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Paper short abstract:

Using frameworks of social movement theory, anti-caste thought, and queer ethnography, I explore how shared spaces, like Mumbai’s pride parades, resist hierarchies yet reproduce caste privilege, questioning citizenship and justice from anti-caste standpoint.

Paper long abstract:

Recent years have seen protests and movements across the Global South that challenge entrenched inequalities, authoritarianism, and clientelism. Similarly, in India, pride parades have emerged as a powerful symbol of the queer movement, bringing queerness into public spaces where it otherwise remains elusive. While these protests and parades seek to challenge hegemonic social and political structures, they also reflect deeper exclusions within their own spaces. This paper explores how movements—from anti-authoritarian protests to pride parades—serve as contested sites for reimagining citizenship, belonging, and justice, while simultaneously reproducing exclusions based on class, caste, and other axes of marginality. Drawing on frameworks of social movement theory, anti-caste theory, and vulnerable queer ethnography, we examine how protests and public mobilizations navigate power, privilege, and resistance. From the visible omission of caste bodies in pride parades to the evolving narratives of marginalized groups during broader political protests, I discuss how shared spaces function both as sites of resistance and as arenas where dominant structures are subtly reinforced. For instance, the spatial and social dynamics of pride in cities like Mumbai highlight how neoliberal logics sustain caste privilege, even within movements that ostensibly aim to dismantle hierarchical power structures. How do movements and spaces like pride parades challenge and reproduce marginalities? What narratives do these movements construct, and how inclusive are they of those at the intersection of caste, class, and queerness? From a marginalized standpoint, this paper unpacks how protests and shared spaces confront systemic inequality while reimagining pathways to solidarity and inclusivity.