Intersectional marginality: Compounding structural violence against Dalit Christians in India

Abstract

The limited literature on anti-Christian violence in India focuses on physical forms of violence. This chapter instead shows how the experience of structural violence faced by Dalit Christians is compounded due to the intersecting marginalities of religion and caste. Particularly, this chapter focuses on the structural violence experienced from the state, in the form of the imposition of anti-conversion laws, and the denial of state resources to Dalit Christians such as affirmative action policies. This chapter argues that as the Hindutva ideology has become further embedded in India’s political-legal structure, the situation of structural violence has deepened and compounded.