From Untouchable to Dalit: Narratives and Strategies of Assertion among the Scheduled Castes of Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract Tharparkar, a borderland area with India, provides insights into Scheduled Caste (SC) perceptions of their status and marginality in contemporary Pakistan. The article focuses on how SC activists, despite the absence of a national or provincial-level discourse in Pakistan, negotiate “untouchability” in Pakistan. It discusses the regional dynamics of SC movements in Tharparkar and how Pakistani lower castes, considered part of a homogenous and fixed religious minority (i.e., “Hindus”) by the Government of Pakistan (GOP), are engaged in producing a distinct social and political identity in the region.