Navigating Caste Trauma and Cultural Production in Anti-Caste Movement

The intersection of caste and mental health in India exposes the profound psychological scars inflicted by systemic caste-based discrimination. Scholars such as Thara and Srinivasan (2015) have explored the mental health implications of social exclusion, noting that Dalits, among the most marginalized caste groups, experience heightened psychological distress. Dias (2018) highlights the identity-based trauma caused by caste oppression, while Patel (2001) identifies significant mental health disparities that are inherently linked to entrenched caste hierarchies. More recently, Guru and Sakkrai (2020) have examined the ways in which caste violence perpetuates collective trauma within Dalit communities, reinforcing stigma and marginalization.

Despite this growing body of scholarship, one phenomenon remains relatively unexplored: the relationship between caste, mental health, and the Dalit movement. The Dalit movement in post-colonial India has actively fought against caste violence, advocating for the effective implementation of protective policies such as the Prevention of Atrocities Act (1989) and the Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955). In Karnataka, the Dalit Sangharsha Samithi (DSS), founded in the 1970s, has been at the forefront of these efforts. Crucially, the movement has not only resisted caste-based violence but has also engaged in the cultural production of poetry, prose, and theatre as tool mobilization, rather than healing. These cultural outputs have played a pivotal role in transforming traumatic events into mobilizing forces for collective action.

This paper examines how the Dalit movement, under the leadership of the DSS (between 1970s and 1990s), navigated the trauma of caste violence by creating cultural narratives that both memorialized and resisted caste-based atrocities. It argues that cultural production became a vital medium through which the movement transformed trauma into - shared identity and collective action against caste oppression. This analysis seeks to deepen our understanding of the movement's role in turning traumatic caste events into mobilizing cultural forces.