NonFiction
Meh
Caste isn't something that I can ever access aside from second hand knowlege. However, I still think it's important to educate ones self about, and this book seemed to fit the bill to build my knowlege further. Both the term and concept of "Dalit" was explored.
As I've mentioned previously, when an author is close to a subject and has an emotional tie to it, writing objectively becomes incredibly difficult. This book was a prime example of this theory. A self identified Dalit, the author definitely has strong feelings, and understandably so. The subject of reservation and special privilege/lack of it is a time worn argument in India. Some scream that "low caste" people have too many support systems, others agitate beause they have too few.
I was shocked (although I'm not sure quite why) to find out that becoming very sucessful in life is looked own upon, even though it may elevate someone to a more comfortable lifestyle. I have seen this in different societies where less fortunate people resent those who have somehow removed themselves from a difficult situation. This was also surprising for me because coming from the US, the prejudice was more economically based, rather socially. Even if you come from the poorest background, once you have money no one cares. Caste is very much more complicated than that.
I could not figure out how and where Brahminism fit in with castism, aside from propigating the discrimination, but perhaps that's simply my ignorance. It was an interesting read, but overall I felt quite biased. Disappointing but not surprising. This book is worth a read because the only qualified people to talk about something like castism are those who have experienced it, especially not on the dominant side of the spectrum.
Read It.
~Becky~
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