Afterword: Gendering Caste: Honor, Patriarchy and Violence

Introduction The central significance of gender to the operation of caste was vividly highlighted for me during fieldwork on Dalit politics and mobilization in 2012. I visited the offices of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) in Madurai (central Tamil Nadu) to interview the local leader Vikraman. He detailed the work of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front, which has documented the many and varied forms of untouchability practiced in contemporary Tamil Nadu. One example c..