Casteism in India And Japan: Voices of Protests in English Writings

Abstract

Abstract

Casteism may be recognized as one of the most iniquitous communal ideas prevailing in various countries much concerned with otherwise concept of class. In a more prudent perusal of the term, it is the other way of political-economic practice descended from religious dogma and still retained in the forms of nationalism and social integrity. Its hegemonic impact on the backward sections of the societies of various nations is by no means a narrow culture-specific phenomenon. This has precipitated signatures of protests of the low-caste groups who have made footprints on culture and literature with raising their voices and concerns, though, albeit discretely. ?Subaltern? as a modern coinage truly covers all these socially neglected classes of the humanity. The present work is an endeavor to bring forth the issues and voices of two distinct repressed groups: the Harijans of India and the Burakumins of Japan. The paper aims at the succinct retrospections of the spirit of literature, focusing on texts that bear the essence of subaltern cultural milieu emerged out of their life. The focus of the present endeavor is to identify the nature of their protests heralded through their literary advancement. The views of these repressed groups repeatedly set challenges against the polemical views espoused by the governments who silenced people to conform their discourses to the strategic employment of the term ?brotherhood?. Despite numbers of conferences held by the UNO with the objectives of abolition of apartheid and establishment of equality among humanity, their social conditions remain the same, while their demography and dissatisfaction have enlarged with time. Keywords: Casteism, Subaltern, Brotherhood, Humanity, Community, Culture, Literature