In the past decade, there have been an increasing number of academic articles on the dalit drum or parai. For the most part, they note the processes by which this once humiliating caste service has been re-symbolised as an art form and has become central to dalit struggles for liberation. In such articles, there is an easy assumption that the parai is an art that dalits can take pride in. In this article, I problematise such claims by pointing to dissenting voices and campaigns by people who claim that the celebration of the drum merely perpetuates degradation. This raises questions such as who speaks for a community, whether a symbol of oppression can truly become an icon of resistance and how marginalised communities can construct positive identities when their cultural memories and practices are inescapably associated with their subordination.
ArunJoe. 2007b. ‘From Stigma to Self-assertion: Paraiyars and the Symbolism of the Parai Drum.’ Contributions to Indian Sociology41 (1): 81–104.
6.
BalasubramaniamJ.2013. ‘Dalits and Print Media: A Historical Study.’ Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Madras.
7.
BarnettMarguerite Ross. 1976. The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
8.
BateBernard. 2009. Tamil Oratory and the Dravidian Aesthetic. New York: Columbia University Press.
9.
BleeKathleen. 2002. Inside Organised Racism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
10.
BourdieuPierre. 1984. Distinction: A Sociological Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11.
BrubakerRogers. 2002. ‘Ethnicity without Groups.’ Archives Européennes de Sociologie43 (2): 163–89.
12.
CarswellGraceDe NeveGeert. 2014. ‘T-shirts and Tumblers: Caste, Dependency and Work under Neoliberalisation in South India.’ Contributions to Indian Sociology48 (1): 103–31.
13.
Clark-DecesIsabelle. 2006. ‘How Dalits have Changed the Mood at Hindu Funerals: A View from South India.’ International Journal of Hindu Studies10 (3): 257–69.
14.
ClarkeS.1998. Dalits and Christianity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
15.
DeliegeR.1993. ‘The Myths of Origin of the Indian Untouchables.’ Man28 (3): 533–49.
16.
EyermanRonJamisonAndrew. 1988. Music and Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
FrithSimon. 1996. ‘Music and Identity.’ In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by HallS.Du GayP., 108–27. London: SAGE Publications.
18.
GangulyDebjani. 2004. ‘Buddha, Bhakti and Superstition: A Post-secular Reading of Dalit Conversion.’ Postcolonial Studies7 (1): 49–62.
19.
GauthamanRaj. 2012. ‘Dalit Protest Culture: The First Stage’ (translated by Theodore Bhaskaran). In The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing, edited by RavikumarD.AzhagarasanR., 263–71. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
20.
GeethaV.RajaduraiS.1993. ‘Neo-Brahminism: An Intentional Fallacy?’ Economic and Political Weekly28 (3): 129–36.
21.
GeethaV.RajaduraiS.1998. Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium. Kolkata: Samya.
22.
Gokhale TurnerJayashree. 1981. ‘Bhakti or Vidroha: Continuity and Change in Dalit Sahitya.’ In Tradition and Modernity in Bhakti Movements, edited by LeleJ., 29–42. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
23.
GorringeHugo. 2005. ‘“You Build Your House, We’ll Build Ours”: The Attractions and Pitfalls of Identity Politics.’ Social Identities11 (6): 653–72.
24.
GorringeHugo. 2008. ‘The Caste of the Nation: Untouchability and Citizenship in South India.’ Contributions to Indian Sociology42 (1): 123–49.
25.
GuruGopal. 2009. ‘Rejection of Rejection: Foregrounding Self-respect.’ In Humiliation: Claims and Context, edited by GuruG., 209–25. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
26.
HarrissJohn. 2002. ‘Whatever Happened to Cultural Nationalism in Tamil Nadu? A Reading of Current Events and the Recent Literature on Tamil Politics.’ Commonwealth and Comparative Politics40 (3): 97–117.
27.
JoshiBarbara. 1986. Untouchable! Voices of the Dalit Liberation Movement. London: Zed Books.
28.
KarthikeyanD.RajangamStalinGorringeHugo2012. ‘Dalit Political Imagination and Replication in Contemporary Tamil Nadu.’ Economic and Political Weekly47 (36): 30–34.
29.
LaitinDavid. 1995. ‘National Revivals and Violence.’ Archives Européenes De Sociologie36 (1): 3–43.
30.
LarbeerMohanAlexanderV.2000. ‘Introduction: Dalit Arts are Weapons of Liberation.’ In The Colours of Liberation, edited by LarbeerM.AlexanderV., xi–xvi. Madurai: Dalit Resource Centre.
31.
LillelundCaroline. 2009. ‘The last Vettiyan: A Musical Tradition and a Degraded Low Caste Profession.’ Review of Development and Change14 (1 and 2): 251–69.
32.
ManickamX.2008. ‘Letter: We Don’t Want the Rhythm of the Parai.’ Ezhuchi (Uprising—Tamil Journal): 20–21 (no volume and issue number).
33.
ManickamX.RajangamS.PoovizhiyanRavikumarD.2007. Paraiyoli Paravum Izhivu (The sound of the parai diffuses degradation). Chennai: Kothippu.
34.
McGilvrayDennis. 1983. ‘Paraiyar Drummers of Sri Lanka.’ American Ethnologist10 (1): 97–115.
35.
MelucciAlberto. 1996. Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
MondakJeffery. 1988. ‘Protest Music as Political Persuasion.’ Popular Music and Society12 (3): 25–38.
37.
MosseDavid. 1994. ‘Idioms of Subordination and Styles of Protest among Christian and Hindu Harijan Castes in Tamil Nadu.’ Contributions to Indian Sociology28 (1): 67–104.
38.
NagarajD.1993. The Flaming Feet: A Study of the Dalit Movement. Bangalore: South Forum Press.
39.
NagarajD.1994. ‘From Political Rage to Cultural Affirmation.’ India International Centre Quarterly21 (4): 15–26.
40.
PandeyGyanendra. 2006. ‘The Time of Dalit Conversion.’ Economic and Political Weekly41 (18): 1779–88.
41.
PandianM.S.S.2000. ‘Dalit Assertion in Tamilnadu: An Explanatory Note.’ Journal of Indian School of Political Economy12 (3 and 4): 501–17.
42.
PeriyavanAzhakiya. 2012. ‘Eardrum’ (translated by Malini Seshadri). In The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing, edited by RavikumarD.AzhagarasanR., 75–81. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
43.
RajasekaranJ.WillisDavid Blake2003. ‘Thappu: The Dalit Drum of Destiny in South India.’ The Annual Report of Researches of Soai University19: 71–91 (no issue number).
44.
RamachandranIndraniHashimRuzy Suliza. 2014. ‘Revalorising Paraiyar Ethnic Identity through Literary Writings.’ GEMA Online: Journal of Language Studies14 (3): 243–53.
45.
RaoSandhyaViswanathanS.SubramaniamT.1995. ‘The New Resistance: Dalits and the Politics of Caste.’ Frontline12 (24): 106–11.
46.
RaoUrsula. 2009. ‘Caste and the Desire for Belonging.’ Asian Studies Review33 (4): 483–99.
RavikumarD.2012. ‘General Introduction.’ In The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing, edited by RavikumarAzhagarasanR., xv–xxxiii. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
49.
RoyWilliamDowdTimothy. 2010. ‘What is Sociological about Music?’ Annual Review of Sociology36: 183–203 (no issue number).
50.
ShahGhanshyamManderHarshThoratSukhadeoDeshpandeSatishBaviskarAmita. 2004. Untouchability in Rural India. New Delhi: SAGE Publications.
51.
SherinianZoe. 2007. ‘Musical Style and the Changing Social Identity of Tamil Christians.’ Ethnomusicology51 (2): 238–80.
52.
SherinianZoe. 2014. Tamil Folk Music and Dalit Liberation Theology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
53.
SikkaSonia. 2012. ‘Untouchable Cultures: Memory, Power and the Construction of Dalit Selfhood.’ Identities19 (1): 43–60.
54.
Soco Trust. 1997. Caste Clashes in Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu. Madurai: Society for Community Organisation Trust.
55.
SrinivasM.N.1956. ‘A Note on Sanskritization and Westernization.’ The Far Eastern Quarterly15 (4): 481–96.
56.
SubramanianLakshmi. 2007. ‘A Language for Music: Revisiting the Tamil Isai Iyakkam.’ The Indian Economic and Social History Review44 (1): 19–40.
57.
ThoratSukhadeoKumarNarender, eds. 2008. B.R. Ambedkar: Perspectives on Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
58.
Veerammal. 2012. ‘Ideological Differences with Periyar’ (translated by BhaskaranTheodore). In The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit Writing, edited by RavikumarD.AzhagarasanR., 193–96. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
59.
ZelliotEleanor. 1996. From Untouchable to Dalit. New Delhi: Manohar.
