This thesis analyzes the history of caste system and explains the theories of the birth of caste in Indian civilization. After defining the caste system in historical and cultural manner. examines the birth of and spreading of Dalit movement or low caste mass movement during the 19th and 20th century with the influence of British rule.

This thesis is a comparative analysis between two villages in India, examining personal accounts from participants in the world’s largest anti-poverty programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The analysis is based on an eight-week field-study in Andhra Pradesh, which was financed through a Minor Field Study Scholarship by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). This thesis aim to provide the discourse with empirical research of the process that leads to empowerment using qualitative methods. The relationship of interest is how women in NREGA perceive employment has led to a perception of empowerment. The hypothesis is that employment in NREGA can lead to perceived empowerment, but that it is dependent on the development level including the intensity of patriarchal norms and caste tensions in the village of implementation. Empowerment is understood as a process of change – when a person experiences an expansion in their ability to make valued choices and desired outcomes. The theoretical foundation is that empowerment can occur in three different levels of analysis: immediate (sense of self-hood and identity), intermediate (rules and relationships in different spheres of life) and deeper (structural relations of power) levels. The results show that employment in NREGA leads to perceived empowerment in immediate levels of analysis, through an expansion of abilities in choice and achievements, irrespective of development level, but that the development level and intensity of patriarchal norms and caste tensions is determinant for whether employment in NREGA leads to perceived empowerment in intermediate and deeper levels of empowerment. This thesis argues that to achieve sustainable empowerment structural relations of power must be transformed. The main recommendation for policies and programmes is therefore to acknowledge the importance of development level including patriarchal norms and caste tensions when implementing programmes like NREGA with objectives of sustainable empowerment for low-caste women, to ensure what objectives are feasible.

This thesis presents Sumitra Mehraul’s autobiography Ṭūṭe pãkhõ se parvāz tak and her two short stories Phãs and Pratikār and divides them into the categories of autobiography and autobiografiction. The categorization will be done by presenting a summary of each writing, introducing the concepts of autobiography, autobiografiction and Dalit literature. The result is a suggestion on how the writings can be categorized based on their content. Furthermore, discussing the importance of introducing autobiografiction into the categorization of Dalit literature.

This research is a result of a nine week field study during spring 2012, with the purpose of highlighting the stories of Dalit women in Madhya Pradesh, India. Together with a fellow student at Södertörn University, I investigated the Garima Campaign, an ActionAid project working with Dalit women forced to endure the illegal practice of manual scavenging, the manual removal of human excreta from dry toilets. This research was funded by a Minor Field Study scholarship provided by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). In this paper I investigate how these oppressed women may change their life situation and self-image through participation in a group of peers striving towards the same goal, asking the questions: how do they narrate their former life as manual scavengers, what is it that persuaded them to join the campaign, and what kind of attitudes did they encounter from other members of society? Following this, focus is on communication and how it can contribute to improving the life conditions of people of low social status. The theories used for this purpose are intersectionality and empowerment, as well as Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and symbolic violence. The data was drawn from interviews with female former manual scavengers, supported by observations of their life situation and on other background material. The results of this study corroborate the findings of much of the previous work in this field, especially in relation to the treatment of manual scavengers by the rest of society. However, there seemed to have been three major arguments that finally convinced the women to quit working as manual scavengers. The first one related to their feeling of dignity. The second one dealt with them being aware of their human rights, which supports the argument that awareness may lead to change. The third argument was an important pathos argument, and consisted of the fact that their children were mistreated in school and that the women did not want their children to feel bad about their social situation. In the Garima campaign the women are allowed to do things taboo for Indian women, especially for Dalit ones, like disturbing the existing system and standing up for their rights by kicking up a fuss. The campaign opened up a new arena in which they did not only work to abolish manual scavenging practices, but also worked to attack the caste system on the grass-roots level. In informing others, convincing them to stop the practice, the self-confidence of the women was strengthened further, as individuals and as a group.

During the 1950’s the Dalit leader Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar managed to revive Buddhism in India as a protest against, what he considered to be, injustices towards low-caste people that were said to be caused by Hinduism. This study was done to investigate the presence of Ambedkar Buddhism in the holy city of Hinduism Varanasi. By interviewing people and field studies it was possible to see how Ambedkar Buddhism has been transferred to contemporary Varanasi, how the religion is being practices and whether it is a religious or political movement. The results that were found were that Ambedkar Buddhism has existed ever since 1956 when Ambedkar held mass conversions in Maharashtra and that the religion has been kept and transferred within families to today’s generations of Varanasi and also partially because of academics associated with Banaras Hindu University who have move to the city for work and studies. Ambedkar Buddhists practice their religion like most Buddhists with the exception of not having a tradition of monasticism. The movement is both religious and political as it was started as a protest against Hinduism, which is also both religious and political according to Ambedkar. The movement has prospered because it seems that Buddhism is a beneficial way for Dalits to gain power and success.

This thesis analyses the Dalit Movement with regards to the twentieth century Indian nationalism and independence movement. Within this epoch, India was dealing with both internal and external problems, and this thesis confronts with the process of double freedom movement rolled into one, in India. On one side Indian nation was fighting against the British Imperialism and on the other hand the least level of the ancient Hindu social order varna, the Untouchables, were fighting against the higher castes for eradication of their historical backwardness. This solution of both problems pointed out changes in social and political terms. The mentioned movement under the leadership of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who is recognized as the architect of the Indian constitution, aimed to obtain both political and social rights and freedom for the Untouchables. By this movement, Dalits initially managed to attain political rights and to outlaw discrimination among people. And then, in order to facilitate the integration of Dalits within the social sphere, they decided to convert from Br&amp / #257 / hmanism to Buddhism in year 1956 and ten thousands of Dalits converted following Dr. Ambedkar. In the present day, the ex-Untouchables are living under the umbrellas of Buddhism, Islam or Christianity in various parts of India. Even though the mentioned ex-Untouchables survive normally and non-problematically in urban, those of them living in the rural front against the violence of radical rightist, nationalist Hindus.

This thesis theologises with the contemporary devadāsīs of South India, focusing in particular on the Dalit girls who from childhood have been dedicated to the goddess Mathamma and used as village sex workers. Firstly, chapters one and two situate the context for theologising by outlining the discriminatory practice of caste and the place of the Dalits, noting in particular the plight of Dalit women. From here it explores the socioreligious identities of the contemporary devadāsīs that have been transformed and degraded as a result of a multitude of hegemonies, to the extent that the existential narratives of the contemporary devadāsīs are shaped by sexual violence, caste and gender discrimination, local village religiosity and sex work. And it is based upon such narratives that this research contemplates God. Chapter three suggests that there exists a lacuna in Indian Christian Theology and Dalit Liberation Theology for the voices and experiences of the most marginalised of Dalit women, in particular those whose narratives would be deemed “indecent”. In response, inspired by the Indecent Theology of Marcella Althaus- Reid, it suggests that in order to be truly identity-specific and liberating to the most marginalised of Dalit women, Dalit Liberation Theology must be born out of the sexual narratives of the oppressed. Chapter four therefore uses an Indecent Dalit feminist hermeneutic to re-read the narratives of the “harlots,” “concubines,” and “whores” of Scripture alongside the lived experiences of the Dalit sacred “prostitutes.” It does so in the hope of challenging patriarchal hegemonic Dalit Christian theologising that portrays the ‘decent' woman as godly, to the detriment of those who transgress heteronormative sexual moral orders. The final chapter goes on to further challenge Dalit Theology to discover the Dalit Christ in the context of the dedicated women – where we encounter a lived religiosity, that is shaped by religious hybridity, goddess worship and the Christ who has become a Dalit devi.

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Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / This dissertation focuses on the theological ethical framework of ‘hope in justice’ for addressing the caste discrimination, particularly within the context of the Dalit lifeworld in India. It draws parallels between the caste system in India, racial discrimination in the United States, and apartheid in South Africa. More importantly, it examines the leadership and resistance models of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Martin Luther King Jr. The dissertation suggests that when the theological ethical enquiry is grounded in the principles of human dignity, justice, and equality, the exercise proclaims hope of liberation for the marginalized in the respective contexts. Further, it employs an ‘ethic of recognition’ as a foundational agenda, uniting various pedadisgogies and praxes against discrimination. This ethic is explored through the philosophical and theological implications of the works of scholars like Judith Butler, James Keenan, Joseph Flipper, Vincent Lloyd, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Albert Nolan, Emmanuel Katongole, Jurgen Moltmann, and John Sunder Boopalan. It argues for a comprehensive theological ethical discourse on caste, emphasizing the need for a moral critique and corrective vision based on virtue ethics and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. To sum up, the dissertation presents a detailed examination of caste discrimination through a theological ethical lens, advocating for a comparative study with racial discrimination to enhance the understanding and develop effective strategies for social change. It underscores the importance of leadership, resistance, and an ethic of recognition in the fight against systemic oppression and inequality. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Women are central to human development and yet, nowhere around the globe are they treated as equals to men. Although the need to empower them has been widely recognised, equality is not more than a theoretical construct and empowerment remains low, especially for female Dalits (the most disadvantaged social group in India). This study thus seeks to explore the impact of public secondary school education on the empowerment of Dalit women in Andhra Pradesh, India. Twelve female Dalits were interviewed to better comprehend the effects of their educational experiences from their own perspective. Nine indicators for empowerment were used, among them decision making, social and physical mobility, choices surrounding sexuality and self-reported attitude changes. Findings showed a positive effect of education on empowerment, although deeply embedded social and patriarchal thought patterns were challenged only partly. The study suggests that education clearly needs to exceed primary schooling to result in empowerment. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)