Double Discrimination: 

Dalit Women’s Education and Emancipation in Modern India

by 

Professor Shailaja Paik, University of Cincinnati  

Date:     Thursday, September 13th

Time:    3:00 pm

Place:   ICGC Conference Room, 537 Heller Hall

Series:  ICGC Special Event  

Abstract:  What does education mean to Dalit women and why is it so important to them? In the context of education, and in a situation of continuing and existing discrimination, what were the distinct experiences of Dalit women? In my talk, I concentrate on the "interlocking technologies" of gender, class, caste, family, community, sexuality, and education that shaped and in turn were transformed by Dalit women's historical experiences. I focus on how a combination of caste and patriarchy creates for Dalit women a system of double discrimination. I explore the nexus between caste, class, gender and state pedagogical practices among Dalit women and analyze the social, economic, and historical circumstances that hindered as well as contributed to their education. By tracking the twisted relationship between the rhetoric and pedagogic efforts of modern education and the production of Dalit women's subjectivities, I illustrate that the choices that communities make about schooling speak to much larger questions about inclusion, exclusion, and equality within Indian society.

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