Outsiders may think
Why isn't there a generic Indian guilt w.r.t. caste injustices like the "white-guilt" in US?
Reasons-
Magnitude of past injustices varies by location, caste
Perpetrators (& victims) vary w/o fitting any pattern
Mainstream narrative vilifies one group
Why isn't there a generic Indian guilt w.r.t. caste injustices like the "white-guilt" in US?
Reasons-
Magnitude of past injustices varies by location, caste
Perpetrators (& victims) vary w/o fitting any pattern
Mainstream narrative vilifies one group
The complexity on the ground is insane, to the point that the same group might be both victim and perpetrator in different contexts
Given this complexity, you are never going to get a "society"-wide guilt that "Dalits" (itself a slightly synthetic category) have been wronged
Given this complexity, you are never going to get a "society"-wide guilt that "Dalits" (itself a slightly synthetic category) have been wronged
Also the nature of past "injustices" are also of a rather different type compared to say slavery in US
Very often caste served as a means of keeping the society peaceful and ensuring each person has a social / religious / professional network to fall upon
Very often caste served as a means of keeping the society peaceful and ensuring each person has a social / religious / professional network to fall upon
This is not to downplay the numerous cruelties inflicted in the name of caste and tradition all across India to this day
But it is not as black-and-white as the situation was in the US
There will be N opinions on caste in a room of N people
But it is not as black-and-white as the situation was in the US
There will be N opinions on caste in a room of N people
Modern academic theories like "Aryan invasion", "Sanskritization" are attempts to simplify the messy social reality
I don't dismiss these academic theories like a few nationalists do
But academics (and popular readings) usually misrepresent and mis-apply these models
I don't dismiss these academic theories like a few nationalists do
But academics (and popular readings) usually misrepresent and mis-apply these models
The other factor that distinguishes India from US is the material situation of different groups
When you use an axis like varNa to examine material outcomes in a dirt-poor society, you will get a messy picture
E.g. brahmins in UP may have lower PCI than some middle castes in TN
When you use an axis like varNa to examine material outcomes in a dirt-poor society, you will get a messy picture
E.g. brahmins in UP may have lower PCI than some middle castes in TN
In contrast, in the US, even if you were to use a coarse categorization like "White non hispanic" vs "black", you will still see a massive difference in household income
The divergence is real and neat, unlike in India where it's messy
The divergence is real and neat, unlike in India where it's messy
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