ANTH 2108 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Mirch Masala, Mayawati, Dalit

• School: University of Iowa
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 2108
• Professor: Meena Khandelwal

Document Summary

Vedic religion-1st explanation of caste: brah(cid:373)i(cid:374)i(cid:272) hi(cid:374)duis(cid:373) (cid:894)gu(cid:374)(cid:374) o(cid:374) (cid:272)lassi(cid:272)al (cid:373)odels a(cid:374)d (cid:862)li(cid:448)ely (cid:373)argi(cid:374)s(cid:863)(cid:895) Esoteric religion (tantrism)-ritual reversal of brahmin practice, (cid:272)o(cid:374)su(cid:373)ptio(cid:374) of (cid:862)polluti(cid:374)g(cid:863) (cid:373)aterials. Devotionalism (bhakti, saint kabir), ilaiah essay discussed. Caste today: rules of commensalism weaker. Food and ritual codes still important to many families. Changes have opened possibility of intercaste marriage. Led to arguments on whether caste takes on ethnic identity in. Idio(cid:373)s used to (cid:862)(cid:272)lass(cid:863)-ify strangers political arena: hard to separate caste and class. (cid:862)people like us(cid:863) i(cid:374) ter(cid:373)s of e(cid:272)o(cid:374)o(cid:373)i(cid:272) sta(cid:374)di(cid:374)gs, lifestyle, caste. Mayawati: chief minister of attar pradesh (4th term) 1st dalit woman minister of any state. Won support of dalit, brahmin, thankurs, muslims. Made statues of buddha, dalit leaders, and herself. A census required people to mark caste and religion: tensions rose. Sometimes internalized over time: the early 1900s this becomes more rigid. Ghandi advocated against the separation of religious id. Did(cid:374)"t stop its o(cid:272)(cid:272)urre(cid:374)(cid:272)e duri(cid:374)g a(cid:374)d after i(cid:374)dia"s i(cid:374)depe(cid:374)de(cid:374)(cid:272)e: discourses: