Caste System
- The Caste System. (2005). New Internationalist, (380), 13. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.
Explains that the caste system ensures that between 250 and 300 million people worldwide continue to suffer from segregation, exclusion, modern day slavery and other extreme forms of discrimination, exploitation and violence. - Caste. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/318963In some traditional societies in South Asia, one’s place in society is determined by one’s caste, a strictly regulated social group into which one is born. The caste system is especially important among the Hindus of India, where the system dates to ancient times.
- Bancroft, S. (2006). Uproar Over Caste Quotas for Colleges. New Statesman, 135(4795), 16. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The article reports on the backlash over the Indian government's decision to enact caste quotas in university admissions. Universities are required to enroll 27% of their students from "other backwards classes," in addition to preexisting quotas for the lowest castes.
- Thormann, J. (2003). The Ethical Subject of The God of Small Things. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society, (2), 299.
In an increasingly global economy the master signifiers of the dominating international regime increasingly infiltrate local cultures and economies, introducing new ideals for identification and new forms of coercion and reinforcing established forms of injustice. It is the radical project of The God of Small Things to undermine the laws of social exchange, what the narrator in a repeated refrain calls “the love laws…That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much." - Sekher, A. (2003, August 16). Older than the Church: Christianity and Caste in "The God of Small Things". Economic and Political Weekly, 38(33), 3445-3449. Retrieved from JSTOR.Despite Christianity that made inroads into Kerala nearly two millennia ago, and communism that emerged as a powerful egalitarian force in the last century, caste continues to exercise an insidious, all-pervasive influence in Kerala.
TestTube News. (2015, April 19). Is India's Caste System Still Alive? [Video file]. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyCQDIwHlXY
Siddhartha Chabukswar. (2011, July 5). India Untouched: Stories of a People Apart, Feature Documentary by Stalin K. Part 1 of 4 [Video file]. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM85zVt6xCU
Communism in India
- Ghosh, P. (2013, March 5). Better Red Than Dead? Communism Thriving in Corner of India. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/better-red-dead-communism-thriving-corner-india-1111044In India, the world’s most populous democracy, Communist politicians still hold considerable power in at least one pocket of the vast country.
- Stancati, M. (2011, May 13). Kerala: The End of Communism? Retrieved June 21, 2015, from The Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/05/13/kerala-the-end-of-communism/While observers had widely anticipated the end of the nearly three-and-a-half decades of Communist rule in India’s state of West Bengal, there was nothing certain about the electoral outcome in Kerala, another red state.
- Wade, M. (2008, July 22). Communism, Indian-Style, Still Packs a Punch. Age, The (Melbourne). p. 9. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The nation's Marxists are leading the charge against the nuclear pact with the US, reports Matt Wade.
- Ghosh, P. (2014, January 24). Hindu Hammer and Sickle: Tripura, the Last Bastion of Communism iIn India. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/hindu-hammer-sickle-tripura-last-bastion-communism-india-1547598
A few months ahead of what is expected to be a challenging national election, India's incumbent Congress Party, widely blamed for corruption and a stalled economy, has commenced its candidate selection process for parliamentary seats in the country's northeast, a region that includes a state where Communists maintain significant political power. - Epstein, D. (2014). East of Mumbai. Harvard International Review, 36(1), 26-28. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The article discusses the insurgency by the Naxalites, mostly tribal militants following the Maoist political philosophy, in the east of Mumbai, India as of 2014.
- Moreau R., & Mazumdar S. (2007, December 3). A Red Scare in Delhi. Newsweek (Pacific Edition),150(23), 26-29. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The article discusses the rise of communism in India. Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), opposes economic and political reforms and modernization promoted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
SBS Dateline. (2011, June 19). India's Red Tide [Video file]. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUVzvt_jtg
Love Laws
- Seervai, S. (2014, January 24). Father Sues Son for Inter-Caste Marriage. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from The Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/01/24/father-sues-son-for-inter-caste-marriage/A father who is suing his son for defamation after he married a woman of a lower caste in eastern India has said that he is not against inter-caste marriage in general, only when it comes to his own family.
- Biswas, S. (2012, July 30). A Hideaway for India's Rebel Couples. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19010196Indian couples that have angered their families by pursuing "forbidden" relationships are increasingly seeking refuge in special shelters run by the police.
- Inani, R. (2015). Mother Posts India’s First Gay Marriage Advert to Seek Groom for Her Son. Time.Com. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.Padma Iyer wants her homosexual son to find love and settle down.
- Chandrachud, C. (2014, December 12). Limiting the Impact of Section 377. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/limiting-the-impact-of-section-377/article6683396.eceTwo difficult options have been considered so far to nullify the Supreme Court’s decision on Section 377. But there is another, more subtle, option on the table.
- Wax, E. (2008, November 22). Can Love Conquer Caste? Washington Post, The.Their marriage ushered in another war: In tying the knot, they openly defied India's deeply entrenched taboos against inter-caste marriage. Anita Pharti, now 42, came from the Dalit caste, still known as untouchables, the lowest in India's social order. Her husband, Rajeev Singh, 45, is a Rajput, traditionally a landholding caste that had for centuries ruled over Pharti's peasant community.
- Overdorf, J. (2008). Rebel Brides and Ex-Wives. Newsweek (Pacific Edition), 151(21/22), 78-81. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The article reports on the rising rates of love marriages in India corresponding to the higher divorce rate. For years the Hindu religion in India mandated that all marriages were arranged by the parents as a contract.
Times Now. (2013, September 20). Honour Killing in Rohtak Village [Video file]. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krWOr4r_uwI
Al Jazeera English. (2010, August 30). 101 East - Caste in Stone [Video file]. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KS1FXBYNWM
Christianity in India
- Jenkins, P. (2012). India's Original Christians. Christian Century, 129(24), 45. Retrieved from Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre.The article discusses the history of Christianity in South India, highlighting the purported origin of Christianity in the Malabar Coast region with the apostle Thomas.
- Burke, J. (2015, January 29). India Investigates Reports of Mass ‘Reconversion’ of Christians. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/29/india-mass-reconversion-christians-hinduismUp to 100 Christians ‘welcomed back’ to Hinduism in West Bengal, raising concerns about possible coercion.
- Srivastava, P. (2014, December 19). 'We Will Free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021': DJS Leader Vows to Continue 'Ghar Wapsi' Plans and Restore 'Hindu Glory'. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/Even as Opposition parties up the ante over alleged incidents of religious reconversion, the Dharm Jagran Samiti has declared that it will ensure India becomes a Hindu Rashtra by 2021.
- Kanaganayakam, C. (2004). Religious Myth and Subversion in The God of Small Things. Contemporary Literary Criticism, 364.In the following essay, Kanaganayakam examines the treatment of religion in The God of Small Things, arguing that Roy performs a critique of mythmaking belief systems. Kanaganayakam also offers a succinct explanation of the novel’s Syrian-Christian context.