Why Dalit?

Authors

  • Berit Madsen School of Culture and Society - Department of Anthropology Aarhus University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v1i1.1323

Abstract

Why do some people consider others "untouchable"? Why do upper caste people sprinkle water to purify themselves when touched by a Dalit?

This documentary film explores the caste system in Nepal as it is experienced by lower castes - the Dalit - and upper caste people. Through the words of Dalit, the film reveals many of the paradoxes in the upper caste based discrimination, like: why are the shoes made by the Sarki lower caste people allowed into the house when the person who made the shoes cannot enter?

The Dalit are not one homogenous group of people, but a common denominator for a variety of lower caste people living in Nepal. The film moves from the hill regions in West Nepal to the Terai in the south and put focus on different Dalit castes, their living circumstances within the Nepalese caste system and the Dalits' migration from the hill regions to the Terai in the hope of making a better living.

In 1990 the practice of caste-based discrimination was declared illegal and punishable by law in Nepal. But the caste system still forms an essential part of the cultural landscape.

Author Biography

Berit Madsen, School of Culture and Society - Department of Anthropology Aarhus University

Berit Madsen, born 1964, is a social anthropologist and documentary filmmaker from Denmark, graduated from Aarhus University department of Ethnography and Social anthropology. She was trained as a documentary film maker at the French Documentary Film School “Ataliers Varan”, and holds a diploma in Journalism from the Danish School of Journalism. She has carried out fieldwork in the Caribbean, Nepal, Niger and Denmark.

Berit has directed a wide range of ethnographic and documentary films since 2000 - as part of scientific research, as commisioned films or as independent international production. One of her latest films “Sepideh – reaching for the stars” (Iran, 2014, 90 min.) is a prize winning international feature-length documentary that has been sold to more than 50 countries, had cinema release in Denmark, USA and the Netherlands, was selected for international competition at the prestigeous IDFA and Sundance Film Festival and nominated to Bodil and Robert prize (Danish Oscar and Critics Prize) and Grierson (British Oscar).  She has been a member of the working committee of the Nordic Anthropological Film Association since 1991 and co-editor of its electronic newsletter NAFA-Network since 1993. She has been teaching extensively in visual anthropology and documentary film making e.g. at Aarhus University, at Jandarshan Filmshool in India and for upcoming directors in Denmark.

Berit is co-founder of a new “Filmschool for Documentary and Web” in Aarhus, Denmark that starts up in February 2018 and will run 20-weeks courses in practical documentary film making (directing, camera, sound, editing) twice a year (spring and autumn).

 

 

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Published

2017-11-10

How to Cite

Madsen, B. (2017). Why Dalit?. Journal of Anthropological Films, 1(1), e1323. https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v1i1.1323

Issue

Section

Films