Class Oppression Research Articles

Introduction: the turn to racism and anti-racism in Latin America

ABSTRACT We are currently witnessing a turn to racism and anti-racism in Latin America. The recognition of racism is not new, but the attention and challenge to racism, in such an orchestrated way, is. What are the signals of such turn to racism and anti-racism? What are the overall lessons for Latin America and from Latin America to global antiracist efforts? This introduction looks at the arguments of the articles in this special issue to highlight how issues of racial visibility, naming racism, racial data, legal rights and recognition, entrepreneurship, mestizo identity, the possibilities of alliances, racially-aware struggles against class (and gendered) oppression, are key to understanding this turn. While we do not claim that these articles cover the full extent of this turn in Latin America, we suggest that analysing how this turn appears in Latin American opens useful ways of thinking about anti-racism more widely.

Intersectional methods to study the intellectual production of a Black female samba composer

We discuss the concept of love presented in a set of songs composed by Brazilian samba singer Dona Ivone Lara about romantic and sexual relationships. Popular music is a pervasive kind of media, reflecting ideas, values, power relations, practices, prejudices and privileges. Black music in the diaspora has been a counter-hegemonic space of knowledge production which provides insight into cultural, social, economic and political matters. To analyze the songs, we created a methodology which intersects themes and categories, reflecting upon the complexity of Black women's experiences depicted in Lara's intellectual production. Adopting an intersectional approach, we concluded that the combined oppressions of gender, race, age and class in Brazil have an important influence in the melancholic aspect of banzo in her songs. The results also show that love, for Lara, is not a fixed or permanent feeling, but a cycle, renewed and reinvented in practice and in constant motion.

HUMANISM IN THE NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND

Humanism that introduced in the 14th century is in fact a movement which highlighted on the exploration of human being in this world. The main idea of humanism is to focus on how to lead a virtuous life in the society. So far as Renaissance humanism is concerned it is mainly a movement that started in Italy and spread to Europe in 14th century. Renaissance Humanism mainly spread by means of business and printing press. Emphasis on beauty and value of human’s individual life are the main issues of humanism during renaissance period. This research paper aims at discussing concept of humanism as seen in the works of Mulk Raj Anand. Moreover, it aims at discussing the impact of various incidents and movements upon him to become a writer of the oppressed class. Anand’s concern with the oppressed and the suppressed people and his zeal to uplift them will also be discussed in this research paper.

SHRI BABU JAGJIVAN RAM: A PIONEER OF DECOLONISATION MOVEMENT IN THE INDEPENDENT INDIA

Babu Jagjivan Ram, a prominent Dalit leader and social reformer, was a pioneering force in India’s decolonization movement. Born in 1908 in a marginalized caste community, he overcame systemic discrimination and rose to become one of the most influential political figures in post-independence India. His journey from a humble background to a statesman symbolizes the resilience and determination of the oppressed classes in the fight for equality and social justice.Jagjivan Ram’s role in India's freedom struggle was marked by his commitment to eradicating caste-based injustices while fighting for the country’s independence. As a member of the Indian National Congress, he played a crucial part in the Quit India Movement and led efforts to ensure that the voices of Dalits and other marginalized communities were included in the national discourse. He was also instrumental in forming the All-India Depressed Classes League, which advocated for the political and social rights of Dalits.After India gained independence in 1947, Jagjivan Ram continued to champion the cause of the downtrodden as a key member of independent India’s government. He held several important cabinet positions, including that of Defence Minister and Agriculture Minister. His contribution to the Green Revolution, which transformed India’s agricultural landscape, is particularly noteworthy. His leadership during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, further cemented his legacy as a visionary leader.Beyond politics, Jagjivan Ram’s life was a testament to the power of perseverance and the importance of inclusivity in nation-building. He dedicated his life to creating an India free of both colonial oppression and caste discrimination. His legacy continues to inspire movements for equality and justice in modern India.

SHRI BABU JAGJIVAN RAM: A PIONEER OF DECOLONISATION MOVEMENT IN THE INDEPENDENT INDIA

Babu Jagjivan Ram, a prominent Dalit leader and social reformer, was a pioneering force in India’s decolonization movement. Born in 1908 in a marginalized caste community, he overcame systemic discrimination and rose to become one of the most influential political figures in post-independence India. His journey from a humble background to a statesman symbolizes the resilience and determination of the oppressed classes in the fight for equality and social justice.Jagjivan Ram’s role in India's freedom struggle was marked by his commitment to eradicating caste-based injustices while fighting for the country’s independence. As a member of the Indian National Congress, he played a crucial part in the Quit India Movement and led efforts to ensure that the voices of Dalits and other marginalized communities were included in the national discourse. He was also instrumental in forming the All-India Depressed Classes League, which advocated for the political and social rights of Dalits.After India gained independence in 1947, Jagjivan Ram continued to champion the cause of the downtrodden as a key member of independent India’s government. He held several important cabinet positions, including that of Defence Minister and Agriculture Minister. His contribution to the Green Revolution, which transformed India’s agricultural landscape, is particularly noteworthy. His leadership during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, further cemented his legacy as a visionary leader.Beyond politics, Jagjivan Ram’s life was a testament to the power of perseverance and the importance of inclusivity in nation-building. He dedicated his life to creating an India free of both colonial oppression and caste discrimination. His legacy continues to inspire movements for equality and justice in modern India.

MARSHAL NESAMONY’S EFFICACY IN SRI MULAM POPULAR ASSEMBLY

Various political, social and religious reformers contributed for the upliftment of the oppressed communities in the Travancore region. Among them, Nesamony, fondly called ‘Nesamony Raja’, ‘Marshal Nesamony’ and ‘Kumari Thanthai’ (Father of Kanniyakumari District) stands distinctive for his exemplary achievements towards the liberation of the oppressed class and their resurgence. Nesamony occupied a unique place in the minds of the Tamils of Travancore. As a popular leader, Nesamony became the Chairman of the Nagercoil Municipality in 1942. He was elected to the Sri Mulam Assembly of Travancore State in 1944 from the Kalkulam cum Vilavancode constituency. Till 1956 the present Kanniyakumari district was a part of the erstwhile Travancore State. The political activities of the people of the region were mainly influenced and guided by the Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress founded by Marshal Nesamony. This article elaborates his valuable services during his tenure as member in Travancore Legislative Assemblies.

Study of Celie's Portrayal in "The Color Purple" Under the Theory of Androgyny

The classic novel The Color Purple by black American author Alice Walker outlines the journey of Celie, a black woman in the Southern part of America in the early 20th century, as she grows up under the triple oppression of race, gender and class. Celie is abused by her stepfather and then forced to marry Mr. ____, a widower who already has four children, and lives in daily slave-like worry. However, with the help of other women, Celie gradually awakens from her numb and closed state, thinks about her gender and identity, and finally grows up to be an independent woman with individuality, dignity, and self-confidence. Therefore, based on the theory of androgyny, this paper analyzes in depth the development process of Celie's gender consciousness, revealing that her gender consciousness goes from clear boundaries to blurring, and finally achieves integration through self-awakening. In the novel, Celie experiences the questioning and redefinition of her own gender awareness, from the initial limitation of social expectations to the gradual escape from the traditional gender boundaries, and finally realizes the comprehensive awareness of gender. Through an in-depth analysis of the image of Celie and the evolution of her gender cognition in The Color Purple, the author hopes to better help readers understand the plurality of individual gender cognition, and to provide useful literary references for the promotion of gender harmony.

The Dialectics of Class struggle in Marqueze’s ‘One of These Days’ and The Biblical Parable ‘Ahab and Naboth’

This paper attempts to explore the class conflict and the struggle implicitly or explicitly inherent in “One of These Days” and “Ahab and Naboth” applying the conceptual frameworks of Conflict theory based on Marxism. Conflict theory views social and economic institutions as tools of the struggle between groups or classes, used to maintain inequality and the dominance of the ruling class. The dialectics of class struggle is inevitable in most of the societies. The ruling class or the oppressors exploit their subjects or even do not lag behind to take their life in order to serve or suit their interest and desires. The victimized cannot react immediately due to the fear engendered by the pomp of power and money of the higher class. Rather, they either face the terrible fate or become submissive unwillingly. When the interests and the desires of the higher or the ruling class center upon the exploitation and the oppression of the lower class for their happiness, there appears the conflict between them resulting into the class struggle. This paper explores how the ruling class having the feudal ideology oppresses and exploits the innocent people misusing their power. The paper seeks to answer the prominent question : why and how do the upper and the ruling class oppress and suppress the lower class or the common people? The pomp of power and money corrupts man as it instigates man to render atrocities towards common people. Being scared, the subordinate people cannot raise their voices and launch their protest for justice. Instead, they attempt to suppress their voices due to their apprehension.

An Intersectional Feminist Analysis of Women's Oppression in Evie Shockley’s Selected Poems

Contemporary African American poetry passionately portrays the historical oppression of African American women. Through powerful verses, it explores their resilience and strength amid challenges, inspiring identity, empowerment, and unity within the community. One such writer is Evie Shockley, who attempts to showcase the oppression exercised upon black American women in her body of verses. Oppression includes but is not limited to gender, racial, and class oppression. The intersectional feminist approach is employed in analyzing and interpreting the oppression theme expressed in Shockley’s selected poems. The paper’s significance emanates from an investigation into the diverse oppression that African American women have encountered throughout history and continue to face in the present. Through this exploration, a heightened awareness of the plight endured by these women is achieved, fostering more significant concern regarding the inhumane treatment they have been subjected to multiple oppressions.

Girls’ education in Colonial India: a critique on the trajectory of Savitribai Phule in the twenty-first century India

ABSTRACT Savitribai Phule, the first female school teacher in India, with the support of her husband and mentor, Jyotirao Phule pioneered a pivotal role in educating Indian girls in the nineteen-century Colonial India. Her philosophical underpinnings and activism for the education of the girls and the oppressed classes in India are still relevant and inspiring even today. This article primarily intends to reassess the trajectory of her philosophy, policy reforms and pedagogical practices towards girls’ education in the nineteen-century Colonial India even when the demand for compulsory primary education was not raised in India, in the light of twenty-first century India. Before delving into the whole spectrum of her trajectory, it retraces the British Colonial policies pertaining to the provision of girls’ compulsory schooling in Colonial India against which the missionaries, British philanthropic and Savitribai together with other Indian reformers made a series of efforts towards girls’ education in Colonial India.

Pemikiran Ekonomi Karl Marx Menurut Konsep Ekonomi Islam

Islam and Karl Max are an interesting topic in Indonesia. Apart from the majority of Indonesia's population being Muslim, there are also gaps and gaps in the economic sector. The aim of this article is to re-present the line of thought regarding the relationship between Islam and Karl Marx so that it can be viewed in a more balanced manner. This research methodology is descriptive and qualitative with a historical approach. Research shows that Islam has very different foundations from Marx's ideas, but both aim to create a social order that is just and free from class oppression. However, Islam still recognizes the different potential that exists in every human being. On the other hand, in Marx's view, the difference between people in countries that accumulate money lies in their control of the factors of production.

Back to Marx: reflections on the feminist crisis at the crossroads of neoliberalism and neoconservatism

Contemporary feminism is currently at a crossroads, facing a concerted onslaught from both neoliberal and neoconservative ideologies. While these ideologies are inherently different—neoliberalism often appropriates feminist language to serve capitalist ends, and neoconservatism typically attacks feminist principles—they similarly reinforce the traditional role of families as providers of welfare. This crisis of alienation in feminism is characterized by three key factors: the gender divisions brought about by feminism’s shift to identity politics, the obscuring of feminist critique of capitalism by the spread of commercialization, and the instrumentalization of feminism in politics. These challenges have resulted in increased class antagonism and the further marginalization of lower-income women, reinforcing one another. To address this multifaceted crisis, a return to Marxist thought is deemed necessary for women’s liberation. The historical foundation of women’s issues can be traced back to class oppression, which stems from the primacy of material production over reproductive labor. In this context, gender oppression becomes an instrument that perpetuates class oppression. Only by interpreting women’s bodily autonomy and power from the perspective of material life and class reproduction, and by uniting various social forces against capitalism with practical actions, can feminism regain its vitality. Although the current global women’s movement is full of internal divisions, contradictions, and struggles, there is still hope for achieving unity. When the day comes, history will confirm that true gender equality is not merely the promotion of individual choice for a few, but the emancipation of all, and Marxism will be recorded once again in the history of human liberation. To accomplish this grand objective, the vital step is to end the marginalization of Marxist Feminism.

An Ill-bred Culture of Experimentation: Malaria Therapy and Race in the United States Public Health Service Laboratory at the South Carolina State Hospital, 1932-1952

Abstract While most are aware of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments in which African American syphilis patients went untreated, less is known about experiments with malaria fever therapy conducted upon syphilis patients during the same period by the Unites States Public Health Service at the Williams Laboratory on the grounds of the South Carolina State Hospital (SCSH) in Columbia, SC. Over a twenty-year period, physicians maintained patients as malaria reservoirs for patient-to-patient inoculation and subjected patients to extreme fevers and thousands upon thousands of insect bites as part of a program in which one disease was tested as therapy for another. Using extant administrative files, medical journals from the period, and a database created from SCSH annual reports, this paper considers the ethics of malaria fever therapy experiments while exposing the conditions under which patients suffered the intersecting oppressions of race, class, and mental illness. It illuminates the prevalent scientific racism of the period that enabled pseudo-medical assumptions about African Americans’ perceived penchant for poverty, deviant sex, and pain tolerance, which combined to enable a culture of experimentation that influenced events at Stateville Penitentiary and continued long after penicillin became widely available.

Social Class Oppression in Ally Condie's Crossed Novel: A Marxist Criticism

This study examined social class oppression in Ally Condie’s Crossed novel as the object of the research. This research applied Tyson’s social class and Young’s types of oppression theory. This research used qualitative research as a method and used a Marxist approach to conduct research. This research showed five indicators of social class: Aristocracy is portrayed as an Institution that has unlimited jobs and financial security. The upper class is the people in Tana provinces who are economically privileged which is they had small facilities for production. The middle class referred to the Officer, they worked with Institutions to oppress the lower class. The types of lower class refer to Ky, Vick, and Eli they were in dirty and disheveled clothes. Underclass refers to the Anomalies, they are alienated from society. This research also showed the third type of oppression; Exploitation was the Officers, and who get oppressed in this novel is the Aberration. In Marginalization, types of society that marginalize the Anomalies. In Powerlessness the oppressor is the Institution, and those who get oppressed are the Aberration, Anomaly, and the decoy. The existence of oppression was caused by social class and portrayed implicitly in society.

Place, Class, and the Destruction of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby From the Perspective of Space

This study is a spatial analysis of The Great Gatsby (1925). This novel presents the power game among various white classes in American society in the context of the Roaring Twenties, with obvious spatial characteristics. The geographical distribution between East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes presents the high-and-low-class distinction of different classes in social space. The upper classes practice class oppression and exploitation through space, while the lower classes also use space to resist oppression and climb the class ladder. This paper draws on French philosopher Henri Lefebvre’s spatial ideas, especially the spatial triad, to explore the close connection between space and class in the novel. The Great Gatsby encompasses various class groups in white society, including the hereditary aristocracy like the Buchanans, the new money represented by Gatsby, and the lower class represented by the Wilsons. To modify the spatial order, different classes use space as a medium to preserve their class identity and seek their social presence, which reproduces the illusion of the American Dream of the Jazz Age and reveals Fitzgerald’s humanistic concern for people in spatial relations.

Simone Weils frühes Verständnis des Totalitarismus als existenzielle Bedrohung

Coming from anarchist circles and revolutionary-syndicalist trade unions, Simone Weil initially saw herself as a Marxist and an anarchist, before increasingly becoming their early and extremely pointed critic. From 1933 on, she distanced herself more and more from the syndicalist movement in terms of content, and at the same time she was increasingly skeptical of its politics. She saw in the syndicalists, socialists, and communists no more accurate knowledge of society than in the conservatives or fascists. Moreover, she came to realize that they did not have the necessary means of action to carry out a revolution. In the assertion of the "historical mission of the working class," she saw a phrase that served the functionaries but only further humiliated and betrayed the working class. In this respect, even Marxism was for Weil still the intellectual expression of the bourgeoisie, because even a change in property relations would not have eliminated the oppression of the working class. Until the end of her life, she held that instead a radical change in labor relations was necessary to end the oppression of the working class and its social misery. The article attempts to situate Simone Weil's early disillusionment with syndicalism, socialism, Marxism and Stalinism, as well as her recognition of what was widely labelled totalitarianism in Western societies at the latest after the Second World War, in her writings.

An Analysis of Racism in Uncle Tom's Cabin from the Marxism Perspective

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel that reflects the cruelty and inhumanity of the slave system. In the novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe created scenes of real artistic power and that her analysis of the capitalistic elements of the slave system were remarkably astute. The racism depicted in this novel is, on the surface, the inhuman oppression and exploitation of black slaves by slave owners. While on the deep level, it is the exploitation and oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie, and this exploitation is a major means for the bourgeoisie to extract the surplus value of working workers. Starting from a Marxism perspective, this article analyzes the economic interests and class relationships behind slavery in the novel, studies the relationship between racism, socio-economic structure, and class contradictions, and explores how racism interweaves with economic interests and becomes a tool of class oppression. While the specter of racism still lingers in American society today, the paper tries to figure out the complexity of racial issues in the United States, thus providing more comprehensive thinking and methods for eliminating racism and inequality in the future.

Luce Irigarays Body Theory and Film Rouge: Female Image of Courtesan Ruhua

The representation of charming female bodies is a distinct characteristic of feminine movies directed by Guan Jinpeng. Rouge, one of his representative works, illustrates the hope and despair of a courtesan named Ruhua. Although several studies revealed the political metaphor of her body image, few researchers put emphasis on the female sentiment behind it. Therefore, by means of textual analysis, this study explores the life experience of Ruhua mirrored by her body image based on three theoretical perspectives proposed by Luce Irigaray in The Sex Which is Not One, including market value, sexual pleasure and class oppression of the female body. The research finding is that in Rouge, lens languages such as compositions, lights and clothes are conceived elaborately to depict Ruhuas body feelings, which not only implies her disadvantaged position in terms of wealth, sex and power but also reflects her individual consciousness against her dominated body as she is craving for maintaining a relatively equal relationship with her lover. The body narrative in Rouge subverts traditional films made by other male directors that commodify the female body under the male gaze and sets an example for the future feminine movie of how the depiction of the female body destroys gender power.

Tragedy does not die: Creativity, emotions, and metaphor of revolution in the context of Chinese Revolutionary Drama

The decline of tragedy is one of the greatest tragedies of modernity. While many scholars exclaim that tragedy has been dead, Raymond Williams points out that it is not an eternal metaphysical event, but is plural and dynamic, a series of experiences, a tradition. Williams’ rethinking of tragedy provides a historical perspective on the cultural meanings. What matters are the traditions, emotions, and experiences of the time in which the tragedy is set, and the superimposed series of accidents and imbalances that create this type of tragic experience. That is, tragedy is not a static narrative of grief, but a textual creativity. This article will examine this argument in the context of Chinese Revolutionary Drama. The White-Haired Girl (Bai Mao Nv) is a famous tragedy born a hundred years ago in China that depicts the tragic fate of the poor. During the Communist Revolution, it was adapted by the propaganda department of the Communist Party as a tragedy of class oppression and extended to the whole country as a symbol of emotional mobilization. After 1978, the tragedy was forgotten as an outdated revolutionary legacy. However, the experience and texts of the The White-Haired Girl are still active in Chinese social networks today. This complex process is not only historical but also emotional. The aims of this article are the following: (1) to reveal the constructive relationship between creativity, revolution, and emotion; (2) to present the process of interconstruction between tragedy as context and tragedy as metaphor for revolution; and (3) to place creativity in the context of specific cultural and historical changes and observe its dynamic significance.

The dialectics of Chat: Privilege, power and institutional racism

The online Large Group promoted by the Group Analytic Society International in response to the Covid 19 lockdown, presented participants with the ‘Chat’ facility alongside the standard verbal communication. Chat rapidly became an alternative channel of communication and a forum for commentary, criticism and challenge to the primary spoken discourse of the group and became a home and a vehicle for disaffected and dissident voices, particularly those marginalized according to race, class and gender. Controversy has developed as various objections have been raised against Chat being allowed in GASi online Large Groups. In so far as Chat has become a place for marginalized and subaltern voices to speak and be ‘heard’, then closing it becomes a praxis of silencing and further institutionalizing racism, patriarchy and class oppression.