Comments on: On Caste and Patriarchy: An Interview with Ruth Manorama http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/ a site for Indian feminists Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:46:31 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Harish http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-1799 Harish Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:38:03 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-1799 Hi, Meena great going, I have interacted with you over email many years back. I can see you maturing as an individual and a scholar. I have a few questions for Ruth I can understand the necessity for a separate dalit women organization, but the ultimate goal is to convince other women to come around to your world view. Would that be possible by having a separate organization. Moreover the word dalit is a very loose term. There are women from non dalit groups who undergo all the sufferings that dalit women undergo and sometimes more. How are you helping them out. Think about it! While one should address specific problem, the ultimate goal should be dissolve caste based identity. Else what would you be doing? You would be able to motivate a section of population to rise, but the hatred that had grown between communities would continue to be inadequately addressed- A situation would come when dalits might end up leading the nation. Good for dalits. But there would be others who would be left out and reduced to the state of dalits . Then it would be the same situation all over again......... Bottomline- all humans come from the same african family and lets not forget that "even a feeling that my issue deserves more attention than others!" arises from ignorance and racism. Hi,

Meena great going, I have interacted with you over email many years back. I can see you maturing as an individual and a scholar.

I have a few questions for Ruth

I can understand the necessity for a separate dalit women organization, but the ultimate goal is to convince other women to come around to your world view. Would that be possible by having a separate organization.

Moreover the word dalit is a very loose term. There are women from non dalit groups who undergo all the sufferings that dalit women undergo and sometimes more.
How are you helping them out. Think about it!

While one should address specific problem, the ultimate goal should be dissolve caste based identity. Else what would you be doing?
You would be able to motivate a section of population to rise, but the hatred that had grown between communities would continue to be inadequately addressed- A situation would come when dalits might end up leading the nation. Good for dalits. But there would be others who would be left out and reduced to the state of dalits . Then it would be the same situation all over again………

Bottomline- all humans come from the same african family and lets not forget that “even a feeling that my issue deserves more attention than others!” arises from ignorance and racism.

]]> By: Dalit feminism and Black feminism « Problem Chylde: In Her Solitude http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-512 Dalit feminism and Black feminism « Problem Chylde: In Her Solitude Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:35:18 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-512 [...] June 16, 2008 Interview with Ruth Manorama [...] [...] June 16, 2008 Interview with Ruth Manorama [...]

]]> By: Dalit feminism and Black feminism « Lyra’s place http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-511 Dalit feminism and Black feminism « Lyra’s place Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:01:50 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-511 [...] June 16, 2008 Interview with Ruth Manorama [...] [...] June 16, 2008 Interview with Ruth Manorama [...]

]]> By: Ruth Manorama at Blogbharti http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-510 Ruth Manorama at Blogbharti Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:13:23 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-510 [...] Meena Kandaswamy interviews Ruth Manorama, who has ‘contributed enormously to breaking the upper-class, upper-caste image of the women’s movement in India’: “No, no, all women are the same. Women should not separate themselves.” This was the argument extended against me. And I would retort, “No, we are not separating anybody. We are only hailing from a society that has been a victim of segregation and separation.” Then I really began to feel that we, as Dalit women, should form a platform for ourselves, we should articulate our own concerns, our problems so that we can achieve equality. That is how the National Federation of Dalit Women was born in 1987. [...] [...] Meena Kandaswamy interviews Ruth Manorama, who has ‘contributed enormously to breaking the upper-class, upper-caste image of the women’s movement in India’: “No, no, all women are the same. Women should not separate themselves.” This was the argument extended against me. And I would retort, “No, we are not separating anybody. We are only hailing from a society that has been a victim of segregation and separation.” Then I really began to feel that we, as Dalit women, should form a platform for ourselves, we should articulate our own concerns, our problems so that we can achieve equality. That is how the National Federation of Dalit Women was born in 1987. [...]

]]> By: Me, a young feminist! « Meena Kandasamy http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-509 Me, a young feminist! « Meena Kandasamy Tue, 01 Jan 2008 17:40:19 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-509 [...] And my first post is an interview with Dalit feminist and activist Ruth Manorama, who recently won the Right Livelihood award. Read it here [...] [...] And my first post is an interview with Dalit feminist and activist Ruth Manorama, who recently won the Right Livelihood award. Read it here [...]

]]> By: sk http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-508 sk Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:38:27 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-508 hi really good read. I would like to follow up on apu and crazyfinger's comments and request the entire interview, mainly because I, like apu, did not know of her other work. If it is not possible to publish it here would you mind sending it as an email attachment to me kps80@hotmail.com, thanks hi

really good read. I would like to follow up on apu and crazyfinger’s comments and request the entire interview, mainly because I, like apu, did not know of her other work. If it is not possible to publish it here would you mind sending it as an email attachment to me kps80@hotmail.com, thanks

]]> By: apu http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-507 apu Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:55:11 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-507 Thank you for the clarification - I wasn't aware of the background in terms of the other work she does. Thank you for the clarification – I wasn’t aware of the background in terms of the other work she does.

]]> By: harini calamur http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-506 harini calamur Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:06:02 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-506 Hi a real pleasure to read this interview. discrimination against women in Indian society is codified in the Manusmriti. If you read it an "upper caste woman" is actually a 'woman born into an "upper caste family" - she has none of the privileges of the caste, all its punishments, and above all she is a woman with a set of extremely strident rules and regulations that govern her. Even today, she cannot perform a havan, do kanyadaan if she is a widow, perform last rites, wear the sacred thread . I am glad that someone is fighting for the innate discrimination against women in our society ..... it would be a mistake to label her purely as a 'dalit feminist' . may be a women's rights activist may be more appropriate. Hi
a real pleasure to read this interview.

discrimination against women in Indian society is codified in the Manusmriti.

If you read it an “upper caste woman” is actually a ‘woman born into an “upper caste family” – she has none of the privileges of the caste, all its punishments, and above all she is a woman with a set of extremely strident rules and regulations that govern her. Even today, she cannot perform a havan, do kanyadaan if she is a widow, perform last rites, wear the sacred thread .

I am glad that someone is fighting for the innate discrimination against women in our society ….. it would be a mistake to label her purely as a ‘dalit feminist’ . may be a women’s rights activist may be more appropriate.

]]> By: Bq http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-505 Bq Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:03:13 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-505 Wow, interesting stuff. I am an Indian American woman and I don't know much about the women's movement in India. It was interesting to learn about the connection between black feminism and intersectionality-based feminism in India. Wow, interesting stuff. I am an Indian American woman and I don’t know much about the women’s movement in India. It was interesting to learn about the connection between black feminism and intersectionality-based feminism in India.

]]> By: Crazyfinger http://ultraviolet.in/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/comment-page-1/#comment-504 Crazyfinger Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:24:30 +0000 http://youngfeminists.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/on-caste-and-patriarchy-an-interview-with-ruth-manorama/#comment-504 Meena, <i>"Part of the reason for the confusion is, it is a 10,000 word interview edited for the purpose of this blog-post… "</i> Thank you for posting the interview. I would love to read the whole 10,000 word, unabridged version. This is a blog, and unless you all have a word-limit (which is crazy, if you have such a limit) here, I'd say let us read the whole thing. Regards, Crazyfinger Meena,

“Part of the reason for the confusion is, it is a 10,000 word interview edited for the purpose of this blog-post… “

Thank you for posting the interview. I would love to read the whole 10,000 word, unabridged version. This is a blog, and unless you all have a word-limit (which is crazy, if you have such a limit) here, I’d say let us read the whole thing.

Regards, Crazyfinger

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