![]() ![]() ![]() A document of the long-silenced and long-denied sufferings of the Dalits, Joothan is a major contribution to the archives of Dalit history and a manifesto for the revolutionary transformation of society and human consciousness. ![]() Valmiki shares his heroic struggle to survive a preordained life of perpetual physical and mental persecution and his transformation into a speaking subject under the influence of the great Dalit political leader, B. The book Joothan is a memoir of Omprakash Valmiki, who was born into a family of manual. It’s a powerful metaphor for the Dalit experience, where they are often considered untouchable and forced to perform menial tasks like cleaning and scavenging. Although untouchability was abolished in 1949, Dalits continued to face discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, and ridicule. Joothan is a Hindi word that means ‘leftovers’ or ‘food discarded by others.’. India's untouchables have been forced to accept and eat joothan for centuries, and the word encapsulates the pain, humiliation, and poverty of a community forced to live at the bottom of India's social pyramid. "Joothan" refers to scraps of food left on a plate, destined for the garbage or animals. There is a recent Enlgish translation (available only from Indian bookstores where I was able. He became very active in writing and organizing Dalit resistance activities. Omprakash Valmiki describes his life as an untouchable, or Dalit, in the newly independent India of the 1950s. Omprakash Valmiki, with the help and backing of family members, was eventually able to achieve his education and become employed in a skilled position at an engineering firm. ![]()
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