| dc.description.abstract | The alienation, discrimination and marginalization experiences of subaltern communities continue to spawn vast literature but equal attention is hardly paid to how these communities respond. This thesis examines the responses of members of marginalised groups to the dominant bordering discourse. Specifically how communities like the Hakki-Pikki and the Roma use the resources and tools available to them to cope with their othering as stigmatised communities. The thesis analyses the ways in which members of marginalised communities accept or reject these dominant discourses
My research interest lies in the area of resistances, especially the unstated and everyday forms it takes. I am interested in how these forms of resistances of the subordinated have a role in altering the dominant boundary discourse. In this thesis, I have examined how the bordering discourses are created and maintained in the public discourses through media representations, policy, and governance frameworks. I have also analysed the various kind’s responses to these dominant discourses which can take cognitive, individual, social, cultural, economic and political forms. Overall, the members of these marginalised communities are observed to make strategic claims of belonging and un-belonging in coping with their othering and discrimination experiences. I have examined the ideological and cognitive tools that are used by the members of these communities in helping them negotiate the pervasive and entrenched discrimination
Based on field work, conducted in Karnataka, India and different parts or the U.K, I establish the stigmatised and reified depictions in the dominant discourse taking different structural forms in both cases. The responses of communities to these discourses can largely be classified as pro-dominant, anti-dominant and avoidant. Strategic claims of belonging are found to be made by communities based on the resources and cultural, social, political tools available to them. I have demonstrated how un-belonging claims of the Migrant Roma and Hakki-Pikki are rooted in the discrimination experience. How psychological belonging underlies repeated performances of certain stigmatised actions and how that could lead to boundary negotiations. | en |
