Foucault to the rescue of dalits in Tamil Nadu?
Had he been alive, Michel Foucault could have definitely responded to the caste problems of Tamil Nadu, according to professor S Lourdunathan of Arul Anandar College in Madurai.
The young professor, who studied Foucault extensively to find a solution to the caste issues in Tamil Nadu, was replying to a query from one of his audience on what would be the role of the French postmodern thinker in the caste issues of Tamil Nadu. “Of course, Foucault’s thoughts have great relevance, particularly when you apply his theories to today’s dalit issues,” he said.
He was speaking at a seminar on “Historiography, culture and civilisations” organised by the department of philosophy of University of Madras. Lourdunathan said the so-called dalit leaders like Krishnasamy and Tirumavalavan are trying to play a game, a politics of representation within the democratic politics. “I think the dalit issue is much broader than the representative democratic platform in which they are playing. As Foucault said in a situation like this, politics never allows any other ‘reason’ to enter. Therefore the solution is we need to go beyond ‘seats’ and ‘sub-castes’,” he said.
Talking about power, he said we should look at power not in terms of individual or groups, but as a network of social organisations operating society. “It’s discourse of systematic militant power regimes by way of disciplining and punishment. As human beings we have been ‘normalised’. Here, power determines what to speak and what to listen to,” Lourdunathan said, quoting Foucault.
The one-day seminar also had lectures from Dr John Clammer, professor of sociology, UNU, Tokyo. “There is a difference between art cultures in the West and Asia. In the West the image really stands for itself. It has only necessary relationship with the religious dimensions of that culture. However, in Asia, the concept of art derives from multiplicities of that region’s culture. So it’s always better to use different yardsticks to study both art forms,” said Clammer.
The young professor, who studied Foucault extensively to find a solution to the caste issues in Tamil Nadu, was replying to a query from one of his audience on what would be the role of the French postmodern thinker in the caste issues of Tamil Nadu. “Of course, Foucault’s thoughts have great relevance, particularly when you apply his theories to today’s dalit issues,” he said.
He was speaking at a seminar on “Historiography, culture and civilisations” organised by the department of philosophy of University of Madras. Lourdunathan said the so-called dalit leaders like Krishnasamy and Tirumavalavan are trying to play a game, a politics of representation within the democratic politics. “I think the dalit issue is much broader than the representative democratic platform in which they are playing. As Foucault said in a situation like this, politics never allows any other ‘reason’ to enter. Therefore the solution is we need to go beyond ‘seats’ and ‘sub-castes’,” he said.
Talking about power, he said we should look at power not in terms of individual or groups, but as a network of social organisations operating society. “It’s discourse of systematic militant power regimes by way of disciplining and punishment. As human beings we have been ‘normalised’. Here, power determines what to speak and what to listen to,” Lourdunathan said, quoting Foucault.
The one-day seminar also had lectures from Dr John Clammer, professor of sociology, UNU, Tokyo. “There is a difference between art cultures in the West and Asia. In the West the image really stands for itself. It has only necessary relationship with the religious dimensions of that culture. However, in Asia, the concept of art derives from multiplicities of that region’s culture. So it’s always better to use different yardsticks to study both art forms,” said Clammer.
Source: The Times of India dt 12.03.2011
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