Dalit Ecologies: Literature,Capitalism and Cinematic Landscapes in Contemporary India

Abstract

This article examines how contemporary dalit literature and cinema reconfigure the relationship between caste and ecology in India. Analysing Ajay Navaria’s Unclaimed Terrain, Chandrabhan Prasad’s writings on dalit capitalism, and Tamil films including Karnan, Asuran and Pariyerum Perumal, the study shows how land, water and infrastructure are not neutral backdrops but active sites of caste regulation and resistance. The article argues that dalit texts and films map ‘dalit ecologies’, a framework that links environmental access and degradation to the persistence of caste hierarchies while foregrounding counter-landscapes of memory, mobility and insurgency. Through close readings of literary narratives, film sequences and theoretical interventions, the article demonstrates how urban migration, market reforms and cinematic insurgency unsettle the ecological foundations of caste, imagining more democratic relations to soil, water and space. By situating ecological justice within anti-caste praxis, the essay contributes to emerging conversations on environmental humanities, caste studies and the politics of social inclusion.