Shit, Caste, and the Divine: What's Your Ism? Reflections | Raees Muhammad
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May 20, 2025
Dive into a thought-provoking exploration of how toilets reveal cultural ideologies and societal values. From ritual purity and the complexities of caste systems to philosophical insights on spirituality, the conversation challenges conventional views on cleanliness. Discover how common experiences reflect deeper human truths, as well as the intersections of divinity and the mundane. Expect compelling discussions that confront what society often tries to hide in its pursuit of purity.
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Raees Muhammad's Personal Journey
Raees Muhammad shifted from a radical student leader to a law student after facing political and social pressures.
His journey reflects the hardships many Dalit, Adivasi, and Muslim activists endure amid rising right-wing oppression in India.
insights INSIGHT
Purity and Toilets in Islam
Visiting mosques revealed to Raees the respectful and dignified treatment of toilets in Islam.
This insight contrasts with the caste-based oppression experienced by those linked to conservancy work in India.
insights INSIGHT
Toilets Reveal Societal Ideologies
Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek connects toilet design to ideological perceptions of society.
Toilets symbolize how civilizations confront or deny human realities like excrement, which reflects deeper social attitudes.
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Slavoj Žižek's "The Plague of Fantasies" delves into the complexities of ideology and its manifestation in everyday life. Žižek uses Lacanian psychoanalysis to dissect societal structures and power dynamics, often employing provocative and unconventional examples. The book explores the ways in which ideology shapes our perceptions and actions, subtly influencing even seemingly mundane aspects of existence. Žižek's writing style is known for its dense prose and challenging arguments, requiring careful consideration from the reader. The book's central theme revolves around the ways in which ideological fantasies shape our reality and maintain social control.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
Set in Czechoslovakia during the 1968 Prague Spring and its aftermath, 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' follows the lives of Tomáš, a surgeon and serial adulterer; Tereza, his wife; Sabina, Tomáš's mistress and an artist; and Franz, Sabina's lover. The novel delves into philosophical themes such as the concept of 'lightness' versus 'heaviness', drawing from the ideas of Nietzsche and Parmenides. It explores the characters' experiences with love, sex, loyalty, and betrayal, all set against the political turmoil of the time. The story examines the human condition, the search for meaning and happiness, and the consequences of the choices made by the characters[2][3][5].
What’s Your Ism? Reflections – Episode 3
In this third episode, Sudipto Mondal reflects on his conversation with Dr. Raees Muhammad — formerly Ravichandran Bathran, scholar, activist, and founder of Dalit Camera. The discussion moves beyond religion and resistance, into a quieter but more powerful space — the toilet. From Raees’s reflections on ritual purity and his conversion to Islam, to Slavoj Žižek’s classification of toilets as ideological structures, and Milan Kundera’s theological riddle about God and shit, Sudipto asks: how does a civilisation that denies its own shit justify its obsession with purity? This is not about provocation — it’s about confronting what caste tries hardest to hide.
What's your ism? 
