Abstract: The paper shows that clothing is a visible marker of caste through various historical narratives during the early twentieth century.  It especially focuses on the changes in the style of dress of the Dalit community as signifiers of caste social subjectivities of the Dalit men and women. It analyses the complex relationship between a Dalit identity, rules of untouchability, and their dress. In Indian society, during much of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, it was vital for groups to show their status through their apparel and to be able to recognize other groups through theirs as well. Negotiations around clothing were often articulated as a dilemma over choice. However, for specific groups such as the Scheduled Castes, especially among the Dalit community, the choice over clothing was far more complicated. Control of clothing of the lower caste was seen as an exercise of power to the extent that it often resulted in the prohibition of certain items of clothing and materials to specific caste groups in colonial India. Within the ‘lower caste’ cultural universe, clothing was seen as forming one of a series of patriarchal/upper caste constraints on untouchable bodies, ranging from strict codes of dressing to the imperative to cast off clothes. 

Speaker's bio: Dr. Anupama is an assistant professor in the Department of History, Mahanth Mahadevananda Mahila College at the Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, Bihar. She completed her M.A., M.Phil. and PhD from the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has had a teaching experience of six years, having taught at various colleges under the University of Delhi before joining the M M Mahila College, Ara. Her article on the sartorial history of Dalits, and caste in colonial India is under the process of publication for Dalit Studies Volume II, Permanent Black, edited by Ramnarayan Rawat and K.Satyanarayana. Her research interests include social, political and cultural history of dress, caste, gender, and cinema studies. Dr Anupama has been awarded the position of a Visiting Scholar at South Asia Center, University of Pennsylvania, for the duration of March-April 2025, and she will be working on her book project, 'Caste, Class and Clothing: North India in the First Half of the Twentieth Century.'