Making Waves From the Margins: Agency of Students Marginalized by Caste in India

• In Event: Refusal, Resistance, and Agency: Toward More Expansive Visions of Being and Becoming

Abstract

This paper details how Dalit students challenge oppressive narratives and exercise agency in Indian higher education. Our analysis highlights how 3 Dalit students (re)presented themselves using ideational, material, and social resources to critique and drive policy changes in their institutions. Data sources include interviews and focus group discussions with Dalit students from different universities and colleges. Our critical sociocultural lens helped make visible how students used “transformative agency” to name institutional limitations placed on them and organize initiatives to dismantle caste hierarchy. This research adds a layer in understanding caste and its multi-tiered realities for students from marginalized caste, who sometimes choose to disengage with people perpetuating inequality and at others organize half-naked protests to challenge socioeconomic inequities on campuses.

Authors

• Ishita Pradhan, University of Colorado Boulder

• Susan Jurow, University of Colorado - Boulder