Abstract:

The caste system is supposed to be inescapable--you cannot change the caste into which you are born. But are there ways to elude the system? _Concealing Caste_ tells the stories of women and men in India who, though born into communities stigmatized as "untouchable", are perceived by others as "high caste". Like the literature on racial passing in the US context, the short stories and autobiographical essays in this volume reveal the inner workings of a vicious social order, illuminating the contradictions of caste hierarchy through the experience of those who clandestinely transgress its boundaries. _Concealing Caste_ is the first collection of Dalit writings focused on this public secret. Bringing together Dalit literature from Marathi, Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, English and Malayalam--including stories and essays never before translated--this landmark anthology illustrates the agonizing choices and at times devastating consequences faced by Dalits who experiment with identity in a society shot through with the principle of birth-based inequality.