Obscurity of Camp Life:Is the Language of Camp ‘Passivityto Write’?

Abstract

The meaning of camp is pivotal to understand the life of the refugee along with geopolitical ordering and the strategy of governance in present time. In the recent years, specifically in the subcontinent, the concept of camp has emerged as a tool or destination for this particular category of people. Basic concept of the camp is largely articulated through the question of refugee which is deeply connected to the Partition of India in 1947. In the same proposition the question of caste has been framed in the context of Bengal. Yet, the same question could be thought of in different manners in the same context. The question of caste could be addressed through anthropological, sociological or historical ways of understanding vis-à-vis the structure of the Hindu society. (Bose; Sanyal) This paper aims to think the question of caste spatially where Partition is seen as the ruins of past experiences. Therefore, camps considered here are not only thought of as concentration of the refugees, but it also indicates the phenomenon of caste in Bengal and explores the meaning of camp considering this reality. Later we will explicate how the existence of camp produces a distinct type of discourse which may help us to understand the question of caste in another dimension. Here the concept of camp is sociologically defined as a qualitative direction in which the concept, desire and kind of being is determined (Gasset 14). However, the paper does not consider camp as quantum of masses of the refugees (Agamben “We Refugee” 114); rather it has a specific qualitative character in which it excluded them. The reality of the camp articulated here comes from the exigency of the refugee influx after the Partition of India in 1947 and we are quite far from its systematic history. Refugee camp methodologically is conceived through the ‘language in the words’ which can be interpreted by its expression and unlike physical existence, the camp is looked at spatially. If we try to understand the phenomenon of the refugee, spatial intervention directs us to investigate the ‘as such’ regarding its existence; otherwise it can help us only to interpret the camp ontologically. The discourse of social stratification or the question of caste has largely directed the concept of equality, rights and the concepts of pure and impure. Such type of conceptualization is articulated through the experiences of discrimination of caste where historical events have been prioritized. In Bengal, Partition represents a major event in which caste consciousness plays a distinct and separate role compared to other parts of India. Spatial interrogation will direct us to the experience of caste in terms of the temporal existence of refugees and we will look forward to address the question phenomenally.