Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Anthropology Theses and Dissertations by Author "Chandvankar, Rucha"

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    Redefining Caste: A Study of Dalit Women’s Sanitation Labor and Generational Aspirations.
    (University of Oregon, 2022-02-18) Chandvankar, Rucha; Karim, Lamia
    This dissertation analyzes the persistence of caste-based sanitation labor and the ways in which Dalit women are redefining the associations between caste and sanitation labor. This project is based on ethnographic research I conducted among Dalit women who are part of the informal waste management sector in Mumbai, India. I use the Gramscian concept of hegemony to highlight that dominant caste groups used caste ideology to construct caste-based occupational divisions and subordinated other caste groups by assigning them degrading forms of labor. Caste hegemony has served to limit options available to subordinated castes, to the extent that economically impoverished Dalit women, like those who are part of this study, continue to perform sanitation labor. Specifically, my research documents how state and corporate regulation of waste management has threatened Dalit women’s livelihoods, while simultaneously creating a limited set of opportunities for them to seek formal employment in the management of waste. I investigate Dalit women’s association with the NGO Parisar Vikas, to argue that through their many activities, Parisar Vikas has cultivated a Gramscian good sense and fostered the capacity to aspire; enabling Dalit women to challenge the common sense of caste hegemony. Finally, I construct Dalit women’s claims for legitimacy in access to waste, demands for inclusion in the waste management system, and resolve to educate their daughters, as a redefinition of caste, through which Dalit women aspire to break the link between caste and hereditary sanitation labor.