97 The Embodiment of Caste: Oppression, Protest and Change

7/28/2019 97 The Embodiment of Caste: Oppression, Protest and Change

1/19

http://soc.sagepub.com

Sociology

DOI: 10.1177/00380385070747212007; 41; 97Sociology

Hugo Gorringe and Irene RafanellThe Embodiment of Caste: Oppression, Protest and Change

http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/1/97 The online version of this article can be found at:

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

British Sociological Association

can be found at:Sociology Additional services and information for

http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/alertsEmail Alerts:

http://soc.sagepub.com/subscriptionsSubscriptions:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints:

http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navPermissions:

http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/41/1/97Citations

by RAVI BABU BUNGA on October 17, 2009http://soc.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://www.britsoc.co.uk/http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://soc.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://soc.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navhttp://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/41/1/97http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/41/1/97http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://soc.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://www.britsoc.co.uk/


2/19

The Embodiment of Caste: Oppression,Protest and Change

Hugo GorringeUniversity of Edinburgh

Irene RafanellUniversity of Paisley

ABSTRACT

Caste is often presented as a stable or fixed form of social stratification that con-

ditions the behaviour of its members.This occludes the micro-structural processby which caste is embodied. This article uses empirical work on caste protest todiscuss the fluid nature of embodied activity, and the analytical utility of two socialconstructionist accounts: the tacitly pre-given structures of Bourdieus model arecompared to the continuous creation model of Foucault.Whereas the internalizedstructures of Bourdieus habitus initially appear to make most sense of the embod-iment and permanence of caste, we contend that a Foucauldian approach offersbetter insight into the interactional basis of social structures and identity forma-

tion.The ar ticle reconsiders both theories in light of these empirical data and con-cludes that analysing interaction at a local level enables us to better comprehend

the emergence of social structural features in a caste context.

KEY WORDS

bourdieu / caste / embodiment / foucault / social change / social movements

Introduction

It would not be difficult for an Indian to identify an Untouchable,1 according

to Jeyaharan, academic and social activist: The very way of dressing, the useof vocabulary, and the gestures adopted would reveal who she/he is (1992:

97

SociologyCopyright 2007

BSA Publications LtdVolume 41(1): 97114

DOI: 10.1177/0038038507074721SAGE Publications

London,Thousand Oaks,

New Delhi

http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/


3/19

4). Although this statement is increasingly questionable in urban India, a pivotalfactor underlying the contemporary salience of caste as a mode of mobilization isits continuing importance as a material social category. It manifests itself in thesegregation of housing, the differential access to resources and the persistent

correlation between low caste status and poverty, but also in the micro fields of comportment and bodily expression.

In a situation where relations of power are etched into bodily mannerisms,not only are there stringent (often violent) sanctions against those who flout casteboundaries, but altering ones caste position also requires new ways of conceptu-alizing and presenting ones self. In seeking to make sense of the embodiment of caste and social change in India we draw on, and compare, Bourdieus model of class habitus and Foucaults notion of the micro-physics of power because wehave found these to be the most illuminating accounts of the embodiment of

social phenomena.From a Bourdieusean perspective, ones social position within a particularcaste informs ones caste habitus. This habitus results in the internalization of specific embodied characteristics, which constitute hierarchical boundaries and,consequently, structure relationships with other castes. Recent accounts of thebody in the social sciences, however, have taken a constructionist turn thatdownplays the structural determinants of individual action and seeks to analysethe relational and performative (permanently constitutive) aspects of identityformation, specifically at the corporeal level (e.g. Butler, 1993). The elusive and

performed identities portrayed by social constructionists, appear worlds removedfrom the rigid categorizations around which people cohere in a caste context.Here, embodied identities seem to convey the durability of habitus rather than thecontingent and shifting panoply of identity positions evinced in constructionistaccounts. In light of Foucaults invocation to conduct a history of the body, thisarticle seeks an understanding of caste change and identity as it has been inscribedon the bodies of Untouchables in Tamilnadu, south India. The focus is on socialmovement activists who are engaged in protracted struggles for equality. Suchactivists emphasize the contested nature of caste categories and require us to pro-vide an account of caste structures that encompasses the history of low-casteprotests, and continuing Dalit (ex-Untouchables) activism.

We begin by outlining the contributions of Bourdieu and Foucault, respec-tively, to our understanding of embodiment. While there are continuities betweenthe two theories notably the stress on the corporeal basis of collective and indi-vidual identity we argue that viewing caste-based identities as the stable prod-uct of early socialization, occludes the creative capacity of protest (cf. Crossley,2003) and the constitutive nature of power relations. Following Foucault, wesubmit that an understanding of caste dynamics must start from the specificitiesof contextualized caste interaction. It is our contention that Bourdieu prioritizesthe social structural elements that configure individual embodied practices (habi-tus), whereas Foucault emphasizes how interaction between agents underliesthe embodiment of individual and collective subjectivities. In other words, aFoucauldian approach complements Bourdieus model by foregrounding the

98 Sociology Volume 41 Number 1 February 2007

http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/http://soc.sagepub.com/


4/19

processes by which structures are constituted and challenged. Having outlinedthe theoretical positions we chart the lived experiences of caste in Tamilnadu tointegrate theory with research. In conclusion we draw critically on the insights of both theorists to suggest the analytical utility of a performative 2 understanding of

caste. First, however, a brief consideration of the empirical basis of our argumentis required.

Methodological Considerations

Empirical data were collected during fieldwork in Tamilnadu between 19989.The research comprised a multi-sited ethnography of Dalit social movementactivists (carried out by Gorringe), in which particular attention was paid to

movement motivations, modes of operation, and ideological aspirations. Thedata consist of 30 group discussions and 60 interviews (32 formal and tape-recorded, and 30 informal interviews) with activists, leaders, academics and non-participating Dalits. Interviews were complemented by participant observationand analysis of speeches. 3

The position of the researcher was that of an observer-as-participant andresearch aims were explained from the outset. Prior contacts and fluent conver-sational Tamil facilitated exchanges that probed beyond the surface details.Getting to know movement members enabled access and observing their interac-

tion with comrades ( thozhar ) revealed that movement activity is not sequesteredfrom everyday life. Unlike other socially-conscious individuals, movement mem-bers act as part of groups who share similar worldviews. This raises importantissues: movement leaders or activists, for example, often regurgitated establishedmovement stories. To counteract this, the researcher engaged with respondentson a daily basis, to win their trust and ask searching questions that disrupted thepre-rehearsed narratives.

Much of the research was conducted through informal conversations. Theexchange of views resulted in mutual confidence, and often led to instructive cri-tiques of putative analysis. Dalit movements are embedded in, and emerge out of,a specific political culture, however, which should caution against an uncriticalacceptance of movement claims. Participant observation was significant here andcast light on the relational patterns between participants, and between membersand others, rather than privileging speeches. Issues of class, sub-caste and genderwithin the leadership or group structure, or the micro aspects of bodily comport-ment and interaction could be observed by the researcher, whereas the membersoften played down (or disregarded) their significance. The research, significantly,did not intend to chart the embodied nature of caste structures. Rather, dataculled from observation and the repeated (often implicit) references to the bodilymanifestations of caste led to more detailed analysis. The theoretical frameworkadopted here arose out of collaboration between the two authors and recognitionthat the data elucidate the complexity of caste as a relational system and anembodied practice.

99The embodiment of caste Gorringe & Rafanell



5/19

Bourdieu: Hierarchical Habitus

Bourdieu has been most influential in mapping this terrain and elaborating theembodied nature of social positions. One of his tenets, which contests the psy-

chological focus of much social science, is that the social effects of macro-phe-nomena are primarily located in bodies, and thus naturalized. His principalanalytical category is that of habitus. Habitus dispositions can be defined as:social in origin, acquired in infancy, embodied, durable, transposable, hierarchi-cal and reproductive of the social context within which they originated. 4

Dispositions frame subsequent activity and homogenize individuals exposed tothe same local social circumstances (Bourdieu, 1994, 1995). They underpin thepatterned nature of collective activity and thus constitute group boundaries andgroup consciousness (Bourdieu, 1995). Most importantly, they are embedded in

the non-reflexive realm of individuals activity and, thus, acquire a durable naturethat perpetuates the re-production of the social system (Bourdieu, 1994).

Physical features like postures, accents, ways of walking, even bodily shapes,preferred foods, sports activities and so on, can be seen as the result of specificsocial conditioning (Bourdieu, 1994). Embodied dispositions, moreover, consti-tute cognitive features, which develop a specific manner of perceiving and sym-bolically evaluating the world. Individual agency is, thus, the by-product of thisstructural internalization: it is the un-reflexive activity of a player who has inter-nalized at the profound level of the corporeal and thus hidden from conscious-

ness the rules of the game (Bourdieu, 1995: 62, 269). For Bourdieu, strategicagency remains once the rules have been internalized (Bourdieu, 1995). Automaticun-reflexive practices are only transformed to reflexive activity in times of struc-tural crisis when radical changes produce a discrepancy between the internalizedworldview and the external world. Agency, thus, is a slip, not a permanent state(cf. Bourdieu, 2000; Crossley, 2003).

Whereas many authors argue that Bourdieu allows room for reflexiveagency, they invariably modify his work in order to validate their claims. 5

Without such amendments, this notion of practices not only presents a staticview of internalized rules, but also conceives of individuals as interacting witheach other on the basis of these principles. 6 Practices are not presented as theresult of a reflexive adjustment to the requirements of a given situation but aspre-reflexively internalized and unconsciously guiding individuals (cf. Crossley,2003). Bourdieus model clearly envisages these individuals as independentbeings. For, though the subjective internalization of the objective suggests arelationship between the individual and the systemic properties of the socialenvironment, there is no acknowledgement of the constitutive nature of individ-uals micro-interaction with others (Bourdieu, 1995). Not only do macro- andmicro-phenomena stand in a position of externality, in which the dynamics of interaction is between two already constituted objects, but the model also grantspriority and determinative power to macro-structures over individual practice. 7

Bourdieu attempts a synthesis between the macro-structural world andindividual activity by locating systemic requirements within rather than outside




6/19

individuals (as he says structural objectivism does). The problem with this viewis that rules still exist in a reified form (cf. Barnes, 2000) insofar as they remainindependent of, and act as guiding systems to, the reflexive activity of interactiveindividuals. When applied to our data, this suggests that caste practices, onceinternalized, would structure the psychological and bodily practices of individu-als. Initially, this does seem to shed light on caste as a lived reality, and explainthe continuing significance of caste discrimination. In explicating the durability of caste, however, caste bodies are rendered the (more or less) passive receptacles of social structure; incapable of protest and resistance. Such a position is an anath-ema to activists engaged in challenging caste. In what follows, therefore, weexplore an alternative (Foucauldian) model that, we believe, better accounts forsocial change and individual agency.

Foucault: Political Anatomy

Whereas Bourdieu conceives of the body as the site within which power relationsare obscured from the consciousness of individuals (particularly the downtrod-den), Foucault rejects the notion that oppressed bodies are social dopes. Ratherthan blindly following internalized dispositional bodily modes of behaviour,Foucault conceives of bodies that are conscious of being manipulated, trained,tortured and so on. He emphasizes that, in studying the effects of power, we need

to identify the mechanisms by which bodies are disciplined (1979). Dominationis not internalized at an early age, but is an ongoing process of power relation-ships that operate through bodies and, thus, minds.

One of Foucaults key insights is the fact that power produces new socialphenomena. This is markedly different from Bourdieus conception of power asa zero sum game. Kusch (1991: 1308) elucidates the productive nature of power,describing it as an internal essential relationship . Power for Foucault, he notes,is not a relationship between already existing objects. Rather, power holders andsubjects emerge in and through interaction. This relationship is essential (ratherthan secondary) in that it constitutes attributes that are primary to the identityof the objects. For Foucault, every society has its specific political anatomy(Foucault, 1979:138) in which bodies are classified, sexed, classed, aged, racedand so on, by particular mechanisms of power that are local and historical (cf.Foucault, 1998).

A problem for the Foucauldian approach arises at this juncture: whileBourdieus model might be represented as presenting social actors as structuraldopes, the concept of habitus offers a credible account of how the social order isnaturalized. Accounts that seek to transcend this analysis must confront the factthat structures of inequality are often stable and the oppressed appear to accepttheir position. 9 This is particularly pertinent here because of Moffatts (1979)contested assertion that Dalits live in consensus with the caste system.

The key to this question, and what we see as the crucial difference betweenBourdieu and Foucault, is that peoples consciousness and self-reflexive capacity




7/19

emerges in interaction. Agency, for Foucault, is not a by-product of structuralinternalization but arises from processes of individual formation (e.g. 1998: 94).This not only helps us to understand the emergence of the objects implicated inpower relationships, but also to understand how these objects emerge with par-

ticular consciousness, agency and the capacity for resistance. Power is real, but itemerges from the realm of the interactive collective. Obviously were all oppressedagents to rise in revolt, the existing edifice of power would crumble, but the inter-action which constitutes individual consciousness also creates regimes of truth(knowledge) which establish the social positioning of each individual agent.Rulers continuously constitute their status with the threat (or use) of sanctions,particularly embodied sanctions. Coercive power, Foucault (1979) emphasizes,relies on the immediacy of the suffering of the body.

The methodological implications of this approach are that macro-level

phenomena cannot be explicated outside the multiplicity of relationships atthe micro-level. In sum, individuals are ultimately the sustaining force of macro-phenomena and so we must attempt an ascending analysis of power,starting from its infinitesimal mechanisms (Foucault, 1983: 308). In theremaining sections of this article we turn to the ethnographic data and attemptprecisely this sort of analysis to determine the analytical efficacy of the twomodels reviewed above.

Untouchable Habitus?Definitions of caste are contentious and interpretations are often swayed by polit-ical position (cf. Berreman, 1991). In this article, however, we define caste as abirth status group operating according to three basic principles: hierarchy (inwhich status is usually privileged over power or wealth), endogamous separation(ensured by rules governing marriage and interaction between castes), and aninterdependent division of labour. These characteristics operate at the level of col-lectives rather than individuals. According to Dumont, they are reducible to asingle true principle, namely the opposition of the pure and the impure (1980:43). Whereas this interpretation has been contested, it is clear that caste is a rela-tional system in which the impurity of the Untouchable is conceptually insepa-rable from the purity of the Brahman (1980: 54).

There is intense disagreement about the extent to which the caste systemrests upon consensus (people buy into caste values) or conflict (cf. Berreman,1991; Moffatt, 1979), but it is clear that caste varies across time and space.Critiques extend back several hundred years (discussed below) and an elementof fluidity was present in the system. Of concern here, however, are not theideological underpinnings of caste as a system so much as how such values areembodied . Our intent is to study the effects of power on the body in order tocomprehend the durability of caste structures. We argue that embodiedprocesses simultaneously constitute both social and personal identity andmacro-structural phenomena.




8/19

Ambedkars 10 assertion that caste is a notional entity provides a goodstarting point because it underscores the fact that no essential differencesbetween individuals determine caste-based stratification. Certainly, claims to beable to tell a persons caste from their outward appearance rarely translate intopractice. Of the five activists challenged to display their self-professed capacity forcaste identification, four backtracked and averred that city dwellers were largelyanonymous, and the fifth made educated (and often erroneous) guesses based onskin colour and clothing. Most visible markers of caste identity, it transpired, area product of the village system of interdependent labour and patronage. Theembodied aspects of caste are relational products of early socialization and itmakes sense, therefore, to conceive of a caste habitus .

Historically, caste identities were inscribed upon individual bodies throughprocesses of socialization that still inform village life, especially among the older

inhabitants. This process of embodiment is most noticeable among the lowestcastes. Urban Dalits can now laugh at the stereotypical postures of subserviencethat their rural counterparts adopt/ed. These Dalits, however, are often depen-dent upon their patrons for their livelihoods, and would jeopardize their securityand their employment through non-compliance.

Caste is etched into the social fabric by codes of conduct governing modes of address, attire and physical positioning that carry most force in isolated villages.The discrimination faced by Dalits is manifold: they cannot wear shoes in highercaste streets, they must drink from separate receptacles, they are not allowed to

wear clothes below the knee or above the waist (Untouchable women were his-torically barred from wearing blouses). They often still cannot cycle through highcaste areas, spit in the streets, use the drinking water wells frequented by highercastes or sit on benches in the common areas of the village ( pothu manthai ).

In villages around Madurai, Dalits commonly steer clear of the oor (mainvillage) unless summoned to accomplish some task. Social interactions betweenDalits and caste Hindus emphasize the inferiority of the former. On the approachof a locally dominant caste member, village Dalits assume a hunched posture, taketheir towel off their shoulders and tie it round their waist (or tuck it under theirarm), lean forward and raise one or both hands in greeting. When conversing withhigher castes their hands are held behind their backs or to their sides and theirheads remain inclined. In sum, they pay exaggerated forms of respect, which areexpressed non-verbally through bodily positioning. They usually stand apart fromthe higher castes, and will not enter their houses but call out to the householderfrom the backdoor using idioms and dialects that accentuate their social status.

These postures and attitudes characterize dependent Dalits, and their social reflexes communicate their subordination. Such submissiveness seems to occurautomatically, almost without the conscious intervention of the Dalit individuals.A Bourdieusean caste habitus appears to prevail. The dramaturgy of the occasion(Goffman, 1969) is often complemented by the physical contrast betweendominant and Dalit castes. This is most apparent in terms of male facial hair where a martial moustache connotes pride and dignity but it extends beyond




9/19

grooming. Pointing towards two portly ladies, a Dalit activist whispered: Suchfat ladies could never be from a Dalit caste (Mathivanan 28/09/1999).

Mathivanans assertion is rhetorical, but it bears a grain of truth. Since mostDalits work as labourers (especially agricultural) and subsist on pitiful wages

(Gorringe, 2005), the hardened, sun scorched, weathered and muscular labour-ing body is a caste indicator. Whereas substantial numbers of impoverishedBackward castes also work the fields, such bodies at least signify low caste iden-tity. Higher castes have historically eschewed, or been forbidden, manual labouras degrading and place a greater premium upon pale skin. Although these differ-ences have been taken to support racial and employment based theories of caste,they cannot explain the numbers of dark skinned Brahmins or impecunioushigher castes. It is clear, therefore, that external appearance is less significant thanbodily praxis.

The ways in which people walk, work, act, dress, talk and even the thingsthat they eat help to constitute the everyday reality of caste. The Untouchablebody is deemed to be so due to its contact with pollution in the form of animalcarcasses and products, human waste and corpses. Non-vegetarian castes areplaced lower down the caste hierarchy because they ingest pollutants and thereare complex rules governing the type of food one can accept from other castes.Sankar, an ex-communist and Dalit activist, recalled an incident encapsulatingthese processes:

One day, the cleaner brought her daughters. She left the elder child to feed the little

one with rice while she cleaned the toilets. The youngster soon asked for water and,told there was none, started crying. I told the girl to ask for water at the firsthouse whereupon she looked scared and asked how that was possible. If youdont ask, how will you get anything?, I said. So the girl knocked, and requestedsome water. I noticed the occupant searching the girl for signs that she had a vessel.Observing that there was going to be trouble, I kept [back and looked on]. She dulybrought the water and asked for the scavengers cup.

Child: Ive forgotten it amma [mother respectful form of address], but this childwont eat any rice without a drink.

Woman: How can I give you the water then?

Sankar: How? In that jug itself! You go to the temple every Friday and say each childis a deity and now you are defying your own statements! The child is thirsty.

Woman: So easy to say that! How can I give her water in our vessel? Id have to get anew one.

So saying, she withdrew. I then instructed the girl to go to [my house], but I keptback to see how my own family would react. So the girl went and tapped at mydoor and my sister came out and she too looked round for a vessel! Then I sig-

nalled to her and she handed over the water . At this point, the mother returned. You think that she will be happy that someone has given water for herchild to eat with, but no! The first thing she asks is: Eh child ( pillai ) where did youget the water? Because, you see, she is frightened. The girl indicates me: It was onlyafter sir said that I got it ma. Then you think that she was happy here at least is




10/19

a good person ( nalla manithan ) but no she was still scared, apologized andscolded the girl for not bringing a cup. (Interview 05/12/1998)

The durability of caste habitus is revealed in the above quote. Despite the pres-ence of a radical activist the women act according to internalized dispositions.We have quoted this example at length because it highlights the centrality of bodies in the reproduction of hierarchy. The body, thus, is not merely a symbol of caste difference, but the means by which such differences are constituted,perceived and subjectively experienced.

Castes in Flux: Continuity and Change

The above quote, however, also exposes dissonant voices and alternate modes of

being, thus suggesting the inherent instability of caste markers. Statements aboutcaste appearances should consequently be read within an historical perspectivethat accounts for changes over time. This is vital because the mannerisms andembodied markers of untouchability noted above are increasingly subject tonegotiation and challenge. Events in Muduvarpatti, 22km south west of Madurai,offer an insight into the variability of contemporary caste relations. MuduvarpattiDalits have been able to secure land due to government initiatives and concertedpolitical action. The Dalit Panther Movement (DPI an anti-caste, Dalit move-ment) has a visible presence here and Dalits constitute nearly 50 percent of

the population. The confidence derived from this was most simply illustratedwhen the researcher was taken through the fields and mango groves aroundMuduvarpatti by two Dalits, treated to a swim in the lake and interacted withlandholders. These casual encounters were cast into relief on visiting the sur-rounding hamlets where Dalits were penned into separate living quarters andscared to venture into common spaces for fear of abuse:

Bhaskaran: If we go to get our hair cut they say Dont show your facearound here, if we go to get our clothes ironed, they threaten toburn us with irons! You can ask anyone, there is no chance to be

respected as humans here In tea-shops they serve us in differ-ent glasses.

Celladurai [Interjects]: Were not allowed to sit down!

Bhaskaran: If we wear shoes or slippers they say: Whats this? Whats hedoing wearing shoes, boy look at how that Pallan/Paraiyan iswearing shoes!. (Interview 20/03/1999)

Caste hierarchy is reflected at the micro level of embodied practices: where Dalitsin Muduvarpatti walk erect, demand goods from shops, swim in common pondsand occupy space, those elsewhere are fearful and more circumspect.

Alterations in caste practices are cast into sharper relief when urban andrural worlds collide. Nesamani, for example, is a Paraiyar (Dalit) from the morepermissive urban environment of Madurai where she has acquired friends fromother castes. She described a visit to one friends village:




11/19

We were sitting inside her house when somebody came outside with a dish andcalled out Amma, saapadu kudunga Ma. [Madam, give me some food.] And thenthey took idli and sambar and stuff out to them she was standing there with herkids to receive this begged offering. When my friend came back in I asked: Who is

that? And the reply came back: Oh, thats payarchi [a demeaning term for some-one of the Paraiyar caste]. Just like that! Here I am sitting up on the bed beingserved food on a plate I didnt know whether to laugh or cry and Nirmala lookedat me and put her finger to her lips. Thats how it is in the village. They will comeand beg for food and wont be given respect. I do not know how they do it pa[addressed to researcher], I couldnt take offerings like that. (Informal interview21/03/1999)

The quote is instructive on two counts: first as evincing the magnitude of socialchanges such that common forms of behaviour seem incomprehensible to therespondent. Second for the implicit assertion that caste is a mode of being, alived practice within contextualized spaces rather than an external structure,which permeates the social landscape. The existence of both durable(Bourdieusean) structural caste dynamics and the reflexive emergence of newforms of caste consciousness are apparent here.

These were further illustrated when DPI activists threatened to destroy thereels of a feature film about a cross caste love affair ( Bharati Kanamma )because it depicted the lower caste hero begging for food. The otherwiseupright and fearless protagonist was forced to contort his body into a suppli-cants pose and enact his subordination to receive alms. When his acts arecounter-posed to the stately condescension of higher castes, the film revealshow untouchability, as an oppressive dynamic, operates at the level of the body.The DPI contended that such submission no longer occurs, and that the filmportrayal was an attempt to keep the downtrodden degraded. It does happen,Nesamani retorted, I saw it with my own eyes. Research in villages aroundMadurai corroborates this, but the example highlights the fact of socio-politi-cal change and raises the question of how best to understand such alterationsin social structure.

Social transformation, as Bourdieu notes, often occurs at times of structural

crisis. Certainly, in the urban public sphere it is impossible to avoid interac-tion with people from diverse backgrounds, and Government legislation hasdivested education of its primary association with particular caste categories.Consequently, friendships arise between those who have interests, subjects andcontexts in common despite their differing caste backgrounds. This is not, how-ever, to say that caste practices are easily modified. Rather, given the impractica-bility of maintaining caste boundaries in the public sphere, the home isreconceived as an arena of intimate interaction from which undesirable elementsmay be excluded.

There were numerous tales of friendships that could not be extended tothe private realm, suggesting the fluidity of caste identities and peoples scopefor improvisation. While Bourdieu might argue that such agents, in differentiat-ing between private and public spheres, are merely improvising within the




12/19

internalized rules of the game, the calculating nature of such interactionsindicates the capacity for reflexive agency. Consequently, we require an under-standing of the daily processes by which caste is continuously reconstituted ratherthan internalized at an early age.

Sanctions and Structures

We have argued that the materiality of the body is the medium through whichcaste is manifested. Far from being guided by pre-reflexive habituses, however, itis clear that caste bodies are constantly monitored and disciplined. The embodi-ment of caste is rooted in complex, continuous processes of social conditioning.Thus, whereas inter-caste matches occur with increasing frequency in contempo-

rary India, they are met with disapproval, which increases proportionately to thegap in status between the couple concerned. This condemnation is, in large part,due to the emphasis on blood and semen as (embodied) carriers of caste. As aresult, mixed unions undermine the very basis of caste distinctions and the cul-prits are treated accordingly:

A higher caste lady, if she loves a downtrodden boy, cannot remain a higher caste.They will not accept her into their caste. This is what has happened and will hap-pen in the future after a marrying a low caste boy this lady will recognize the dif-ficulties that the depressed classes face. (Balasubramaniam interview: 20/03/1999)

In Pudhukottai District, south Tamilnadu, in November 1998, three Dalitmen who had married higher caste women were not so fortunate. The locallydominant castes were not content to renounce the women involved. They tied themen to a tree, beat them, shaved their hair off and made them roll three timesaround the temple to set an example to others ( Nakkeeran 08/12/1998). Shavingpeoples hair is a common form of punishment. It marks out the miscreant andalso implies impurity those whose close relatives have died also shave theirscalps, as do penitents. Transgression, thus, is embodied too, as PalaniveluSwami, the SC (Scheduled Castes) state secretary of a national party, recalled:

If you ask how I know about untouchability, then when I was eleven years old all of us lads would play at horses. While playing horses we used to throw stonesat a target. If one lost in this game then the loser had to bend over and the winnerwould sit on top A well-off boy from the village lost to me and I was sitting onhis back When he was carrying me his uncle saw us, and immediately ran up andgave me a slap. He hit me, pushed me off and escorted the boy away. He really hitme, but I could not understand why. (Interview 10/04/1999)

Palanivelu related how his family were reminded of their position in society. When

his father went to the other boys parents he was threatened with violence and ver-bally abused. Similarly instructive beatings were meted out when Palanivelu usedthe village water-tap or the common glass for drinking water at school. His puz-zlement at such treatment continued until an old man explained:

107 The embodiment of caste Gorringe & Rafanell



13/19

You are very low in caste terms, which is why they hit you kid. It was wrong foryou to sit on their child, they alone can sit astride you my child. That is what theythink little brother. That is why we are excluded people, dont go near them, dontmake friends with them. (Interview 10/04/1999)

The physicality of caste distinctions is unmistakable here. In sitting atop hisfriends back, Palinivelu was not merely flouting caste codes but challenging thevery logic of a system that segregates castes. What this highlights is that, whilecaste structures may be initiated through early socialization (cf. Bourdieu), theyare maintained by monitoring individuals activity and punishing transgressions(a more Foucauldian take). The contested, rather than internalized, nature of subordination is revealed in the ubiquitous presence of social sanctions. Suchsanctions explain both the unstable nature of caste identity and its durability.Caste-based patterns of behaviour become the norm because they are lived and

performed on a daily basis.Caste practices not only influence actions, they also shape cognitive tem-

plates. Isaac, for example, is a Christian priest. Although he is a Dalit anddenounces inequality he struggles to disengage from the phenomenology of caste identity:

Caste is a state of mind; it is not a structure to be torn down Even I find it diffi-cult to work alongside scavengers. This feeling is embedded deep in my psyche because that is what I have been brought up to understand and believe.(Conversation 22/02/1999)

The psychological underpinnings of social inequality have been widely recog-nized. In this context, the SC/ST (Schedules Castes / Scheduled Tribes) com-missioner argues that Dalits have inculcated a psychological state of acceptingdeprivation and destitution as justified and proper (Scharma in Gorringe,2005: 118). The reason for our stress on embodiment is that the psychologicalcannot be divorced from the corporeal. Caste based emotions are embodied ,and inspire feelings of revulsion or unworthiness that hinder social change andconstitute hierarchical social identities.

Such awareness is particularly important for Dalit activists because failure toaddress the corporeal expressions of untouchability undermines their struggle.Demands for respect are contradicted by mannerisms that signal inferiority.When the clasped hands and stooped backs of Dalit villagers are replaced byclenched fists and raised chests, then untouchability is transparently shown to bean ideological rather than natural condition. The rationale for our theoreticalcomparison is apparent here as both Bourdieu and Foucault prioritize the corpo-real over the psychological. In contending that the embodied nature of powerrelations constitutes subjects, however, we point to important divergences.Whereas Bourdieu regards the body as the surface upon which power operates,Foucault regards the body as the effect of power mechanisms.

Kannan a Dalit driver, emphasized the infinitesimal processes wherebycaste is (re)constituted, and highlighted the significance of inter-relationships tocaste standing:




14/19

Another obstacle to schooling is the higher castes who try and stop Dalit kids fromjoining school ... . This obstructive attitude is fostered by several factors: first theyare scared that you will do better than them; second they are scared that you will bebetter educated than them; and third then they are scared that they will lose their

social standing and may have to give you respect. That is three, then forth, they arescared that when they sit down you will be in a position to sit down alongside them.Fifth and finally they are terrified that they may have to work under you. (Informalinterview 18/02/1999)

Similar assertions recurred throughout interviews in Tamilnadu. For our pur-poses the above quote is most instructive for its testimony to the performativenature of caste hierarchies and how they are negotiated. Kannan indicates themechanisms by which Dalit identities are constituted. This is how we interpretFoucaults notion of docile bodies: not that these bodies lack agency but that

they are constituted in and through power relations. Continuous power mecha-nisms dictate where Dalits can sit, what they can and cant do, and thus, repeat-edly condition them to accept their status. From this perspective castes are neitherset in stone nor non-negotiable, but emerge in and through interaction.

Identity Formation and Resistance

Utilizing this conceptualization of caste dynamics, we can comprehend the upsurgein Dalit movement activity and the disparities between the actions of activists anddependent villagers. People are inducted into a pre-existing network of relation-ships, norms and value systems, but it is their actions that animate these values.The above examples of corporeal sanctioning reveal how caste is experienced,negotiated and re-framed in conscious interaction between different individualsand groups. Such interaction has led to a reformulation of what it means to docaste. Perumal, a DPI activist, emphasized the rapidity with which political protestcan profoundly alter the subjective experience of social structures:

Where we used to suffer from inferiority complexes and a slave mentality, now we

answer back and return blows with blows. Ten years ago I was frequently arrested,questioned and abused by the police. I was scared of them. Now they give merespect. (Informal interview 08/03/1999)

The interplay between the subjective and the corporeal is palpable here and isenforced in the fact many backward caste groups do not recognize Dalits asequal beings. In asserting their common humanity, Dalits resort to a bodilyidiom that rejects the hierarchical stratifications of caste: Do we not bleedwhen we are cut? is a frequent question, and Is our blood not as red as theirs?.As the story of Sankar and the cleaning woman illustrates, though, assertionsof equality are insufficient on their own. Sankar admonished the woman:Whats this fuss? Baby was thirsty so I gave water. We also feel thirsty; we tooare human. You need to overcome your inferiority complex (Interview05/12/1998). It was clear, however, that the woman was terrified of possible




15/19

repercussions. The gradual process of caste change clearly has to be embodiedand materially manifest for it to have real meaning.

This was epitomized when the Dalits of Kodankipatti (central Tamilnadu)were hounded from their village in June 1999 (Gorringe, 2005). Kamaraj, a DPI

activist from neighbouring Muduvarpatti, takes up the story:

The refugees from Kodankipatti came to our village and were staying in the mar-riage hall, but the high caste fanatics ( jadi veriaalkal ) would not let them be andcame after them. But we all got together, women and men and we picked up aru-vals [machetes], chappals and stones and chased them off! (Interview 10/07/1999)

Kamaraj was scathing about the men from Kodankipatti and reproved them forfleeing without a fight. You should have stood and determined to kill some of them! Hierarchical distinctions, caste subjectivities and individual behaviour

are re-cast through such processes of interaction. It would be easy to see theseas isolated occurrences but, on the basis of the above and related examples, wecontend that such exchanges are not exceptions. Rather, they are the very stuff of caste as it is lived and experienced.

The Past of Caste

The data suggest that Dalits are not in consensus with caste values and that many

refuse to perform, or challenge, the roles assigned to them. The question is: isresistance a recent phenomenon? Bourdieu would doubtless point to the revolu-tionary impact of the nationalist struggle and the Indian Constitution, whichraised the prospect equal citizenship and instituted affirmative action pro-grammes to this end. The fact that the de jure abolition of untouchability has notbeen realized in practice also supports the view that habitus, once formed, is dif-ficult to transform. The problem with such an understanding of caste is that it rei-fies contemporary changes and endows the past with a fixity it never possessed.

Zelliots (1996) historical study of Dalit protest, for example, highlightsthe 13th century Bhakti cults (sects within Hinduism) within which severalUntouchable saints questioned the opposition between the pure and impure andchallenged the very bases of caste. Similarly the Buddhist and Sikh religions,which emerged out of Hinduism, have confronted caste and sought more egali-tarian ways of living. Furthermore, numerous studies charting the impact of British rule suggest that colonialism crystallized caste divisions in its search forneat categories (Bayly, 1999; Dirks, 1989).

Caste, in other words, is not a timeless social structure. At ground level, Rao(1987) observed, caste was always permeable to political influence or militarymight. The caste system, thus, was relatively open. Most accounts of socialchange lack a detailed picture of the processes by which such transformationswere effected. Barnetts (1977) is one exception to this, and his study of aBackward caste in Tamilnadu highlights how caste was re-imagined in the late19th century. The centralization of colonial rule rendered it expedient for castes




16/19

to organize at a state rather than local level. Yet this undermined the powerof the caste headman and contravened countless caste stipulations. An under-standing of caste as a locally enforced code of conduct, therefore, was replacedby a stress on blood purity. These varied accounts underscore the centrality of

social interaction and power relations and support our contention that caste isperformed rather than given and constituted through interaction rather thandetermining it.

Conclusions

Bourdieu and Foucault present complementary theories of power, which helpto make sense of the everyday experiences of caste. Unlike other attempts to

transcend the structure/agency debate notably Giddens both theorists stressthe centrality of the corporeal. While Giddens model emphasizes interaction itneglects the primacy of embodiment and pays inadequate attention to the con-stitutive power of social interactions (cf. Barnes, 2001; Shilling, 1996). Ourfocus on Bourdieu and Foucault reflects their rejection of psychological causal-ism and recognition that the technologies of the body precede the emergenceof self/identity.

For both, power mechanisms operate in and through the body, but our dataelucidates crucial differences between them. Whereas Bourdieu regards habitus as

the internalization of already existing structures, we suggest that Foucault con-ceives of power as an internal essential relationship in which individual identi-ties are constituted by power relationships. We argue that this approachtranscends surfactant accounts of embodiment in seeing power relations as piv-otal to the materiality of caste bodies, which in turn shape individual and collec-tive consciousness and the practices that these engender.

A Bourdieusean approach would present Dalit activism as resulting from thedisjunction between dispositions based on caste and on citizenship. This perspec-tive, as we have seen, ultimately conceives of agents as shaped by their earlysocialization and responding to alterations in objective structures rather thaneffecting such alterations. A more Foucauldian account begins by recognizing thehistory of Dalit protests for social, political and economic equality. Were castestructures fully internalized and pre-reflexive the ubiquitous social sanctionscharted above would be redundant. Given the prevalence of resistance over time,we endorse a performative approach that acknowledges the centrality of the cor-poreal and the existence of structural constraints, while providing a non-essen-tializing understanding of caste categories. An understanding of caste dynamicsmust start from the specificities of contextualized, local caste interaction.

We contend that the data support a continuous creation (and thus inherentlyunstable) model of embodied caste practices. Refusing to take structures forgranted or view them as pre-reflexive aspects of human behaviour allows us toquestion the micro processes by which they are constituted, enforced and embod-ied. This article has shown that caste identity is not relatively irreversible




17/19

(Bourdieu, 1992: 133), but is constantly evolving through everyday lifeexperiences. Rather than being a memory jogger (Bourdieu, 1994: 468), thebody is a vehicle for the human making and remaking of the world, always shift-ing sites, empowered with the potential for opening up new possibilities of being

in this world (Thapan, 1997: 26).The data amply illustrate the capacity for reflexive and meaningful action on

the part of even the most subordinate groups and individuals (Dalits) is part andparcel of the dynamics of domination. Our data corroborate Foucaults assertionthat resistance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power (1998:95). Bringing research into dialogue with theory suggests that where habitusfatalizes, a Foucauldian analysis reveals the contextually specific mechanismsthrough which power relationships are established. Universalizing notions likepatriarchal structures and caste systems are theoretically, epistemologically and

methodologically unsound, and ultimately overlook the exact mechanismsthrough which power is exercised. Consequently they preclude the possibility,and understanding, of political action.

Acknowledgements

This was first presented at the 2004 BSA conference where we received usefulfeedback. Thanks also to Ross Bond, Donald MacKenzie, Nick Prior and the

Sociology reviewers.

Notes

1 Untouchability is the stigma attached to those at the foot of the caste hierarchy.In 1950, the constitution of independent India criminalized untouchability andreferred to Untouchables as Scheduled Castes (SCs) with reference to the listof castes entitled to positive discrimination. Since the 1970s, however, activeSCs have called themselves Dalit (downtrodden) in a spirit of pride and

militancy (Zelliot, 1996).2 The notion of performativity is contested. Here we take it to mean the consti-

tution of the world as an effect of mutually susceptible interacting individuals(cf. Barnes, 1983).

3 Where appropriate we have used pseudonyms and altered locations.4 Taken from Bourdieu (especially 1994, 1995), but this reconstruction of

Bourdieus habitus dispositions can be found in Rafanell (2004).5 Crossleys (2003: 50) radical habitus is typical. Most recently see Savage and

Bennett (2005: 10) and articles in that volume.6 The objective homogenizing of group or class habitus that results from homo-

geneity of conditions of existence is what enables practices to be objectivelyharmonized without any calculation or conscious reference to a norm andmutually adjusted in the absence of any direct interaction (Bourdieu, 1990: 58,italics added).




18/19

7 Bourdieu, Crossley (2003: 49) notes, neglects protest and processes of move-ment formation.

8 Bourdieu uses the example of an orchestra. Individual performers internalizethe melody so that their practices can be collectively orchestrated without

being the product of a conductor (Bourdieu, 1995: 53).9 See McNays (1992) critique of Foucault in this regard.10 Ambedkar was the pre-eminent Dalit leader of the 20th Century and the first

Law Minister of India.

References

Barnes, B. (1983) Social Life as Bootstrapped Induction, Sociology 17(4): 52445.Barnes, B. (2000) Understanding Agency. Social Theory and Responsible Action .

London: Sage.Barnes, B. (2001) The MacroMicro Problem and the Problem of Structure

and Agency, in G. Ritzer and B. Smart (eds) Handbook of Social Theory ,pp. 33952. London: Sage.

Barnett, S. (1977) Identity Choice and Caste Ideology in Contemporary SouthIndia, in K. David (ed.) The New Wind , pp. 393415 . The Hague: MoutonPublishers.

Bayly, S. (1999) Caste, Society and Politics in India from the 18th Century to theModern Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Berreman, G. (1991) The Brahminical View of Caste, in D. Gupta (ed.) Social

Stratification , pp. 8492. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Bourdieu, P. (1990) In Other Words , translated by Loic J.D. Wacquant. Cambridge:

Polity Press.Bourdieu, P. (1994) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.

London: Routledge.Bourdieu, P. (1995) The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Polity.Bourdieu, P. (2000) Pascalian Meditations . Cambridge: Polity.Bourdieu, P. and J. Wacquant (1992) An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology.

Cambridge: Polity.Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex . London:

Routledge.Crossley, N. (2003) From Reproduction to Transformation, Theory, Culture &

Society 20(6): 4368.Dirks, N. (1989) The Invention of Caste, Social Analysis 25: 4552.Dumont, L. (1980) Homo Hierarchicus (2nd Edition). Chicago, IL: Chicago

University Press.Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punish. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Foucault, M. (1983) Why Study Power: The Question of the Subject, in H. Dreyfus

and P. Rabinow (eds) Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics ,pp. 20816 . Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

Foucault, M. (1998) The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality, Volume One(2nd Edition). Harmondsworth: Penguin.Goffman, E. (1969) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life . London: Allen Lane.Gorringe, H. (2005) Untouchable Citizens. New Delhi: Sage.




19/19

Jeyaharan, J. (1992) The Concepts and Practices of Purity-Pollution Related to theSituation of the Dalits and Women in South Tamil Nadu. Madurai: T.T.S.,unpublished MSc thesis.

Kusch, M. (1991) Foucaults Strata and Fields: An Investigation into Archaeological

and Genealogical Science Studies. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Nakkeeran (Tamil Magazine) (1998) Caste Marriage Violence, 8 December.McNay, L. (1992) Foucault and Feminism. Cambridge: Polity.Moffatt, M. (1979) An Untouchable Community in South India . Princeton, NJ:

Princeton University Press.Rafanell, I. (2004) The Sexed and Gendered Body as a Social Institution: A Critical

Reconstruction of Two Social Constructionist Models, University of Edinburgh, unpublished PhD thesis.

Rao, M. (1987) Social Movements & Social Transformation . Delhi: Ramesh Jain.Savage, M. and T. Bennett (2005) Editors Introduction: Cultural Capital and

Social Inequality, The British Journal of Sociology 56(1): 112.Shillling, C. (1996) Embodiment, Structuration Theory and Modernity: Mind/ Body Dualism and the Repression of Sensuality, Body & Society 2(4): 117.

Thapan, M. (1997) Gender and Embodiment in Everyday life, in M. Thapan (ed.)Embodiment: Essays on Gender and Identity , pp. 134. New Delhi: OxfordUniversity Press.

Zelliot, E. (1996) From Untouchable to Dalit. New Delhi: Manohar.

Hugo Gorringe

Is a Sociology lecturer. He is author of Untouchable Citizens (Sage, 2005) and articles on

identity and violence.

Address: Sociology, Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, UK.

E-mail: [email protected]

Irene Rafanell

Is a Sociology Lecturer. She completed her PhD in 2004 and is currently working on

several articles arising from this.

Address: Politics & Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Paisley, Paisley PAI

2BE, UK.

E-mail: [email protected]


Documents

97 The Embodiment of Caste: Oppression, Protest and Change