Navigating Aspirations: The Known Present, Expected and Imagined Futures of Young Dalit Girls in Rural India

• In Event: Trailblazers With Aspirations and Grit: Studies of Adolescent Girls

Abstract

In this article, we argue that young Dalit girls’ aspirations should be understood in relation to the social structures of caste and gender. We build on this scholarship from the longitudinal in-depth interviews of seven girls (grade 6-8) and their parents about girls’ educational aspirations. Drawing from girls’ experiences of formal schooling, constraints in the community, and ideas about their future, we argue educational aspirations are temporally embedded. Moreover, we illustrate how educational aspirations are used to negotiate with and navigate within the social structures. To explain this navigation, we provide a novel conceptualization of aspirations using the concepts of known present (familiarity and constraints), expected future (normative framework of aspirations), and imagined future (a futurity based on self).

Authors

• Sheetal Digari, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Joan G. Dejaeghere, University of Minnesota