Transgressions of the less dead: necropolitics of the subaltern in South Indian cinema
Faculty Advisor
Date
2024
Keywords
discrimination in criminal justice administration, true crime stories, murder victims
Abstract (summary)
India, a land of rich cultural diversity with long histories of systemic oppression, is known for decades of conflicts in the name of colonialism, nationalism, caste-based discrimination, communal wars, and terrorism. The social structure of the Indian landscape has been historically defined by the caste system where individuals are segregated both physically and psychologically on the basis of their hierarchical position in the imaginary graded caste scale. People who were identified as the lower-castes were the “untouchables” or Dalits for whom social interaction with the upper-castes (commonly Brahmins) was a socially punishable offense. The evil of untouchability haunts the past as well as its modern continuities in the Indian public sphere. Popular culture views the subaltern identity of Dalits through stereotypical angles and discourses of the dominant culture 1 . The invasion of European powers created a colonial discourse of authoritarianism that nourished hegemonic sensibilities toward indigenous communities and their subaltern identities. The social and historical backwardness as an aftermath of this oppressiveness remained and has often been reinforced within the fabric of social consciousness.
Publication Information
Raj, S. J., & Suresh, A. K. (2025). Transgressions of the less dead: Necropolitics of the subaltern in South Indian cinema. In F. Borrione & H. J. Macphersons (Eds.), Reshaping true crime stories from the global margins: Voicing the less dead (pp. 127-140). Lexington Books.
DOI
Notes
Item Type
Book Chapter
Language
Rights
All Rights Reserved