Deconstructing Untouchability: Rethinking Caste and Marginality in Contemporary TheoryPartha Sarathi Mondal

Deconstructing Untouchability: Rethinking Caste and Marginality in Contemporary Theory
Partha Sarathi Mondal

Abstract

Untouchability continues to be a pervasive phenomenon that plagues millions of Dalits in India, and its continuity is supported by the castebased hierarchies and its mechanisms of exclusion. Far from being a remnant of history, untouchability still lingers in the quotidian life of Dalits causing both material and psychological harm to them. This article examines Sundar Sarukkai’s and Gopal Guru’s theoretical perspectives to re-evaluate the theorization of untouchability. The article deconstructs their theoretical perspectives to redefine the theorization of untouchability. It interrogates how Sarukkai’s phenomenological deconstruction and Guru’s sociological analysis explain the lived experiences of untouchability and how a new set of ideas can be derived out of the interaction between these two modes of analysis. By placing untouchability in both sociological and philosophical investigations, this article aims to argue untouchability as a site for structural marginalization, requiring interdisciplinary analysis and triggering political change.