Beggars or Enlightened Budhas

Beggars or Enlightened Buddhas

Gopal Guru discusses the issue of social sciences in India. Though he is talking about intellectual arena it focuses on the marginalised category 'Dalits and tribals' and how they are neglected in the realm of theory which is monopolised by TTB.

He points out that mere reservation in the field of employment or education is not enough to uplift them.Because opportunities without sufficient conditions to develop intellectual capacity to reflect is senseless .

Gopal Guru points out that freedom which denotes detachment from daily life is a necessary condition to attain the highest in theoretical realm. But when life become a struggle for survival the possibility of developing any reflexivity turns to be a dream.These ideas are fascinating, but when we read further he contradicts his own ideas and statements.

According to him Theoretical realm is eternal and the empirical temporal. But this categorization itself is absurd. There is no need to posit one mode of study as superior to other. He unconsciously support the Brahminical discourse by categorising all 'efforts' of Dalits as Empirical.

The same thing happens when he says that theory is more capable to draw the complex reality of life than poetry. If theoretical realm is the monopoly of TTB what kind of 'reality' it can portray.

The Ghettoisation of Dalits into inferiorised manual spheres and restriction of entry in

well renowned educational institutions and denial of important scholarships etc. weaken the participation of Dalits in intellectual discourses. At the same time getting foreign education is the solution he prescribes for solving this issue.

Finally he says that Dalits should test the validity of their theoretical formulations on the basis of its influence in the popular mentality. Even if they are able to formulate theories after 'walking out' and 'walking in' it raises a basic question that how can the mass whose perspectives are formed out of the experience judge the validity of theoretical formulations. The essay is full of paradoxes. Still it makes an awareness that designed empowerment create beggars not enlightened Buddhas.

It is also important that whether we can devide knowledge like a pieces of cake and reserve some for Dalits and some for non Dalits. If we do this designed empowerment it further permeates Brahminical supremacy. It is like throwing coins to the empty pot carried by Dalits from time immemorial.

If we consider the term Dalit Neo Budhist find it as humiliating. Epistemological opposition to Brahminism came from Jain and Buddhist school.The Dalit panthers and their major ideologue Baburao Bagul offer a radically different definition of the Dalit identity and category. They view it as revolutionary category for its hermeneutic ability to recover the revolutionary meaning of the historical past of the Dalit and its great capacity to reach out to larger section of people. It is not mere language construction rather based on a materialist epistemology. So Dalit identity is not a creation of language or theory. It is based on materialist epistemology. If the foundation is built on materialist epistemology why we are so pertinent on formation of theoretical formulations which we believe to rescue themselves from the existing 'regime of truth'.

“Where there is power, there is resistance.” (Foucault)and Gopal Guru may be pointing out the passivity from the part of suppressed. He is concerned with the existing “regime of truth” and its dissection for the purpose of upliftment of Dalits. I think Dalit here is not a singular identity .

“but a subjectivity which one consciously chooses by rejecting caste. In Derridean terms, it is an expression of denial”.

Essay

In this essay Gopal Guru raises a question “How far egalitarian Social Sciences in India are? Or Whether an egalitarian principle exist at all?

In India Social Sciences are divided into two. Inferiorised empirical social sciences and the privileged abstract Social Sciences. Former one belong to the mass of academics who pursue empirical Social Sciences and the latter belong to the theoretical bundits and they are intellectually superior to the former. Theoretical Brahmins and Empirical Shudras – Gopal Guru uses two terms in order to describe the existing shadow of logo centrism which exist in the field of Social Sciences.

Egalitarian principle not only provides capacity to question the exclusionary nature of social sciences practices in country. It suggest alternative modes of reorganizing boundaries of social science to make them more inclusive.

Egalitarian Principle first of all induce a moral responsibility in practitioners of social sciences and force himself or herself to justify his chosen ways .

It questions all kind of arbitrariness that exist in intellectual discourses.

To question the epistemological imperialism that empowers non dalits' transgression of dalits intellectual universe.

Egaliterianpriciple will not approve rigid ground rules or procedures or protocols which are restrictive in nature and this gives a hope to those cultural groups whose entry in intellectual field has been historically prohibited by social forces. Like Derridian deconstruction it may question the logical contradiction and silenced elements that exist in intellectual practices. It may question the politics of categorisation and construction of boundaries to intellectual practice in arbitrary manner.

Egalitarian principle undermine Dominant epistemological practices which deny or denigrate epistemic status to certain concepts and categories that do not fall in line with the intellectual discourse. Cultural hierarchy is created for hegemonic purpose. This ultimately lead to portrayal of those people as epistemologically dumb or shape their theoretical ambition according to the dominant methodological modes. Intellectual fanaticism was never questioned instead scholars lamented on the falling standards of social science practice.

The apex body who decides what is theory and what is trash is nothing but a slave of west and lack authenticity .The 'bridgehead methodology' is deployed by the juries to silence the voices which questions this cultural hierarchy.

Gopal Guru points out that certain social conditions are necessary to shape the 'reflective abilities' of any individual or group. He gives a glimpse of historical growth of Dalits. The labour process creates the epistemological ability in an individual, but certainly not all of them. Progressively transforming labour process unfolds umpteen opportunities for reflective capacities and dalits who was never the part of this organic labour process failed to develop an intellectual capacity to reflect.Occupations which have any possibility of innovation and imagination were neglected to Dalits.

Ghettoisation into inferiorised manual spheres resulted in loss of confidence which is inevitable for developing theoretical potential in the social sciences. Before independence both context and conditions were denied to Dalits and in post independence era opportunities in diverse spheres were given but Conditions to develop reflexivity was still beyond their reach.

If life turns to be a struggle for survival, the possibility of developing any reflexivity becomes a dream. According to Gopal Guru such 'freedom' is necessary to develop intellectual faculty . The freedom he talks about denotes detachment from tiring dull drab day day to day life.

Material security like scholarship is not enough to uplift Dalits. First because they are so meagre and second they do not guarantee the jobs that are crucial for any reflexivity. A congenial cultural context is however denied. Hierarchical past itself sanctioned epistemological closure to Dalits. Manu, Pv Kane and Louis Dumont are major figures who conformed this necessity of epistemological closure. TTB received modern education from imperialists and they even migrated to western countries despite of religious restrictions.All kinds of fellowships were showered on them and after independence they even received attention and appreciation from rulers. Intellectual monopoly of TTB will continue in well known educational institutions and Gopal Guru predicts that it may take ages for the dalits entry in these institutions. They are latecomers to such opportunities and excluded from all kinds of benefits.

In this situation Dalits will rely on UGC ICSSR and the number of Dalit beneficiaries of national and international fellowship programmes offered by these bodies is desperately low. The pot of TTB on seminars and magazines and government offices are overflowing . The language turned to be a weapon to restrict Dalits entry in academic circles which was based on Anglo American syntax. Language became a tool to camouflage TTB' s attempt to crush the intellectual confidence of the Dalits.

Language code , protocols and body language ensnares the Dalits and humiliation from these hostile environment adds more difficulty. High priests of theory shamelessly build their theoretical promises on data collected by Dalits.

Gopal Guru gives a spiritual aura to the realm of Theory. According to him theory demands moral stamina . Like Thomas Beckett, one has to resist the temptation from temporal gains in order to attain highest gaol of spirituality. One should be ready to overcome the sense of anxiety which sprouts from the desire to get immediate recognition. Temporal power needs only oratory skill and content is less of significance. While theory requires careful arrangement of content, discipline, patience and endurance. When Dalits are vulnerable to attraction of temporal power, theoretical concerns disappears from their cognitive map. The logic of the temporal dominates the academic agenda of Dalits and they prefer soft courses rather than tough coursers like philosophy and theory. This professionalisation of their interest creates a kind of casual attitude towards doing theory.

They compensate for theoretic deficiency by brilliant poetry. But poetry is never a substitute for theory because Dalits poetry is based on aesthetic and metaphors and though they are byproduct of rich experience they belong to the 'particular'.

“Poetry has no conceptual capacity to universalise the particular and particularise the universal”. Poetry gave connections through metaphors but not through concepts.

Theory can illuminate meaning embedded in complex reality.

Dalits are interested in empirical research for

They think that their lived experience is rich enough and even without theoretical representation it can stand on its own authentic terms.

Since they have privileged access to reality they can capture it with a full view without any theoretical representation.

So they believe that though they do not generate any theory their research can always contain some valuable theoretical insights, their experience alone can illuminate aspects of human relations.

To defend Empiricsm some of the Dalits offend theory.Doing theory makes a person intellectually arrogant egoistic and socially alienated.

It is necessary to move from empirical to theoretical

1.To confront the reverse orientalism.

2. They should become the 'subject' of their own thinking rather than becoming the 'object' of somebody else's thinking.

Studies on Dalits and tribals treat them as 'amusing object' and reproduces the reverse orientalism. The TTB claims that they by intervening Dalits situation at the theoretical level ,they restore voices and visibility to Dalits and advance the Dalits epistemological cause .But this in a very subtle way carries an element of charity and culminates in creating a patron client relationship. The patron ironically reproduce the brahminical mechanism. This designed empowerment makes them beggars instead of enlightened bud has. As a result patron does not find a need to exit from the epistemological fields that belong to Dalits. Patrons prompts the dumb to throw up more details in order to form grand formulations in a liberal mode or its post modernist deconstruction which ultimately pushes them into frozen essentialist trap.

When Dallits experience is narrated by a non Dalits epistemical violence happens. So it would be better if Dalits narrate their experience on thier own.

If Dalits wish to realise doing theory as an inner moral necessity they have to use their sense of freedom to walk out from Dalits experience for achieving theoretical heights in their reflections. At the same time they after developing their reflective capacity should make moral choice to walk back into Dalit's experience in order to accord their depth of reflections. Dalits theory comes as a double commitment both to scholarship and for social cause.Dalits should test the validity of their theoretical formulations on the basis of its influence in the popular mentality.