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SUMMARY:Feeling untouched: space\, emotions and untouchability - Dr Jesus 
 Chairez\, University of Leeds
DTSTART:20170301T170000Z
DTEND:20170301T180000Z
UID:TALK69590@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Barbara Roe
DESCRIPTION:Untouchability in India has been widely understood as the prac
 tice of excluding\, from social or religious life\, people who are believe
 d to be permanently impure. Yet\, this vision neglects the different emoti
 ons and feelings that untouchability produces in the subjects involved wit
 h it. This perspective also fails to grasp how untouchability is played th
 rough different bodies and diverse spaces at specific historical contexts.
  This type of understanding often results in an anachronistic portrayal of
  untouchability as a pan-Indian millenary phenomenon. To avoid this proble
 matic\, this paper analyses the complex nature of untouchability by examin
 ing its connections to concepts such as space\, emotions and the body. In 
 order to do so\, this essay looks at the autobiographical notes of B.R. Am
 bedkar and his dealings with untouchability. It will be shown that Ambedka
 r’s remembrances of untouchability were linked through specific spaces\,
  such as hotels or train stations\, where people could not determine at fi
 rst hand his place in the caste hierarchy. Such spatial and emotional inde
 terminacy\, allowed Ambedkar to do three things. First\, it allowed him to
  question how untouchables should feel or behave in spaces where they are 
 not identified as an untouchable. Second\, analysing the relationship betw
 een untouchability and the spaces associated with this practice\, Ambedkar
  became aware that places like the village facilitated the observance of u
 ntouchability as bodies marked as touchable or untouchable. Finally\, his 
 dealings with untouchability facilitated Ambedkar’s view of untouchabili
 ty not only as ritual or religious phenomenon but as a practice aimed at e
 xcluding untouchables from specific places associated with power. 
LOCATION:Seminar Room SG1\, Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambri
 dge CB3 9DT
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