Born Without a Caste: Walls, Gates, and Borders of Belonging in An Atlas of Impossible Longing

Abstract

In An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy investigates the subject of caste as a system of exclusion and its influence on identity, space and belonging. This paper will explore the ambiguity of Mukunda's caste identity by drawing on some of the writings of B.R. Ambedkar, Sukhadeo Thorat, Anand Teltumbde and others. It examines how Mukunda has not been privileged despite his education with the help of Pierre Bourdieu's social capital theory. His statelessness is emphasized by Hannah Arendt's statelessness concept and his exclusion in the feast is brought about by KanchaIlaiah Shepherd's critique on the food rituals of the caste. The research highlights the continued importance of caste differences to access and identity in literature and modern society.