(Re)Constructing Spatial and Social Relations: Valmikis of Mumbai and Their Everyday Challenge to Caste

The chapter explores the following questions—how do migrant Dalits establish themselves in a metro city? How do they de-stigmatise their locality and self and, in the process, transform caste-based social relations? What role does a Dalit-majority locality play in challenging caste? Drawing from fieldwork conducted in a Valmiki neighbourhood in the easternmost suburb of Mumbai, I show how Valmikis transformed an uninhabitable place of land into a vibrant space for the self that tackles caste at multiple levels. The Valmiki have marked their locality physically and, coupled with numerical strength, are in a position to negotiate dignity and claim a share in urbanism. In everyday life, the Valmikis in the locality deploy caste as an identity and mobiliser tool to resist everyday casteism. I conclude by suggesting that it appears that urban spaces, in general, and one’s locality, in particular, are providing spaces for Dalits to address the caste question and generate a claim for equal citizenship.