Milind X
There is a tiny essay authored by the French critical theorist Jacques Derrida, the title of which is, The Dangerous Supplement. Derrida proposed in the essay that words or signifiers do not lead to concrete things. Language is a slippery slope where words lead to more words, or more supplements, and the actual meaning of the term is always evasive, just beyond the grasp of our fingers. The term he came up with is a slight tweak on “difference”, and adds it with “defer”. He called it deferance– the act of deferring. Here, the idea being meaning was always being deferred to something else.
What I’m trying to get at is words have gravity and significance, and cultural context, too. So, the offensive N-word in the African American context can be highly problematic, if used by anyone other than African-Americans themselves. It has to do with the history of slavery and the evolution of language over the past three hundred years in America. Those from outside Europe and the Americas may have less knowledge about the etymology of the word, how it originated by slave owners, flourished and so on. Also, we have to remember that it has its roots in the English language. Would a Namibian or a Congolese person living in Africa have the same reaction to the N-word being misused? Probably, but my belief is it won’t have the same visceral reaction it evokes among African-Americans in other parts of the world. Similarly, in North India, the word “chamar” for Dalits is considered highly offensive if used by a Savarna. The reason being it’s a distortion of the original root word “chambhar”, which referred to the castes involved in skinning dead animals and tannery businesses. It could be a safe guess to assume it is a Hindi word. We can say with certainty that across cultures and languages, over different countries, we will find lots of terms like these that populate the human consciousness.
So, why do I think using terms like “upper” and “lower” caste is detrimental towards our goal to build a more equitable society? The justifications we most often hear by those who use it are two:
- For the purposes of clarity and a sort of easy-to-understand logic.
Sure, but it is abundantly clear above how serious a matter language is, would you leave it to mere convenience how we, as human beings, are perceived? Secondly, clarity for whom, exactly? For the Western audiences? Who till this day believe “Untouchable” means people who shouldn’t be messed with? (If you don’t believe me, look up the plot line of a popular Hollywood flick with the same title). I have other instances of this disregard too: look up the word “outcast”. It is a loan word from the colonial times, and now refers to exactly what it should mean, but used with little regard to Dalit history or culture. I actually had a South Indian professor in college who particularly liked the word. What I’m getting at here, is that cultures have to see to their dignity themselves, and the more power and prestige they are able to gain, the more they are able to get their will known to people, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as in the case of African-Americans.
- For the reason that it denotes hierarchy. Because, the caste system means “going up means an ascension in reverence and going down leads to increase in contempt”. But this argument was forwarded and given the stamp of authority, patented in “holy scriptures” by whom? Yes. You are right.
So, the time is now to take back the reins slowly in our own hands, as guardians of our own destiny. And if we must have a moniker, let’s choose it ourselves. Let the Brahmins and savarnas grunt with pleasure at the words of their own choosing. No, not “upper caste”. It’s “savarna”. Brimming with the idea of being a member of the varna system. Us? We are alright being excluded out of their vermillion-marked arbitrary system of purity and pollution. Let them clean their own lavatories and septic tanks. We will make do with the humble chalk and blackboard. If there are still some among us who believe Dalit as a marker is too passé, there are other options to choose from, take your pick: Avarna, Ambedkarite, Neo-Buddhist/Buddhist. Do invent a few too, if you are in the mood for it. But no longer the binary of “upper” and “lower” please. It just… lacks imagination.
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