Problematising lived dalit experience

Abstract

If the Indian social sciences represent a "pernicious divide between theoretical brahmins and empirical shudras", should dalits move from poetry which generates inwardness to theory so as to advance the dalit epistemological cause? And are Habermas' views on universalism truly in contrast to the position that only the people who own an experience can theorise about it? This essay argues that the emphasis must be on the search for an authentic space for dalits in poetry instead of attempting to move them into social theory and elucidates the problems related to using Habermas as an illustration of universalism.