top of page

Dr Kameshwaran Envernathan Govender

Tshwane University of Technology

Kameshwaran Governdor.jpg

Casteless Collective And Loyilo Gijana: Artivism Through Music Against Gender-based Violence

ABSTRACT

This paper explores music as a form of artivism through a comparative lens, focusing on the Casteless Collective from Tamil Nadu, India, and South African singer-songwriter Loyiso Gijana. The Casteless Collective, rooted in Ambedkarite ideology, challenges caste oppression and gender-based violence through powerful protest music grounded in the lived experiences of Dalits.

Their song Snowlin, performed by Arivu and OfRo as part of the Therukural series, memorialises the tragic deaths of Asifa, an eight-year-old girl gang-raped and murdered in Kashmir by right-wing extremists, and Snowlin, a student protestor killed by police during the anti-Sterlite protests in 2018. Similarly, in South Africa, Gijana’s Madoda Sabelani (“Men Must Answer”) addresses the country’s femicide crisis, blending Afro-soul and gospel to create a deeply personal and political outcry.

Both acts use music to mourn, resist, and mobilise—transforming grief into calls for justice and collective action. Drawing on virtual ethnography, this paper engages with digital platforms such as YouTube and Instagram to trace how these songs circulate, resonate, and generate affective publics online.

With Snowlin garnering over 438K views on YouTube and Madoda Sabelani reaching 4.2 million views, these performances have extended their reach far beyond national borders, activating transnational solidarities and digital witness. Through testimonial lyrics, emotional resonance, and public remembrance, their songs confront state and structural violence, highlighting how music becomes a weapon against silence and impunity.

By drawing connections between caste-based and gender-based violence in India and South Africa, this paper argues that protest music—anchored in local realities yet resonant across borders—functions as a potent force for political intervention, cultural memory, and social healing. Music, in this context, becomes not just a form of expression but a mode of digital resistance and a tool for community-building in the face of systemic oppression.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr Kameshwaran Envernathan Govender is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Artivism at the Faculty of Arts & Design, Tshwane University of Technology, Arts Campus.

His doctoral thesis is an intercontinental comparative analysis of #FeesMustFall movement from South Africa and the #Jallikattu protests from Tamil Nadu (India). He lives in both India and South Africa, which provides a unique positioning for the author with both an insider and outsider perspective in social research of these regions.

Racism, Casteism, Gender-Based Violence, Police Brutality, Protest Cultures, Film and Theatre in Artivism are his key areas of research focus.

bottom of page