Caste

In America, there is a theory that if one is born poor, he/she still can advance both with motivation and the use of all available resources; however, India still has a caste system (ironic, because they are a democracy) where few people rise and, sadly, most people move down. For example, traditions such as arranged marriages and limited female freedom continue to plague the nation. Consequently, many have learned to embrace…

In his novels Untouchable and Coolie he not only reflects the exploitation of his contemporary society but also he has posed strong objection to the system. The society was ridden with so many categories of social exploitations based on religion, caste, class, poverty, education, marriage and sex. Anand in his fictional writings stages a three-fold protest against the political domination of colonialism, the economic exploitation of feudalism and capitalism and the religious bigotry of Hinduism…

In this essay, I will discuss the ways in which we as humans catagorise each other and the inequalities within our societies, and the consequences this has on our relationships with one another. The first item I will discuss is the Rwanda genocide in 1994. At this time, the country was split into two groups, by the Belgian’s and were called the Hutu and the Tutsi. There was absolutely no difference between the groups, but since they were separated, they began to identify physical differences…

Poverty and Social Exclusion – Adivasis Given the hierarchal structure of our Indian society, exclusion linked deprivation is associated to groups like Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) which comprise a large segment of the population. Social exclusion in layman’s language is the lack of equal opportunities for some groups which restricts their political, social and economic participation in an economy. This was the case of Hasari Pal in the movie…

CONTEXT- All-India Congress had just ratified the Quit India resolution, India was at a tipping point in terms of freedom from British imperialism, the time was optimal for mobilizing public opinion in favor of freedom. AUDIENCE-Gandhi’s speech, “Quit India”, given on August 1942 in Bombay was geared towards an Indian population, oppressed by British rule (Manas). Gandhi spoke to all social groups in India in this speech, however he selectively addressed the Muslims and Hindus. In fact, a…

Unity in diversity’ is the motto of our nation. India is a diversified country with many languages with many cultures and the people also different from one state to another. India’s is called as ‘Hindustan’ as it was full of Hindus once upon a time. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni employs myth in her novels to show the people how culture, tradition, religion and ecology play an important role in the lives of man. Myths are the stories that are based on tradition, culture and religion. They are not…

Political Organization The Southern Valley Yokuts were a large group, and they would split themselves into smaller self-governing groups of about 350 people, adopting names, and creating dialects of the language. While these groups formed a single village that usually had several settlements, created from close families, with one settlement being the dominant (). During the late spring, or early summer, the groups would separate. The separation allowed families to leave for months and gather…

Caste and Autobiography: The protagonists of the mainstream autobiographies not only enjoy but also boost their caste privileges. They become pathetic for their caste identities when they have lost the economic security, parallel to their caste hierarchy. Many times the modernity has been cursed for such destruction. They argue to maintain the economic security which ultimately gains them caste hierarchy. Their crisis is that they cannot uphold their economic status as per the caste hierarchy.…

Classism; unfair treatment due to one’s social or economic class. One is treated differently based on their social class; lower, upper, or higher class. The treatment of each class can be unfair, as society gives each class different amounts of respect. The discrimination one feels due to their class can stop their progress in various ways, which all in all prevents them from realizIng their full ability. The lower class is often discriminated as they are looked down at and others feel superior…

How far would you go in order to survive? In times of desperation and need people will do things that can be looked at as unacceptable by society in order to survive. In the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo explores the life of the people in Annawadi and shows us the very defined line between the rich and the poor in this community in India. Annawadi is a “Slum” in India made up of lower class people who live in shacks that sell trash as their main source of income. Boo shows us…