Based mainly on printed sources in Tamil, as well as interviews with Dalit activists, this article seeks to map current divergent attitudes of Dalits towards folklore and especially towards the drum. While most activists argue for the rejection of drumming as a symbol of oppression and untouchability, some try to use it as a means of mobilisation. Others speak in favour of the resignification of the instrument and its protection and preservation as a part of their cultural legacy, which they consider to be different from the mainstream. The article also sets out to correlate these attitudes with the ideology of the eradication of caste and points to the ensuing dilemmas connected with emphasising caste-based identities.
DharmarajT. (2016) Kabali. Thiraikkathaiyum Thiraikku Veliye Kathaiyum (Kabali. The Story of a Film from Within and Without). Chennai, India: Pesamozhi Pathippagam.
3.
GunasekharanK.A. (1999) Dalit Kalai Kalacharam (The Culture of Dalit Arts). Chennai, India: Rakas.
4.
GunasekharanK.A. (2005) Odukkappattor Arangiyal (Performing Arts of the Oppressed). Chennai, India: New Century Book House.
5.
GunasekharanK.A. (2010) Dalithiyam. Arangiyalum Arasiyalum (Dalitism. Performing Arts and Politics). Chennai, India: Kavya.
6.
GunasekharanS. (2005) ‘Parai’. In Thilakavati
(Ed.), Kodai Umizhum Kural. Miga Sirantha Dalit Padaippugalin Toguppu. Kavithai, Sirukathai, Naval, Katturai, Nerkanal (The Voice Giving off Heat. An Anthology of Important Dalit Works. Poems, Short Stories, Novels, Essays, Interviews) (pp. 18–9). Chennai, India: Amruta.
7.
IramannaP. (2003) Paraiyar: Oru Varalatruc Curukkam (Paraiyars: A Short History). Tiruchi, India: Tatha Rettamalai Ceenivasan Arumpani Mandram.
8.
JosI.S. (2005) ‘Dalit Kalaivizhakkalum Dalit Iyakkangalum’ (Dalit Art Festivals and Dalit Movements). In LarbeerM. (Ed.), Kalaka Mozhi. Dalit Kalaigalum, Dalit Kalai Vizhakkalum (The Language or Revolt. Dalit Arts and Dalit Art Festivals) (pp. 137–52). Madurai, India: Dalit Athara Mayyam.
LarbeerM. (2003) ‘Dalit Kalai Vizha. Or Varalatrup Pinnani’ (Dalit Art Festivals. A Historical Background). In LarbeerM. (Ed.), Kalaka Mozhi. Dalit Kalaigalum, Dalit Kalai Vizhakkalum (The Language or Revolt. Dalit Arts and Dalit Art Festivals) (English?) (pp. 25–42). Madurai, India: Dalit Athara Mayyam.
11.
MuthuK.S. (2005) ‘Paraiyadippathu Kutrama?’ (Is it a Crime to Beat the Parai?), Dalit Murasu, 8 (July): 36–8.
12.
Parattai (2003) ‘Dalit Kalaigalai Viduthalaik Karuviyakkuvom’ (We Will Turn Dalit Arts into an Instrument of Freedom). In LarbeerM. (Ed.), Kalaka Mozhi. Dalit Kalaigalum, Dalit Kalai Vizhakkalum (The Language or Revolt. Dalit Arts and Dalit Art Festivals) (pp. 129–36). Madurai, India: Dalit Athara Mayyam.
13.
RajangamS. (2010) ‘Dalit Arasiyal: Sila Kurippukal’ (Dalit Politics: A Few Notes). In PadminiP. (Ed.), Maraiya Marukkum Varalaru (History Which Refuses to Disappear) (pp. 50–61). Chennai, India: Pulam.
14.
SubbaiyahD. (2005) Isaip Por (Music War). Madurai: Dalit Athara Mayyam.
15.
ThangarajP. (1975) Palar Yar? (Who are the Pallars?). Chennai, India: Puratchikkanal Veliyeedu.
16.
ValarmathiM. (1999) Parai: Isaikkaruvi—or Ayvu (Parai: Exploration of a Musical Instrument). Chennai, India: Thirumakal Nilaiyam.
17.
Yakkan (2005) ‘Kalaka Mozhi Pesum Dalit Kalaigal’ (Dalit Arts Speaking the Language of Revolt). In LarbeerM. (Ed.), Kalaka Mozhi. Dalit Kalaigalum, Dalit Kalai Vizhakkalum (The Language or Revolt. Dalit Arts and Dalit Art Festivals) (pp. 43–50). Madurai, India: Dalit Athara Mayyam.
18.
AiyangarS. (1914) Tamil Studies or Essays on the History of the Tamil People, Language, Religion and Literature. Madras, India: Guardian Press.
ClarkeS. (1999) Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberations Theology in India. Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
24.
DeliégeR. (1999 [1995]) The Untouchables of India. Oxford, UK: Berg.
25.
GorringeH. (2016). ‘Drumming out Oppression, or Drumming it in? Identity, Culture and Contention in Dalit Politics’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 50(1): 1–26.
26.
GrosF.KannanM. (2002) ‘Tamil Dalits in Search of a Literature’, South Asia Research, 22(1): 21–65.
27.
GuptaD. (2000) Interrogating Caste. Understanding Hierarchy and Difference in Indian Society. Gurgaon, India: Penguin Books.
28.
HonsP. (forthcoming) ‘Exclusivity or Inclusion: Dalit Castes in Tamil Nadu’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 52(2).
29.
JangamC. (2016) ‘Caste from Below: Memory and Subversion of Caste in Chindu Yakshaganam’, South Asia Research, 36(3): 343–55.
30.
LarbeerM.AlexandarV. (Eds) (2000) The Colours of Liberations. Madurai, India: Dalit Resource Centre.
MoffatM. (1979) An Untouchable Community in South India: Structure and Consensus. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
33.
RajkumarP. (2010) Dalit Theology and Dalit Liberation: Problems, Paradigms and Possibilities. Farnham & Burlington, UK: Ashgate.
34.
RamaiahA. (2010) ‘Social Democracy in Indian Villages: The Experience of Dalits in Southern Tamilnadu’. In AhmadI.Upadhyay BhushanS. (Eds), Dalit Assertion in Society, Literature and History (pp. 41–67). New Delhi, India: Orient Blackswan.
35.
SatyanarayanaK. (2014) ‘Dalit Reconfiguration of Caste: Representation, Identity and Politics’, Critical Quarterly, 56(3): 46–61.
36.
SatyanarayanaK.TharuS. (Eds) (2011) No Alphabet in Sight. New Dalit Writing from South India. Dossier 1: Tamil and Malayalam. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books.
37.
SherinianZ.C. (2014) Tamil Folk Music as Dalit Liberation Theology. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
38.
SinhaS. (1986) ‘Economics vs Stigma. Socio-Economic Dynamics of Rural Leather Work in UP’, Economic & Political Weekly, 21(24): 1061–7.
39.
TartakovM. (Ed.) (2012) Dalit Art and Visual Imagery. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
40.
YoungJ.O. (2008) Cultural Appropriation and the Arts. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
