In conversation with the burgeoning scholarship in Black ecologies, this article reviews broad bodies of literature concerning Dalit experiences of ecological vulnerability that may be read as the basis for a related subfield, Dalit ecologies. Blackness is a representational term that unifies oppressed people the world over. My heart pulsates when I hear Jackson sing. ‘Black’ is a powerful symbol that overcomes even the national boundaries of possibility of the word ‘dalit’. Dalit subjectivities and agency nevertheless remain evident in their literary and oral narratives and ongoing struggles for access to land, water, and other environmental resources. My analysis of scholarly literature finds that nature is caste-ized through the ideology of Hindu Brahminism that animates mainstream environmental activism in India. Aligning with Black ecologies as a challenge to eco-racism, I use the term “Dalit ecologies” to conceptualize Dalit articulations with their environment and experiences of eco-casteism involving inequities such as their exclusions from natural resources and high vulnerability to pollution and waste. Dalit viewpoints and ecological expertise nevertheless remain missing from the environmental literature and mainstream activism. Dalits are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters and climate change because of their high dependence on natural resources and manual labor, including agriculture. The caste system has implications for the environmental experiences of Dalits (formerly “untouchables”).
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