagogies in a Private University in Bangalore, India

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