Education for Confidence: Political Education for Recasting Bahujan Student Selves

Focusing on a personality development camp conducted by social justice activists in Bengaluru and the conversations it generated among young women students, this paper unpacks the interactions between confidence conceptualised as self-respect by anti-caste movements, and confidence as a soft skill required for service sector employment. The camp urged young people to cultivate confidence through an understanding of the contemporary caste economy and histories of valour amongst oppressed caste groups. The exercise occurred in the specific context of Indian higher education and the shaming of ‘reserved category’ students. The positing of confidence as a resource against social denigration questions generic critiques of personality development as neo-liberal.