Yesterday one of the speakers at the Vimukt Diwas conference mentioned how some Banjara (or DNT?) youth borrowed money to go to Ayodhya for the Ram mandir inauguration, while the families did not have enough money for two square meals or to continue their education. What makes people make these decisions?
There was a discussion on false consciousness and how this keeps DNT in the cycle of poverty and exploitation. The point of the conversation was that people are misled by dominant ideologies into acting against their own interests. However, instead of asking why do people act against their interests? I would like to think what kinds of recognition are made available to them, and at what cost?
I have been thinking about this for the past few years with reference to the conversations in the Anandshala project. Two conversations stand out:
When interviewing Banjara students about their language use, one student said, it is obvious that nobody would like to learn his language, it is filthy. There are swear words. Marathi is much cleaner. The remark was delivered in a matter of-fact way.
A few months back waiting for the inauguration ceremony of Anandshala container school in a vadar vasti, I was chatting with the parents and grandparents of the children. One grandma mentioned that she just dropped her grandson in a residential school. Among the two, one was very boisterous and unruly. She was worried about वाईट संगत if he stayed home. The other one was quieter, brighter. अगदी बामनावाणी बोलतो. The teacher at the residential school promised that he will straighten the boisterous one after a year, after he gives him time to settle down.
These are not isolated anecdotes. The pressure on marginalised communities to demonstrate worthiness by aligning themselves with dominant norms of speech, behaviour, belief, and discipline are evident in everyday moments as well as institutional processes. Hegemony works not through force alone, but through consent: through everyday practices of aspiration and common sense.
These three instances are examples of investments in symbolic capital. Attempts to convert marginality into recognition, however fragile that recognition may be. The problem is not that people want to pass. It is that passing has been made a prerequisite for dignity.
devayani tirthali 