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Being Less Equal: Narratives of Poor Waste-picking Women in
Kerala on Inequality |
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Ann George |
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This paper examines how the poor themselves perceive and react to their situation in an
unequal world. It attempts to understand class and caste as lived experiences of the poor
through the narratives of poor women in Kerala. Two main fi ndings emerge in the paper.
First, the narratives on inequality from the bottom show that the process of adaptation is
never complete. Resentment and criticisms against inequality do come up in the minds of
the deprived along with feelings of humiliation, helplessness and sadness. However, they
are not clearly protesting also. Resentment against inequalities seems to be bounded or
contained. Second, the absence of stark forms of ill-treatment or discrimination along
with some positive attributes of the rich go a long way towards smoothening the felt aspect
of the class divide despite the wide objective segregation of the rich and the poor.
Similar to the class experience, some positive interactions and good experiences from the
higher castes smoothened the felt experience of caste. The limited nature of the interactions
with and help from the higher classes and castes are not questioned. |
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