The recent merger between Islamic and Dalit political activists has, in turn, engendered a number of interesting movements and alliances in India, alliances that have, in effect, opened new fields of political and academic enquiry. Nowhere is this merger more pertinent than in the post-mortem of Indian democracy which, as critiqued by Dalit and Muslim intellectuals alike, presents hierarchies of different sorts—caste being the major one. Interestingly, looking at the trajectory of the topic of caste in Muslim society, one can see that it originated not solely from within the specific context of Indian politics, but partly from the various sorts of encounters that Muslim organizations in the country had with Black Muslim movements in the United States. Inspired by the politics of Black Muslims in the United States, the Ambedkarite Muslims have brought the issue of race to the fore, as a comparative frame for understanding the condition of Dalits and Muslims, mainly in South India. Race is otherwise a conceptual category that seldom constitutes any political enquiry in India in general and Kerala in particular. This chapter investigates the intersection of caste, class, and race, inspired by the translated works of Black Muslim intellectuals and its identification with the anti-caste movements of Dalits in India, taking cues from the experiences of Dalit-Muslim alliances in Kerala, South India.

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Reading Ambedkar via Malcom X. Reimaging Religion, Caste and Race in Kerala, South India

  • M. H. Ilias

摘要

The recent merger between Islamic and Dalit political activists has, in turn, engendered a number of interesting movements and alliances in India, alliances that have, in effect, opened new fields of political and academic enquiry. Nowhere is this merger more pertinent than in the post-mortem of Indian democracy which, as critiqued by Dalit and Muslim intellectuals alike, presents hierarchies of different sorts—caste being the major one. Interestingly, looking at the trajectory of the topic of caste in Muslim society, one can see that it originated not solely from within the specific context of Indian politics, but partly from the various sorts of encounters that Muslim organizations in the country had with Black Muslim movements in the United States. Inspired by the politics of Black Muslims in the United States, the Ambedkarite Muslims have brought the issue of race to the fore, as a comparative frame for understanding the condition of Dalits and Muslims, mainly in South India. Race is otherwise a conceptual category that seldom constitutes any political enquiry in India in general and Kerala in particular. This chapter investigates the intersection of caste, class, and race, inspired by the translated works of Black Muslim intellectuals and its identification with the anti-caste movements of Dalits in India, taking cues from the experiences of Dalit-Muslim alliances in Kerala, South India.