The background and
vision of the Dalit Portal
My
name is Bengt-Olof Nord and I live in Sweden. I have for many years been doing
voluntary work with immigrants and refugees in the city of Umeå in northern
Sweden. In 2006 I started learning more about the situation, culture and
history of dalit people in India. I feel solidarity with the dalit population
of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and worldwide and strongly oppose the
atrocities of the caste system with all the discrimination, suffering and
oppression it is causing today and have caused during milleniums. I feel it is
time for people everywhere to start eradicating the evils of discrimination and
malicious prejudice. Time to work for dignity and solidarity in this world. It
all starts within ourselves and continues with helping others to emancipate
themselves from hatred and fears, breaking free from the mental chains of
ignorance and egoism. Seeing the whole picture and realising that a minority
can't oppress a majority forever, acknowledging that the hard labour of dalits
has built up and contributed to the wealth of the nations they live in today.
Appreciating the richness of dalit culture and seeing the the strength and
beauty of hundreds of millions of people that have survived despite thousands
of years of genocide, humilation, oppression, exploitation and brainwashing.
Today we see new generations of talented dalit youth that will transform our
world to a better place. I support them with all my heart and encourage them to
shine everyday and empower as many as they possible can from their communities.
Teach the world about dalit culture and history and always be proud of who you
are and where you come from. You are survivors and unstoppable. There are no
limits of what you can accomplish together.
My fieldwork in Andhra Pradesh
From
January to the beginning of March 2007 I visited Hyderabad and Warangal in
Andhra Pradesh where I conducted a field study about the university experiance
of dalit students. The study was intended to amount in a thesis of the Cultural
Analysis university programme that I’ve been studying. Unfortunately I haven't
had time or opportunity to finish the thesis because of financial and other
reasons. Right now I've taken a break from my studies and am currently
working.
Even
if I can’t complete my thesis now, still I want my work to be of some use to
all my dear friends in Andhra Pradesh. It’s for you I came to Hyderabad Central
University, Osmania University and Kakatiya University. I will therefore
try to maintain this site as a resource website for dalit students and other
people interested in dalit issues. The Dalit Portal will be site where you can
find links to interesting and useful websites and documents. It will later contain
more contact information to scholars, activists and organisations that work for
the dalit cause. I will also put out the findings of my interviews and
observations from my field work and discuss the situation of dalit students in
this site. Even if it’s not a thesis, it is what I can present you for now.
Where is Umeå? 