SIEF2021 15th Congress
Helsinki, Finland
19-24 June 2021
Breaking the rules? Power, participation, transgression
SIEF2021 - Audio/visual programme
< SIEF2021 Thematic structure Grid List
Convenors: Anna Lisa Ramella (University of Cologne), Roger Norum (University of Oulu)
Audio/Visual Programme Selection Committee: Peter Crawford (University of Tromsø), Tom Dubois (University of Wisconsin Madison), Lotta Petronella (Independent filmmaker), Itsushi Kawase (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka), Steffen Köhn (Freie Universität Berlin), Andy Lawrence (University of Manchester and filmmakingforfieldwork.co.uk), Fabian Lüke (University of Cologne), Moira Marklewitz (University of Cologne), Martin Saxer (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), Anna-Céline Schäfer (University of Cologne), Theo Zerries (University of Cologne)
SESSION: Body and Senses as Subject/Resistance
Monday 21 June
Roundtable discussion on this topic: 16:15-18:00
At Dalits' Feet #2
The objective of this artistic-anthropological project is to challenge casteism, discrimination based on caste, and hereby address potentials for increased epistemic and social justice. Caste has been legitimized by Brahminical readings of the Hindu scriptures, reproduced by ritual design and practice, and enforced by British interventions and racialization during the colonial era. This social system is analogous to a bodily order where the high castes have ranked the lowest as impure and connected with feet. The current focus on Dalit feet aims to transgress and reverse this order. Participation and collaboration are central in the project, aligning with current debates at the intersection of art and anthropology where ethics is emphasized in relation to aesthetics, epistemology, and the artist’s self-interest (Laine 2018). My engagement developed as a necessity, during fieldwork among Tamils, in south India since 2004, and in the Tamil diaspora since 2011. See further At Dalits´Feet #1 https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/var.12198
