Tales of Fortitude

A persistent lament of sociology in our parts of the world has been that our works are often captive of western theories and categories. Women’s studies have had their own share of ‘captivity’. Cultural studies have often had more than theirs. Sharmila Rege’s Writing Caste/Writing Gender marks a refreshing and clear break with this captivity. She also breaks away from the more domestic ‘upper caste’ captivity of categories and concepts- a break she explicitly theorizes. The two breaks are essentially interlinked, a point I will return to later. At the same time, and this is important, Rege draws the best analytical skills from extant practices in sociology, women’s studies and cultural studies. The volume can be acclaimed for many other good reasons. And I could as well have begun from any other point. Critics can well contend that in a sense invoking the ‘us and west’ framework itself emerges from a ‘captive mind’. I do so because I believe that an international division of academic labour not only still persists but has also been acquiring more subtle and insidious forms in recent times.

Rege’s fine introductory essay on debating the consumption of Dalit ‘Autobiographies’ displays an informed engagement with such issues. She looks at some possible reasons for a spurt of interest in mainstream English publishing in dalit life narratives.