Topics of the New Dalit Critique

Wakankar’s article assesses the recent book by Gopal Guru and Sundar Sarukkai, The Cracked Mirror. The authors, Wakankar contends, supply concepts by which Dalits, formerly known as the “untouchable” caste, can choose to live. Anger, humiliation, snobbery—such concepts make up what might be called a mnemo-technics, concepts that can be used as rules of thumb for the conduct of Dalit life in the modern. The authors of this seminal volume argue that, despite their origin in the millennial experience of Dalits alone, these concepts are to be pressed into service for a renewal of our social life in general. The book testifies to the important role that the Dalit critique has played—and continues to play—in the renewal of the idea of research.