Thread by @saaf_oxforduni

We begin with our 3 panel of the day, Whose Culture is it?: Decoding Caste within 'Popular' Culture. Moderated by @rumlolarum with @beemji, @KotwalMeena, @nrithyapillai, and @sakie339
Watch us at facebook.com/southasianalte…

@rumlolarum all the panelists have one thing in common, that they are always invited to speak on the 'caste factor' and not as artists, doctors, journalists. #CasteCensus #CountingCaste

@KotwalMeena is the founder of @The_Mooknayak and has faced a lot of hate and violence online for her work.

@KotwalMeena Today is being celebrated as saraswati puja, but I would like to ask who started the first school for women, for the oppressed? What is pop culture? It wasn't until the works of @beemji I saw our beauty on screen. Films on caste are almost always about atrocities.

Caste is not about Dalits. It is about the power that Brahmins have, the atrocities they cause. Dalits are not the cause of caste, we are victims of caste. @KotwalMeena

The protagonists in films are always about uppercaste characters. Are we invisible? Do we not exist? Tiktok gave a small glimpse into our reality. But now instagram has replaced it with jokes about reservation and have caste slurs. @KotwalMeena

These are the same people who make saraswati the goddess of knowledge, prevent us from accessing education and erase our histories. Our aim should be to eliminate this culture and to celebrate our comminities @KotwalMeena

My appeal to our communities is to take our women out of our homes and give them opportunities because they face the most amount of oppression from brahminical patriarchy. @KotwalMeena

@rumlolarum talks about how the stories told by @beemji gives her strength everyday, about the struggles of Dalit artists to be known as artists and not just as caste factors.

@beemji I can't live like a normal person, I have to struggle for each and everything. But the same privileges that an upper caste person got is not available for me. And my life is all about this acceptance.

@beemji- the entire process of struggle is a bit funny, because in a system of oppression while my art form is my own and is different, I still have to learn this language of the oppressor. This is what Ambedkar says as well in his one of his books.

Taking power is important, building a counter culture is important. People are struggling to build this counter culture, and the person building this culture has to be perfect. Even a small flaw will make my art rejectable. I have to work to make my art acceptable by all @beemji

So many Dalit students are studying in many big universities, but even there other students are criticising us that we are not the best, that we got through quota. @beemji

But as Ambedkar said, we are outcastes and we do not have to rise up to standards of those who are in the caste system, they have to rise up to our level. @beemji #CountingCaste #CasteCensus

Next up is @nrithyapillai who as @rumlolarum said is someone everyone is rooting for because of the amazing work she is doing!

@nrithyapillai We did not talk about our history in our home because of how much trauma the word 'devadasi' brings to our women. That is why I use the term 'hereditary dancer' which I hope can help us speak more about stories.

When I go to a place I take my grandmother's words 'to not be angry' with me. Even though when I go to panels all the people on stage are upper caste persons, even though the topic might have been about caste.

No one is talking about caste in bharatnatyam even though everything on these spaces are run by caste networks. I am tokenised as the hereditary dancer who accepts her identity and hence can be a token speaker.

Now I am branded as the bad representative of my community because of what I say, because I take my politics with me wherever I go. @nrithyapillai
#CasteCensus #CountingCaste

Up next is @sakie339 who speaks about health and nutrition as a public health doctor. #CasteCensus #CountingCaste

@sakie339 Society gives a very high social location to make upper caste doctors, treating them like gods. And then there are on the opposite end of the spectrum are the workers who are actually the frontline workers and are cleaning, doing caretaking duties.

Most of them are Dalit Bahujan and face multiple levels of threat because of their caste and gender, though this is often invisible. They were at the forefront of Covid related work but are rarely spoken about.

@sakie339 Upper caste doctors will access affirmative actions abroad but will be furious when asked about reservations in India. Still somehow paying for your medical seat is not considered un-meritorious. #CasteCensus #CountingCaste

Dalit and Adivasi populations have high rates of under nutrition. One end of the spectrum there is research that says meat is required for good health. And on the other end these communities will consume good quality nutrition even within their limited resources. @sakie339

In the middle is a group that is responsible for the malnutrition rates in our country because they come in without any basis in science. These are teachers, policy makers, media, pushing propaganda against this science based knowledge. @sakie339

They will talk about what their grandparents said, that vegetarianism is better for India, which is not based on any truth. We need #CasteCensus to counter these narratives. @sakie339

State after state is banning beef and this is displacing the nutrition and livelihoods of thousands of communities that are dependent on beef and related industries. Who is pushing for these policies, what is their caste? @sakie339

Organisations like Akshay Patra and Iskcon are given contracts to give midday meals. These are openly casteist organisations who are removing eggs form the menu, which is an extremely important food item for children. @sakie339

Food is an essential part of our culture, it is a part of our heritage. People should reclaim the pride in their food culture. The children who are given Akshay Patra food are also shamed for their food choices back home. @sakie339

The vegetarianism being forced on Dalit and Adivasi children is cheap vegetarianism. It is just diversity in cereals not like the rich vegetarian food upper caste children get in the form of paneer, ghee, etc. It is just different coloured rice everyday! @sakie339

@KotwalMeena Most of us are not in big media houses, even I faced discrimination in BBC India and eventually wrote about it. But as a fallout BBC had to take a workshop on sensitisation and gave said they will hire Dalit and Adivasi journalists.

I would say to young journalists to 'snatch' the mic, because even if it is difficult right now, you will make it easier for future generations to occupy these spaces. @KotwalMeena

We are used to struggling and resisting, we are Babasaheb's children and we don't need passed mics. We started @The_Mooknayak and it is we who have to hold the mirror up to savarna people so that they can start seeing their reality, themselves and be ashamed of it @KotwalMeena

@beemji I don't have the privilege of just doing my art. These are stories that are not supposed to be told,that are unheard of. It is my responsibility to take these stories out and I take my stories from my surroundings.

@nrithyapillai Bharatnatyam is seen by most as an elite caste practice and by NRIs as 'brown' culture. But whose culture is it? In my case if we do a little bit of digging, I am at the intersection of many hereditary arts.

The hereditary practices were outlawed to 'save' the women from these art forms and rescued by upper caste women who then imposed their 'pure' version on disenfranchised women who lost their livelihoods. @nrithyapillai

I'm often asked if I want reservation in dance too, this is something thrown at me even though I am from the community that practiced this dance form. Representation is not enough, it can be tokenism. My practice is for an alternate Bharatnatyam. @nrithyapillai

Bharatnatyam is a huge site of oppressive practices and more activists need to engage with issues of casteism within this space. We need more safe spaces like this to share our experiences. @nrithyapillai

@rumlolarum reminds us that along with being a public health doctor, @sakie339 is also an artist. Here is a panel made by her about a phenomenon we are all too familiar with

https://twitter.com/saaf_oxforduni/status/1490014481597927429