In
India, the knowledge/power dimension to the social-psychological,
mental and behavioural sciences is presently under scrutiny.
Counter-discourses to mainstream ideologies are gradually but
steadily being articulated. We planned this seminar in continuity
with recent foundational questioning of these sciences where
issues of culture have been prominent axes of analyses. The
objects of our study were the following disciplines: psychology,
psychiatry, medical anthropology / sociology, narratology,
social work, cultural and feminist studies and Dalit scholarship.
Through the seminar, we aimed to show, yet again, that discourses
of mind, those that promise healing and self-realisation, are
also political discourses.
There
is a need to make investigative linkages between caste, cultural
identities and 'mentalities', or to talk about inter-subjective
or 'inner worlds' enclosed within the caste discourse- How
'mentalities' about caste get constructed and regulated in
post-colonial India. The psychosocial processes that feed and
sustain political agendas of caste oppression have to be questioned
and other enabling processes activated.
We
invited a group of inter-disciplinary researchers, scholars
and activists to explore the psycho-social world of vulnerability,
resilience and resistance with respect to Caste: How do the
psychological careers of certain identities, marked by religion/caste,
develop as continuities, shifts, breaks and fractures of identity,
cognition, behaviour, memory and emotion; and what enables
the emergence of new identities? Is it possible to flesh out
a phenomenological description of a sense of belonging versus
a feeling of alienation? We laid out the socially constructed
contours of self / personhood of 'stigmatised identities':
the cognitive infrastructure and emotional subtexts of oppression.
We asked, could we apply social psychological theories of Stigma
such as Goffman's analysis, more recent concepts such as 'felt'
and 'enacted' stigma, and critiques on the psychology of racism,
to conceptualise caste-based stigma? We imagined discourses
of mind, which allowed for individual life experiences, choices
and aspirations of Dalit communities.
For
this seminar, we encouraged methodologies suited for documenting
peoples' investments in the Everyday. Being candid about the
politics of everyday commonsense, we studied biographies and
lived experiences to examine our concerns above and explicated
general principles.
There
was also the need for enquiry into how the religion / caste-marked
body and psyche is regulated by expert (medical) knowledges.
How is caste experienced and "treated" within the
mental health disciplines and practices? The mental and behavioral
sciences operationalise 'normality' and 'abnormality' and it
was interesting to examine these from a caste perspective.
The brahmanical value system in Indian psychiatry, psychology
and other mental and behavioral sciences needed to be theorized.
We needed to critically evaluate Hindu texts that have directly
influenced the growth of a caste based, hindu(tva) psychology.
Psychology has developed models for retraining SC / ST students
for "scholastic backwardness". While this retraining
does give deprived students access to the fruits of modernity,
the curricula and interventions are not necessarily commensurate
with dalit worldviews. The mental health professions' responses
to Hindutva and the wide spread communalism in contemporary
India, their roles and responsibilities in combating communalist
forces require to be examined. The relevance of the 'trauma'
framework used by professionals following communal riots (e.g.
in Mumbai) also needed discussion.
Recent
scholarship has highlighted the fact that science today is
the result of complex historical negotiations between the colonial
ideology and the cultural hegemony of brahmanism. The history
of mental institutions in India during the colonial period
is relevant for our Symposium. Case histories of the 'native'
residents who were treated through a framework that was predicated
upon racial(ised) notions of inferiority could perhaps take
a caste based analysis.
Another
dimension we could bring to the Symposium is the intersection
of gender and caste. Feminism has shown how women's bodies
and minds are regulated by expert knowledge through ascriptions
of mental pathology. But a more nuanced discourse examining
the intersection of culture / caste / gender awaits formulation
with respect to the mental and behavioral sciences. It would
be especially interesting to look at psychoanalysis as a location
for discussion and critique.
We
invited scholars from relevant fields to share their research
with us on any of the following themes:
 |
Looking
at Dalit literature, autobiographies, narrative writings
and making thematic and critical linkages with psychological
concepts |
|
Is there
a Dalit psychology? Notions of 'Stigmatised identities',
vulnerability, resilience and resistance |
|
Is Caste-ism
a cultural or collective mental health pathology? |
|
Gender,
psychology and caste |
|
Hindutva
& Brahmanism within mental health sciences and professions |
|
Colonialism,
cultural revivalism and the discourses of mind |
|
History
of institutions, the 'native' asylums and caste |
|
Research
and Interventions in psychology for 'scholastic backwardness' |
|
Caste
as experienced and "managed" within the psychiatric
/ service regime |
|
Psychoanalysis
as a location for discussion and critique |
ORGANIZERS
OF THE SEMINAR
Dr
Sushrut Jadhav
Department of Psychiatry
48 Riding House Street,
University College
London W1N 8AA,
United Kingdom.
sjadhav@ucl.ac.uk
00-44-207-679 9292;
[and]
Dr
Bhargavi Davar
16/A Shanker Shet Road,
1st floor, Pune 411042,
India.
Logistical details of the Seminar on
CASTE
AND MENTAL HEALTH
14th and 15th of December, 2002
Venue
of the Seminar:
Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration
(YASHADA)
Raj Bhavan Complex,
Baner Road
Pune 411 007
Tel: 020-5657360; 5657362; 5650064;
5650869; 5659132; 5654386; 5676212
Email: yashada@giaspn01.vsnl.net.in
After office hours: 5650784
Fax: 5659135, 5676216
Timings: 10
AM to 5.30 PM
