Dalit Studies: Key Terms and Concepts

Editors: Dr Mahitosh Mandal & Dr Sanjeev Kondekar

Dalit Studies: Key Terms & Concepts is the tentative title of a proposed co-edited volume that would exhaustively explore all the major terms and concepts that every beginner as well as a researcher associated with the field of Dalit Studies (/anticaste discourse/ critical caste studies etc.) ought to be compulsorily acquainted with. The book is intended to be structurally modelled on similar works in other fields, such as The Post-colonial Studies: The Key Concepts edited by Ashcroft, Griffith and Tiffin and An Introductory Dictionary of Lacanian Psychoanalysis by Dylan Evans. The proposed volume, however, is meant to be based on contributions from diverse scholars working /specialising in the field of Dalit Studies.

The list of concepts for consideration includes but is not limited to the following (please feel free to add other concepts, if relevant).

Tentative Alphabetical List of TERMS AND CONCEPTS

1. Adivasi
2. Adivasi literature
3. Ambedkarism
4. Annihilation of caste
5. Anticaste organizations
6. Anticaste leaders
7. Anticaste publishing houses
8. Anticasteism
9. Bahujan
10. Bahujan literature
11. Brahminism
12. Caste
13. Caste atrocities – range and statistics
14. Caste and colonialism
15. Caste and mental health
16. Caste and race
17. Casteism
18. Critical caste studies
19. Dalit
20. Dalit activism
21. Dalit aesthetics
22. Dalit Buddhism
23. Dalit cinema
24. Dalit Christians
25. Dalit feminism
26. Dalit historiography
27. Dalit intellectual tradition
28. Dalit literature
29. Dalit media
30. Dalit Panthers
31. Dalit phobia
32. Dalit politics (political parties & students’ associations)
33. Dalit Studies
34. Dalitization
35. Debrahminization
36. Diasporic casteism
37. Educate, Agitate, Organize
38. Graded inequality
39. Jai Bhim
40. Jati
41. Kshatriyaization
42. Literature of Brahmanism
43. Lived experience
44. Mahad Satyagraha
45. Manuvad
46. Mulnibasi
47. Muslim converts of India
48. National SC ST Commission
49. Outcaste
50. Persistence of Caste
51. Periyarism
52. Phuleism
53. Policies against caste atrocities (EU, USA and UK)
54. Poona Pact
55. Prevention of Atrocity Act
56. Queering caste
57. Reservation
58. Satyashodhak Samaj
59. Scheduled Castes
60. Self-respect Movement
61. Separate Electorate
62. Sub-caste
63. Untouchability
64. Varna

The specific features of each entry in the proposed volume on Dalit Studies are intended to be as follows:

1. Each entry is meant to be an original, comprehensively researched, critical essay-type article.
2. Approximate (negotiable) length of each entry: 2500 words (excluding the Works Cited section)
3. Some of the common aspects of each entry would include a discussion of the etymology, conceptual history and genealogy of the term; relevant literary, cultural and socio-political examples and references demonstrating the concept; debates surrounding terminology; comparative terminological analysis; the future of the concept; and a section on key readings on each entry meant for the readers who intend to explore the concept further.
4. Each entry will have to be analytical and argumentative, as and where required and possible, and not merely descriptive.
5. Each entry needs to be properly cited and include in-text citations as well as a Works Cited section, as per MLA 8 style-sheet.

At the preliminary level, interested scholars are invited to email the following details as a SINGLE Microsoft Word attachment to dalitstudies2023@gmail.com.

1. A Cover Letter: The scholar should clearly mention, in the cover letter, the term(s)/ concept(s) s/he would like to write an essay(s) on. The cover letter should also highlight why the scholar thinks s/he has the required expertise to write a critical essay on the relevant term(s). Please note that, depending on the situation, the selected scholars might have to write essays on terms that are related to but other than the terms they may originally have proposed.
2. A Short CV: Scholars who have published articles related to the field of Dalit Studies should email a copy of the articles, if available. In the CV, among other things, please mention your current designation and if you have a PhD.
3. We do NOT require any drafts at the initial stage. Please see the deadlines as follows.

Tentative deadlines:

1. Last, revised, date for the submission of Cover Letter & CV: 14 April 2023
2. Communication regarding the selection of scholars alongside specifying the terms they are required to write essays on: by 30 April 2023
3. Last date for the submission of first drafts: 30 June 2023
4. Feedback on the first drafts to be conveyed to the contributors: by 31 August 2023
5. Last date of submission of revised drafts: 30 September 2023
6. All drafts to be finalised: by 30 November 2023
7. Volume to be submitted to the publisher: by 31 December 2023

Note:

1. Preparation and publication of an edited anthology can take at least one and a half years. The most suitable publisher will be sought for the publication of the book. Although the wait time is destined to be long, the wait should be worth it.
2. NO publication fees are required from the contributors.
3. We have a couple of reputed international publishers in mind. However, if interested, any publisher may contact the editors at the above-mentioned email id.

About the Editors:

Dr Mahitosh Mandal (www.mahitoshmandal.com) is an Assistant Professor of English at Presidency University, West Bengal, India. He specialises in Dalit Studies, Psychoanalytic Studies, and Holocaust Studies.  He is the author of Jacques Lacan: From Clinic to Culture (Orient BlackSwan, 2018) and co-editor of Holocaust vs. Popular Culture: Interrogating Incompatablity and Universalization (Routledge, 2023). His latest journal publications include “From the Social to the Clinical: Towards a Psychopathology of Everyday Casteism” (Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 2022); “Overcoming the Sokal Complex: Lacan, Psychoanalysis, and the Limits of Understanding” (Lacunae: APPI International Journal for Lacanian Psychoanalysis, 2022); and “Dalit Resistance during the Bengal Renaissance: Five Anti-Caste Thinkers from Colonial Bengal, India” (Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion, 2022). 

Dr Sanjeev Kondekar is an Assistant Professor of English at Nutan Adarsh College, under RTM Nagpur University, Maharashtra, India. He specialises in Tukaram Studies. He is the author of History of Tukaram Studies: A Critical Survey (Lokayat Prakashan, 2022). His recent journal publications include “The Journey of Mohandas into Mahatma: An Interface of Gandhi with Tukaram” (Rock Pebbles, 2020) and “The Making of a Revolutionary Saint-Poet: Rereading the Struggles of Tukaram” (Dialog, 2020).