Embodied social exclusion: habit memory and the reproduction of caste in Dalit autobiographies

Casteism stratifies people in India into hierarchical ranks, imposing customs, rituals, and traditions in accordance with the division of labour. This systematic continuity of casteism preserves memory that is passed down from generation to generation, not merely by ideology but also embodied by mnemonic practices. Dalits are the most afflicted community by both ideological and habitual oppression of the upper caste. Beyond legal abolition of untouchability, it persists as a system of descent-based ethnic inequality. This study explores autobiographies of Omprakash Valmiki's Joothan (1997) and Urmila Pawar's The Weave of My Life (2008), two Marathi Dalit writers who have penned their experiences of suffering and humiliation inflicted by upper caste. Using thematic narrative analysis through the lens of Paul Connerton's concept of habit memory and incorporated practices, this study demonstrates that casteism is sustained in everyday habits by treating autobiographies as sociological evidence of ethnic caste discrimination. Embodied memory is performed through bodily acts, identifying five incorporated practices such as commensality, untouchability, labour division, spatial segregation, and postural discipline that function as bodily mnemonic systems through which hierarchical coercion is naturalised across generations. Existing scholarly works primarily focus on the abstract idea of casteism, identity quest, and trauma which leave a significant gap in understanding the role of embodied memory in sustaining inequality.