Dag Erik Berg

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2023). Zooming in on Dewey, Democracy, and Subjectivity in Postdigital Education. Postdigital Science and Education. ISSN 2524-485X. doi: 10.1007/s42438-023-00422-8. Vis sammendrag

  Digital tools, such as video conference technology, are currently transforming people’s behaviour, social relations, and learning processes in higher education. But the digital tools used in teaching and learning are also part of a dynamic capitalism. This article focuses on democracy and subjectivity in higher education and outlines a critical approach in this context. I revisit John Dewey’s philosophy to reflect on digital tools and the goals of education in a democratic society. Published more than a century ago, Dewey’s seminal book Democracy and Education is relevant as a constructive approach to combining learning, experience, habits, and tools. Dewey argued that dualisms between mind and matter, knowledge and nature, undermine a democratic society. For Dewey, a society would require communication and the sharing of experiences whilst education would require democratic aims beyond the individual. Yet the contemporary challenges include a ‘digital gaze’ where the technology makes subjects more visible and observed. Foucault’s analytics of power thus becomes a constructive supplement to Dewey’s focus on participation and modes of inquiry to fully examine subjectivity and democracy in postdigital higher education.

• Bamerni, Lelav & Berg, Dag-Erik (2023). Digitaliseringsdiskursen i norsk forvaltning: fornyings-visjonen, brukerbegrepet og borgernes selvråderett. I Giskeødegård, Marte Fanneløb; Strand, Øivind; Lunde, Arnhild; Solberg, Mads & Bakke, Snorre (Red.), Nyskaping : Fjordantologien 2023. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 978-82-15-06937-1. s. 174–190. doi: 10.18261/9788215069371-23-10. Vis sammendrag

  Vi analyserer regjeringers planleggingsdokumenter i perioden 2009til 2020 som omhandler digitalisering, og diskuterer dem i lys av sosialteoretiske kri-tikker av den digitale teknologiens betydning for overvåkningskapitalisme. Teknolo-gien representerer en ny type makt og kan undergrave politikken i demokratiskestater. Analysen vår viser at den norske digitaliseringsstrategien er ensidig, optimis-tisk og mer preget av et nyliberalt effektivitetsideal enn kritisk refleksivitet.

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2023). Caste and two types of status : comparing Dumont and Weber for studies of caste today. Contemporary South Asia. ISSN 0958-4935. 31(1), s. 110–124. doi: 10.1080/09584935.2023.2169904. Vis sammendrag

  In this article I argue that the concept of status requires more attention in today’s scholarly approach to caste. Caste has become a contested concept which authors define in multiple ways, but the different definitions of status in India’s caste system remain unclear. This article focusses on the two seminal contributions of Louis Dumont and Max Weber. Both have frequently been criticised and dismissed, but this article aims to delineate and compare their different understandings of status. Their contributions have often been judged according to their cultural significance or general concepts of modernity; however, by unpacking their approaches to status, a proper distinction can be made between achieved and attributed status in the study of caste. Thus, revisiting and comparing Dumont’s and Weber’s different concepts of status may create greater clarity when explaining ‘exclusion’ and the evolving caste practices in India and in the diaspora. Keywords: India's caste system, status, hierarchy, racism, stratification, Louis Dumont, Max Weber, Dalits

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2018). Foregrounding contingency in caste-based dominance : Ambedkar, hegemony, and the Pariah concept. Philosophy & Social Criticism. ISSN 0191-4537. 44(8), s. 843–864. doi: 10.1177/0191453717744007. Vis sammendrag

  This paper focuses on how revolts against caste-based oppression in India have been made invisible due to conceptual legacies in European social and political theory. Weber’s and Arendt’s conceptualization of Pariah agency is a case in point. Arendt’s main understanding of Pariah agency is individualized and inadequate to study freedom struggles among untouchable castes. This article argues that one not only needs to move away from analyzing individual to collective action, but it is also crucial to foreground how collective mobilization among excluded groups has focused on contingencies that embed a system of domination. Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s critique of caste-based domination in India is noteworthy in this regard; he foregrounds how the distinction between “Touchables” and “Untouchables” in the caste system is both embedded and contingent. Focusing on untouchability in India, Ambedkar offers insights into hegemonic analyses of social exclusion, human rights articulations before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and add value to current debates in post-foundational thought and transnational analysis. Keywords: social theory, hegemony, India’s caste system, emancipation, Weber, Arendt, Ambedkar, post-structuralist theory, post-foundationalism, transnationalism

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2018). Race as a political frontier against caste : WCAR, Dalits and India’s foreign policy. Journal of International Relations and Development. ISSN 1408-6980. 21(4), s. 990–1013. doi: 10.1057/s41268-017-0091-3. Vis sammendrag

  This article explains why caste has not become part of the international approach to eliminate racial discrimination by examining a paradigmatic debate in India on the relevance of caste at the 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa (WCAR) and its ‘Review Process’. In 2001, the NGO-led organisation, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, made an attempt to include caste-based discrimination in the Durban Declaration; however, the Government of India prevented this development on the grounds that caste was irrelevant in international law. Caste and race became contested political concepts, and the rationale of the Dalit campaign was challenged. Furthermore, the Indian government’s diplomatic opposition to include caste in the WCAR was consolidated by adopting a strict concept of race to create a political frontier against an international human rights regime. The ‘Durban process’ thus reactivated a hegemonic discourse in India concerning race to avoid international scrutiny of caste discrimination. Keywords: caste discrimination, Dalit, hegemony, human rights, India, racism

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2015). Caste, hierarchy and race in a world-historical perspective: Louis Dumont and his critique of Max Weber. Journal of Intercultural Studies. ISSN 0725-6868. 36(4), s. 413–430. doi: 10.1080/07256868.2015.1049982.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2015). Structural mechanism, law, and the Dalit question in India. Asian Journal of Law and Society. ISSN 2052-9015. 2(1), s. 21–33. doi: 10.1017/als.2014.14.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2014). Karamchedu and the Dalit subject in Andhra Pradesh. Contributions to Indian sociology. ISSN 0069-9667. 48(3), s. 383–408. doi: 10.1177/0069966714540242.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2014). Scheduled castes policies in interstate perspective: Constitutional power, argumentative practices, and governance in India. India Review. ISSN 1473-6489. 13(3), s. 235–250. doi: 10.1080/14736489.2014.937269.

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• Berg, Dag-Erik (2019). Dynamics of caste and law : Dalits, oppression and constitutional democracy in India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108779616. 243 s. Vis sammendrag

  Dynamics of Caste and Law breaks new ground in understanding how caste and law relate in India's democratic order. Caste has become a visible phenomenon often associated with discrimination, inequality and politics in India and globally. India's constitutional democracy has had a remarkable goal of creating equality in a context of caste. Despite constitutional promises with equal opportunities for the lower castes and outlawing of untouchability at the time of independence, recurring atrocities and inadequate implementation of law have called for rethinking and legal change. This book sheds new light on why caste oppression persists by using new theoretical perspectives as well as Bhimrao Ambedkar's concepts of the caste system. Focusing on struggles among India's Dalits, the castes formerly known as untouchables, the book draws on a rich material and explains, among other things, mechanisms of oppression and how powerful actors may gain influence in institutions of law and state.

Se alle arbeider i Cristin

• Gammelsæter, Hallgeir; Halse, Lise Lillebrygfjeld & Berg, Dag-Erik (2024). Digitaliseringens uutholdelige letthet. Panorama : nettavis for Høgskolen i Molde.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2023). Kunstig intelligens utfordrer vitenskapen og demokratiet. Forskersonen.no.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2023). The routledge handbook of exclusion, inequality and stigma in India. Edited by NMP Verma and Alpana Srivastava. Pacific Affairs. ISSN 0030-851X. 96(1).
• Berg, Dag Erik & Bråthen, Svein (2022). Prinsippløst forslag om skolepenger. Romsdals Budstikke.. ISSN 0806-5160.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2022). Erik Solheim forskjønner autoritær ledelse i Modis India. Forskersonen.no.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2022). "Gandhi’s concept of non-violence and the Mardøla struggle".
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2021). Ikke-vold, Gandhi og Mardalsfossen. Panorama : nettavis for Høgskolen i Molde.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2021). Thomas Hobbes. En introduksjonsvideo. Forskningsdagene 2021. .
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2021). Ikke-vold, Gandhi og Mardalsfossen. Tidens Krav.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2021). Ikke-vold, Gandhi og Mardalsfossen. Romsdals Budstikke.. ISSN 0806-5160. s. 26–27.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2021). Book note. Bauman, Chad M (2020) Anti-Christian Violence in India. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Journal of Peace Research. ISSN 0022-3433.
• Berg, Dag-Erik & Meisingset, Sigrun Lossius (2021). Spørsmålet er hva som skjer med Trump de neste to ukene . [Avis]. Romsdals Budstikke.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2020). Ambedkar’s radical moves beyond Dewey’s pragmatism. Countercurrents.org.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Studying caste, race and nation today: law, hegemony and the ontological drive .
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Steps towards a critical explanation of caste and law: domination, political ethnography, interpretation.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). "Caste, law and domination in the world’s largest democracy".
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Book talk: Dynamics of Caste and Law: Dalits, Oppression and Constitutional Democracy in India.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). "Caste and Law - How can it be explained that caste-based oppression persists?".
• Berg, Dag-Erik & Pettersson, Petter Haakon (2020). Trump har beredet grunnen for andre autoritære ledere. [Avis]. Romsdals Budstikke.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Slik undergraver demagogene demokratiet. Tidens Krav.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Slik undergraver demagogene demokratiet. Romsdals Budstikke.. ISSN 0806-5160.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2020). Den politiske betydningen av ontologiske motsigelser. Salongen.no.
• Berg, Dag-Erik & Midtgarden, Torjus (2020). Ambedkar’s radical moves beyond Dewey’s pragmatism. Countercurrents.org.
• Berg, Dag-Erik; Ruud, Arild Engelsen; Frøystad, Kathinka & Løkeland-Stai, Espen (2020). India-forsker om rektor-nei til India-tur: «Lite interesse for demokrati?». [Avis]. Khrono.no.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2017). Kastestigma, daliter og Indias kvoteringspolitikk.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2017). Graded inequality in international perspective : caste, inequality, slavery.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2017). Human rights struggle in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2017). Race as a political frontier against caste in international human rights politics: Dalits, India’s foreign policy and the UN. Vis sammendrag

  The concept of race has been central to attempts of decolonising knowledge and European categories of thought, but the question of caste in India has not yet been brought into the social sciences and the global approach to racism and exclusion. The aim of this presentation is to explain how anthropological definitions of race could exclude caste in international law. The controversy over caste and race in India’s foreign policy at the time of the Word Conference against Racism in Durban South Africa in 2001 gives insights into how race could be defined to keep caste-based discrimination away from international human rights law. India’s foreign policy in WCAR was supported by sociologists who defined race as a matter of biology and category-making, thus undermining Dalit activists who wanted to include caste at the conference. There is a long history in anthropology of trying to defend the study of cultures on their own terms. In 1947, the American Anthropological Association argued that the drafting committee of Universal Declaration of Human Rights should respect other cultures. Similarly, anthropologists like Claude Levi Strauss and Louis Dumont used global comparisons to address cultural diversity and to avoid using European categories like race to study other cultures. They did not study how such approaches could marginalise problems of oppressed groups in foreign policies, such as India’s Dalits. Nor did these anthropologists take international migration into account, including caste-relations in South Africa or Britain into account. Historical methods have been more central to postcolonial studies in their attempt of decolonising humanities and social sciences. Dipesh Chakrabarthy’s Provincializing Europe is a case in point. However, although Chakrabarthy brings in minority histories to foreground subaltern pasts, his contribution could create the impression that everyone who is not the coloniser are subalterns. He has no critique of caste as a form of exclusion. Nor does Chakrabarthy refer to the sociology of caste that Ambedkar developed in the interwar period. Ambedkar was not only a prime leader of the untouchables, but he was also an organic scholar who – like Du Bois – was kept outside the academic catalogue. Anthropology of race cannot simply be confined to a critique of colonialism if it should understand how contemporary forms of exclusion operates across cultures. The politics of caste and race at the time of the WCAR in Durban, South Africa 2001 represents a different starting point to identify how race could be a political concept, which is hegemonized by certain discourses. Historically, India’s official argument connects with the idea of a global colour line and the history of white colonial settlers. India criticised apartheid in South Africa at the time that Du Bois formulated the idea of a global colour line. A central lesson from the international politics of caste and race is nonetheless that while there are several competing discourses, the understanding of race as biology and colonialism may establish a frontier against caste. How could one take racial discrimination seriously while also developing approaches to acknowledge other forms of exclusion embedded in other cultures, such as caste in India and internationally? For instance, given that Du Bois and Ambedkar were organic scholars who were excluded by mainstream academics, what would have enabled them to be acknowledged as scholars today?

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2016). Mechanisms of oppression : Dalits and legal development in India.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2016). Legal changes in the context of caste-based oppression in India : law, discourse, Dalits.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2016). Seeking freedom from caste-based domination in India : Ambedkar, revolts among untouchables and misconceptions of Pariah.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2016). Ambedkar’s revolt against caste in India: studying emancipation outside the anthropological framework of caste and race. Vis sammendrag

  The paper sheds critical light on concepts such as outcasts and Pariah in social and political theory, pointing out how they are incompatible with historical revolts against caste based oppression in India.

• Berg, Dag-Erik (2014). The event of Tsundur : a massacre of Dalits and the legal disputes.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2014). Inequality, Identity and Constitutional Forms among Scheduled Castes in India.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2014). Louis Dumont and Max Weber on Caste.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2014). Misnøye beveger ikke verden. Salongen : Nettstedet for filosofi og idéhistorie.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2013). Dr. Ambedkar, a symbolic type and the Dalit movement in India.
• Berg, Dag-Erik (2013). Caste, sovereignty and race : keeping Durban away from India.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2012). Madiga Dandora and their demand to sub-categorise a constitutional category.
• Berg, Dag Erik (2013). Towards a framework for interstate analysis of policies for the Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu: Legal conditions and development policies. Caste out of Development - http://casteout.wordpress.com/.

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