“God Can Only Provide Us Respect”: Sachchai Women’s Struggle Against Caste and Gender Humiliations
- Amar BKDetails
2 April 2023/१९ चैत्त २०७९ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Research Seminar Series
“God Can Only Provide Us Respect”: Sachchai Women’s Struggle Against Caste and Gender Humiliations
Amar BK, PhD
Anthropologist/Senior Research Fellow, Samata Foundation
Abstract:
Respect/honor comprises significant aspects of women’s and Dalits’ everyday lives, politics, and movements in South Asia, as both women and Dalits suffer from patriarchal and caste humiliations respectively. In this talk, I examine the importance of respect—both as an idea and a practice—for women, especially Dalit women, of a charismatic healing group called Sachchai—a group that emerged in the Pokhara region more than a decade ago aiming to address women’s suffering, illnesses, and other every-day difficulties. The idea of respect becomes central to addressing the suffering and illnesses of the women of the Sachchai group. Respect is what many women consider to be an important achievement or testimony of their participation in the healing group. Why do these women give importance to respect and dignity? What does it indicate about the pervasive condition of Dalit women and their desire to respect and dignity? Focusing on these questions, I discuss how women’s experiences of humiliation and disrespect and their desire for dignity can be understood in terms of a politics of gendered empowerment. This talk is largely based on a chapter of my PhD dissertation.
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