University as a Temple: A Psychoanalytic Reflection on Caste and Education Rituals

Abstract:In the vision of modernity, older religious sites that imparted education have been replaced with the University as the new temple of learning. These ‘temples’ house countless dreams of finding and fulfilling one’s potentialities and securing a prosperous future. In a highly iniquitous society, the University is singularly invested with the objective of enabling access to success and a life of dignity via education. Yet, in reality, the space is highly fraught for students coming from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The paper employs the psychoanalytic perspective to understand the complex interplay of the social divisions of caste hierarchy operating within the context of the University. Using a case vignette and everyday observations set in a Department of Psychology in a University in Delhi, the paper explores the unconscious anxieties and defences that circulate among students and teachers unwittingly promoting forms of othering. Understanding these defences is crucial for deconstructing the resistance to learning that comes from different caste locations and for actualizing the vision of emancipatory education.