Cynthia Stephen One of the queries raised by a senior retired government official from the Dalit community, who continues to engage with community issues well into his retirement, asked this question in the wake of the Rohith Vemula incident: “Should Dalit energy be wasted for causes like protesting against execution of Memon, favouring beef …
Popular mythologies and their implications for violence against women
Violence against women in India – A review of the popular mythologies and their implications for VAW Cynthia Stephen India’s reputation as a destination for spiritual seekers seems to have faded in recent years. Reputed worldwide to the be the land of the oldest living civilisation, with a rich culture, living tradition, and a …
Don’t cry for me
Cynthia Stephen (Cynthia shares her reflections on the recent debate over violence against women through a poem and a short note) Don’t cry for me. Don’t cry for me. Don’t cry for me. Anonymous I may be to you, but I have a name, a self. I too get thirsty But when I go …
Unpacking ‘Fulminations’: Caste and Patriarchy
Continued from here. Anu Ramdas Hira Bansode in her poem Ghulam (‘Slave’) writes: Where a woman in her youth is dried up by tradition she is confined all her life like a stunted tree she remains in the shadow of someone else’s light In that country a woman is still a slave ~~~ ‘We …
Reconstructing Silenced Histories
Cynthia Stephen (Book Review) [Debrahmanising History : Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society By Braj Ranjan Mani, Manohar, New Delhi, 2005, pp.456, Rs 895 (Hb), Rs 395 (Pb), ISBN 81-7304-640-9 (Hb) ISBN 81-7304-648-4 (Pb)] In recent years, Indian Historiography has had its share of controversies. The ‘saffron’ rewriting of the history textbooks and the stoppage of the publication …
Of Laws, Cows and People’s Mutinies: Will the beef ban in BJP-ruled states fuel a new Mutiny?
Cynthia Stephen The Gau-Vansh Vadh Pratishedh (Sanshodhan) Vidheyak (Prohibition of slaughter of cow-progeny Bill) just passed in Madhya Pradesh empowers the government to prosecute any person found slaughtering a cow or even transporting the calf for the purpose of slaughter. Anyone found guilty of this act would face seven years of imprisonment and a …
Honamma’s murder
report translated by Cynthia Stephen On June 30th 2010, Karnataka woke up to hear the news of Honamma’s horrific murder, killed with stone slabs by an upper caste mob of men. A year since, there seems to be no substantial progress in this case. We hope more awareness about it might expand and strengthen the …