Des Intouchables aux Dalit : les errements d’un mouvement d’émancipation dans l’Inde contemporaine

by Djallal G. Heuzé

In India, the term Dalit is claimed by those who were earlier called untouchables. They have created a movement of emancipation that reveals worrying tensions on its margins. The campaign of a journal that, in 1981, took on the title of Dalit Voice, bears testimony to this fact. Agitating against the caste system and for statutory equality, this journal, which is influential among the small elite originating from the lower castes, constitutes a remarkable example of the drift in the discourse of the oppressed towards a hatred of the Other and a fantasy of domination. By shedding light on this littleknown face of contemporary India, this book makes a fundamental contribution to the understanding of the communal question in the subcontinent.