Omprakash Valmiki’s autobiography, Joothan: A Dalit’s Life, stands as a seminal work inDalit literature, offering an unflinching testimony to the brutalities of caste oppression inpost-independence India. This paper argues that in Joothan, the consumption of rituallypolluted, leftover food—the eponymous joothan—is not merely an indicator of poverty but acentral and systemic mechanism of caste-based violence, humiliation, and thedehumanization of Dalits. The narrative meticulously demonstrates how food andcommensality operate as a primary site for the performance of upper-caste power and theenforcement of a rigid social hierarchy. Drawing upon an analytical framework that combinesthe sociology of food, caste studies, and theories of purity and pollution, this paper examinesthe material and symbolic weight of joothan. It first establishes the theoretical underpinningsof food-based caste rules before analyzing how the forced consumption of waste functions asa tool of subjugation, inflicting deep psychological trauma. Conversely, the paper exploreshow acts of refusal—rejecting the polluted scraps—and the autonomous preparation of foodbecome pivotal moments of resistance and the reclamation of Dalit dignity. By tracing thispolitics of the plate, the paper highlights Joothan's profound contribution to understandingthe visceral, everyday experience of structural violence and the complex process of forging aresistant Dalit identity in the face of systemic degradation. The analysis concludes byconnecting Valmiki's narrative to the persistence of food-based discrimination incontemporary India, affirming the text's enduring relevance.
Pradhan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.