The Trauma of Caste

A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition

By: Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Tarana Burke - introduction, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Cornel West

Narrated by: Thenmozhi Soundararajan

For readers of Caste and Radical Dharma, an urgent call to action to end caste apartheid, grounded in Dalit feminist abolition and engaged Buddhism.

“Dalit” is the name that we chose for ourselves when Brahminism declared us “untouchable.” Dalit means broken. Broken by suffering. Broken by caste: the world’s oldest, longest-running dominator system...yet although “Dalit” means broken, it also means resilient.
Despite its ban more than 70 years ago, caste is thriving. Every 15 minutes, a crime is perpetrated against a Dalit person. The average age of death for Dalit women is just 39. And the wreckages of caste are replicated here in the U.S., too--erupting online with rape and death threats, showing up at work, and forcing countless Dalits to live in fear of being outed.
Dalit American activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan puts forth a call to awaken and act, not just for readers in South Asia, but all around the world. She ties Dalit oppression to fights for liberation among Black, Indigenous, Latinx, femme, and Queer communities, examining caste from a feminist, abolitionist, and Dalit Buddhist perspective--and laying bare the grief, trauma, rage, and stolen futures enacted by Brahminical social structures on the caste-oppressed.
Soundararajan’s work includes embodiment exercises, reflections, and meditations to help readers explore their own relationship to caste and marginalization--and to step into their power as healing activists and changemakers. She offers skills for cultivating wellness within dynamics of false separation, sharing how both oppressor and oppressed can heal the wounds of caste and transform collective suffering. Incisive and urgent, The Trauma of Caste is an activating beacon of healing and liberation, written by one of the world’s most needed voices in the fight to end caste apartheid.

Fabulous

Fabulous read. Very insightful! Made me shift my thinking which is always good. I like the biographies of prominent figures in the appendix!

This is a game changer!

This book is AMAZING! The author tells it so true and her narration is captivating. This is such an important read for the whole world if we want to live in peace. I cried several times but was simultaneously uplifted along the path of healing. The conclusion is one of the most eloquent manifestos for the new era and it just floored me. Having viewed Dalit discrimination personally in India I wish I had read this book beforehand to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. Thank you Thenmozhi! This was one of the most moving books I have ever read.

This book will liberate you

From all systems of oppression. Full of wisdom , insight, care, and courage. This is liberation for all.