Coming Out as Dalit

The coming-of-age story of a Dalit individual and an incriminating analysis of systemic injustice in India

Yashica Dutt details the painful personal story of her struggles as a Dalit person, while revealing caste's significant impact on every aspect of Indian society that reaches into communities beyond. Born into a "formerly untouchable manual scavenging family in small town India," Dutt experienced intense discrimination due to her social position. Although prejudice against Dalits, who comprise 25% of the population, has been illegal since 1950, caste-ism is alive and well. In order to survive a discriminatory and harsh social order, she decided to pass as a dominant caste person.

She writes of how she and her family worked to “transcend” their caste through “curated performances” of middle-class habits. Dutt learned that excelling in English and speaking without a regional accent was essential. She writes about colorism and desperately using medicinal packs to try and lighten her skin to not appear “Dalit looking.” These attempts to mask her status culminated when after graduating Columbia University’s School of Journalism, Dutt learned that a Dalit student, Rohith Vemula, who was discriminated against at a university in India committed suicide. Dutt decided to break her silence, embrace being Dalit, and went on to jump-start crucial conversations about how many in India talk about caste.

Raw and affecting, this book covers caste’s influence in India over everything from entertainment to judicial systems. Dutt traces the influence of the colonial British forces, how Gandhi could have been more forceful in combatting prejudice, and the role played by Dr. BR Ambedkar—whom Isabel Wilkerson called “the MLK of India’s caste issues”--in her book, Caste. Published in India in 2019 to acclaim, this edition includes two new chapters which covers how the caste system traveled to the U.S., its history here, and the continuation of bias by South Asian communities in professional sectors.

With growing conversations about caste discrimination prompting U.S. institutions like Brandeis University, the University of California system, and the NAACP to add caste as a protected category to their policies, Dutt’s work provides an integral look at how caste continues to shape Indian society and beyond, and how by “coming out as Dalit,” we can change the way many talk about caste.