Sanitation and the Caste System in India. A tribute to B.R Ambedkar

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47456/geo.v2i35.39235

Keywords:

India, caste, sanitation

Abstract

It is a particular fact of Indian society to manually clean latrines and septic tanks. Its practitioners, known as manual scavengers, mostly belong to the most vulnerable caste in society, the Dalits. The article seeks to relate the relevance of the legacy of anti-caste struggles fostered by B.R Ambedkar, relating the caste system to basic sanitation practices in the country. Ambedkar held a heated debate with Gandhi on the subject, and both presented different solutions to the question. In the 2000s, combating open defecation practices became a central part of social programs in the country. In 2014, the federal government launched the Clean India Mission, a social program aimed at universalizing access to toilets in the country. In this context, the article will move on to an analysis of the relationship between the caste system and current sanitary practices.

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Author Biography

Mariana Faiad Batista Alves, Universidade Federal de São Carlos

Antropóloga, formada pelo pelo Goldsmiths College, Universidade de Londres, com mestrado e doutorado em Sociologia pela Unicamp. Suas pesquisas tiveram como campo o sul da Ásia de forma geral, e a Índia em particular: no mestrado, pesquisou a relação entre o sistema de castas e a indústria de Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação na Índia, e no doutorado pesquisou atos de violência coletiva entre comunidades religiosas e de castas, também na Índia. Em pesquisa de pós-doutoramento, no CCHB da Universidade Federal de São Carlos, campus Sorocaba, pesquisa participação social, gestão hídrica e a questão sanitária na Índia, com foco nas bacias dos rios Ganges e Indus. Foi pesquisadora visitante no Institute for Social and Ecomonic Change (ISEC), na cidade de Bangalore, Índia, e no Center for Postcolonial Studies da Universidade de Londres. É sócia-fundadora da BrIndARC- Brasil Índia Associação de Redes de Conhecimento, onde atualmete é vice-presidente. É professora Visitante do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos da Condição Humana, na Universidade Federal de São Carlos, campus Sorocaba.

References

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Published

01-12-2022

How to Cite

MARIANA FAIAD BATISTA ALVES. Sanitation and the Caste System in India. A tribute to B.R Ambedkar. Geografares, Vitória, Brasil, v. 2, n. 35, p. 31–60, 2022. DOI: 10.47456/geo.v2i35.39235. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufes.br/geografares/article/view/39235. Acesso em: 4 jul. 2024.

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 35 (2022): Geografares (Julho-dezembro)

Section

Dossier Urban Territories and Strategies of Neoliberalism

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