Degrees of smell: understanding and resisting caste

Kapoor, Shivani (2025) Degrees of smell: understanding and resisting caste. In: The Routledge Handbook of Subalterns across History. Routledge, pp. 230-237. ISBN 9781003441434

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Abstract

Examining two short stories centred on the relationship between odours and caste in contemporary India, this chapter will discuss how the discourse of caste and the resistance to it are mediated through a politics which is deeply sensorial in nature. Odours are a bio-social phenomenon, often laden with meanings, values, and hierarchies. This is especially true in deeply stratified and violent discourses like caste, where the sensory management of bodies, objects, and spaces is often the predominant method through which caste is experienced and invoked. The smells of caste are thus indicative of how caste manifests and also how it is often resisted. This chapter deals with two such narratives of reproduction of and resistance to caste in order to open up the idea of subaltern politics against caste to a sensorial discourse.

Item Type: Book Section
Keywords: caste | India | subaltern politics
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Social Sciences (General)
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Law and Legal Studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Cultural Studies
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Customs, Etiquette and Folklore
Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Demography
JGU School/Centre: Centre for Writing Studies
Depositing User: Mr. Arjun Dinesh
Date Deposited: 04 May 2025 22:23
Last Modified: 04 May 2025 22:23
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003441434-25
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/9446

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