Towards sensory responses to caste’s sensory regimes

Abstract

This presentation will build on my completed PhD research in artistic practice, Cuts and Continuities, which investigated how film practice can foreground caste-subaltern perspectives on the Bengal Famine of 1943. Reflecting on the creation of the film You Deny My Living and I Defy My Death, produced as part of this research, I will explore the possibilities of mobilizing sensorial filmmaking in anti-caste work. Drawing on Joel Lee’s (2017) assertion that caste is embedded not only in social and economic structures but also in the sensory and spatial dimensions of daily life, I will pose the question: can the sensorial turn in filmmaking disrupt and intervene in caste’s sensory regimes? This presentation will bring two key scholarly strands in proximity: the olfactory and sensory dimensions of caste regimes, and the haptic and affective turn in filmmaking. Engaging with the works of scholars such as Laura Marks (2007) and David MacDougall (2005), I will investigate how cinema’s haptic and embodied aesthetics can challenge caste hierarchies and dismantle the sensory stigmas attached to Dalit experiences. Additionally, I will examine one or two films from the Sensory Ethnography Lab at Harvard to evaluate their ethical, methodological, and aesthetic relevance for anti-caste work, focusing on their emphasis on multisensory engagement and spatial embodiment. Through this exploration, I will critically assess both the affordances and limitations of incorporating sensory filmmaking into anti-caste practices, aiming to advance a cinematic framework that meaningfully challenges sensory and caste-based hierarchies.