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PG & Research Department of Political Science  
Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur

Invited Lecture  

Title: The Conundrum of Manual Scavenging: Exclusion, Legality, and Resistance of Dalits  

The PG & Research Department of Political Science, Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, is pleased to invite you to an engaging lecture that examines the practice of manual scavenging in India, its intersections with caste, legality, and urban space, and the ongoing resistance by Dalit communities against systemic oppression.  

Abstract 
This lecture serves as a vantage point to engage with the practice of manual scavenging in India and its intersection with caste, legality, and urban space. As a practice, scavenging is associated with the positionality of Dalits in the Hindu social order as ‘outcaste’ and the jobs deemed menial structurally inflicted upon them. The notion of purity and pollution in the Brahminical system of oppression, which marginalizes and ostracizes Dalits in the social structure, has been resisted by anti-caste movements.  
Against the backdrop of democratic assertion in India, an engagement with the practice of scavenging, in particular, and caste-based social exclusion, in general, allows us to study the divergences within Dalit communities and their varied grounds for social justice and constitutional rights. We have reached the crossroads where caste, class, gender, religion, ethnic aspirations, and migration determine the nature of contemporary Dalit identity. A critical examination of anti-caste movements and the emergence of new identities in Dalit society makes this discussion more probing and evokes new insights and dimensions of democratic participation and social inclusion in India.  

Speaker:
Mr. Anoop M.
Research Scholar, School of Social Science, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru  
(Research interests: Dalit and subaltern studies, social exclusion, and political thought)  

Date: 20th January 2024  
Time: 10:00 AM  
Venue: Room no. 60 (Physics Lecture Hall), Sree Kerala Varma College  

We look forward to your participation in this thought-provoking se