Critical examination of the movement of denotified and nomadic communities and their imaginative expression

Abstract

This dissertation is A Critical Examination of the Movement of the Denotified and Nomadic Communities and their Imaginative Expression . The social category of the Denotified Communities has its origins in the Criminal Tribes Act , legislated by the British in 1871. By this Act, the communities enlisted under it came to be known as Criminal Tribes . These communities were denotified under the Criminal Tribes Laws (Repeal) Act in 1952. At the time of the denotification, there were 127 such communities. The placing of these communities under the Criminal Tribes Act has typecast them as criminals , preventing their integration with the larger society. Thus, despite their denotification, the Denotified Communities continue their struggle for freedom. In the late 1990s, a national social movement was launched for the social justice and human rights of the Denotified Communities. Along with, there is emergence of imaginative expressions in the form of theatre and literature. I have brought together in this dissertation the social movement and the theatre and literature of the Denotified Communities with the aim to critically analyse these to see if the struggle of these communities for freedom can be imagined differently through imaginative expression. The Introduction presents the background, scope and framework of the study. There are broadly two sections in the study. Chapter Two presents a history of the emergence of the categories of Criminal Tribes and the Denotified Communities . Chapter Three critically examines first, the context in the post-Independence period which led to the emergence of the national social movement in the late 1990s. It thereafter analyses the national movement for its achievements and limitations. The next section is devoted to imaginative expressions. Chapter Four looks into the role of the Budhan Theatre Group in the struggle of the Denotified Communities while Chapter Five critically analysis the literary writings to examine how their writers have imagined the pathways.