22. Dr. T Anantha Vijayah

Abstract 22. Dr. T. Anantha Vijayah

Land right movements – creating a discourse of dissent

 

Abstract

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King

Injustice – is it perceived or real?  The answer depends on from which position one creates a discourse.  In a world that is fast exploiting natural resources – discourses are created in order to appropriate the natural resources.  Countering those mainstream discourses becomes difficult for the affected people as they are mostly marginalised in the society.  The ‘teleological action’ meditated by the marginalised is to create a counter discourse as any other action would be self-inflicting and counterproductive. Having denied any meaningful dialogue on a common ground provides raison d’être for creating a discourse.  This ‘dramaturgical action’ is the discourse of dissent – here the songs.

Hence the voiceless people are resorting to creating a counter discourse that would drive home the positions of the voiceless through songs.  The songs have a dual purpose – to concretise the position of the marginalised and to declare the dissent to the ‘other’ drawing them to negotiations. This formidable mechanism – of creating songs – has created a mass of literature which is countering the mainstream discourse on the impact of land reforms in the country.  The songs thus created have attained a mass thereby concretising the counter discourse of dissent attempting to create a negotiated settlement of the difference in the discourses. This paper analyses select songs composed by the tribals of Madhya Pradesh for a  peaceful dissent.  The theory of ‘Communicative Action’ of Habermas is used to analyse the texts