Paper short abstract:

This paper traces the role of the state in shaping the experience of higher education in India for marginalized caste groups, and how in current times this is contested or reified through diverse student politics/ activism in Universities through ethnographic study of a University campus.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I examine two inter-related aspects of higher education in India- the dominant state narrative that governs the higher education, and the student-politics/ activism that either tries to consolidate or challenge the state narrative, with a focus on caste. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of this complex interaction for better inclusion of marginalized caste groups through a transformation of the narratives the state deems 'worthy of discussion'.

The early formative period of a nation's educational system is crucial in understanding its evolution and impact on the society. In the context of Indian higher education, the state-led discourses of 'modernity' and 'merit' on which modern education was founded, normalized the dominant ideology masked as 'objective, scientific and progressive'. Using Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction, I discuss how this normalization of dominant ideology in the Universities systematically puts marginalized caste groups at a disadvantageous position in terms of their overall student life experience and mental health. Situating my arguments in the ethnography of a University campus in Maharashtra, I then discuss the activities of various student bodies active in the University, through an analysis of their protests, agenda of action, and mass student mobilization around issues of everyday life. The complex interaction of these student bodies, some of which represent national and state political parties, with each other, University administration and students of different caste and class backgrounds gives interesting insights into the transformation of state- students relationship through discursive contestation and consolidation of ideologies.