[Reader-list] Whipping up ‘critical pedagogy’: Uncritical defense of NCERT’s violence

[Sudeep Ben]

Thanks Jenny.
I was clear that what to have in our textbooks is not a question of
"freedom of expression". Many of my friends had shared articles for and
against, there were arguments that this issue is 'de-meaning' the dalit
movement itself, and I wanted to respond. But I did not find any
article/comment really worth sharing till now. Now I know that I was
waiting for this one and the below long article by Anoop Kumar.

"Despite all my hero worshipping of Babasaheb Ambedkar I would still have
lived with this cartoon in the NCERT textbook and would have just taken it
as yet another instance of ignorance and insensitivity of caste-hindu
scholars towards Dalit realities. However what has prompted me to write
this article and the need to share my views is due to all that is being
written on the internet, in newspapers and magazines and said on TV, after
this controversy erupted in the Indian Parliament on 14th May.."

"..In Indian society, students of class XI standard, with very rare
exceptions, have a fairly developed sense of caste consciousness. They are
aware about caste hierarchies. They are aware about the rules of
untouchability. They are aware about most of the local surnames and where
to place them in corresponding caste groups. They are also aware about
their own identities and their position in the caste hierarchy.."

<http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5130%3Ainside-the-mind-of-one-fanatic-dalit-a-cartoon-controversy-i-&catid=119%3Afeature&Itemid=132>
*The cartoon controversy: Inside the mind of one 'fanatic' Dalit -
I<http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5130%3Ainside-the-mind-of-one-fanatic-dalit-a-cartoon-controversy-i-&catid=119%3Afeature&Itemid=132>
*


  -sudeep

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 1:47 AM, jenny rowena <jenny.chithra at gmail.com>wrote:

> http://www.dalitweb.org/?p=612
>
> The cartoon debate has produced one single clarification: anti-caste
> assertions are completely antagonistic to the present day upper caste
> academics and feminists’ grasp of reality.
>
> Dalitbahujan politics is committed to carrying forward Ambedkar’s vision of
> transformation of an unequal society into an equal, just and peaceful one.
> And protesting against mindless and mindful violence either symbolically or
> in reality is and always has been central to our struggle.
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