One Step Inside Tamilian: On the Anti-Caste Writing of Language

The relationship between caste and language in South Asia is a contentious topic of research today. Many have studied how modernity constructed language and caste as political categories in India. Writing that contests caste in modern times, especially after the emergence of Dalit politics and literature, has been a subject of serious academic enquiry. However, there is also an increasing worry about the absence of prominent Dalit journalists, and a lack of Dalit media practitioners in contemporary India. This injustice haunts the public sphere even today. And not many have seriously studied the history of this negligent absence.