ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the representation of the village as a place of untouchability and caste violence as well as the mode in which this representation takes place. It re-interprets B. R. Ambedkar as a symbol of global modernity, and appropriates his struggle as a story of human rights in the context of globalization. The chapter discusses how the representation of village life and the Ambedkarite movement feed into the construction of cosmopolitan Dalit identity. It analyses the global context within which Narendra Jadhav locates the transformation of his family. Jadhav's Outcaste counterpoints a global cosmopolitan identity with a caste identity that is tied only to the nation. His critique of caste in the nation is structured by a desire for a cosmopolitan identity. In Jadhav's story of cosmopolitan identity, there is no attempt to negotiate with global modernity. It is assumed that the project of global modernity is given, natural and liberating.
