Preface
Dalit literature is a branch of subaltern literature which stands for the
writings on Dalits by Dalits from an insider perspective. It is also a literature
about Dalits by outsiders. In the modem context, the latter is questioned and
its authenticity is contested.
As a postcolonial nativist movement, Dalit
Literature voices the concerns of various subaltern castes and communities in
India, oppressed and marginalized for centuries within the Hindu caste
hierarchy. It has become a defiant generic presence in most of the regional
languages. The different and distracting Dalit voice has always been muted
within the contextual confinements of Humanism.
The present thesis entitled The Appropriation of Dalit/Marginalized
Voices in Narrative ^A Study of Selected Regional Writings in India is a
thematic study of Dalit and Dalitist narratives: the Dalit as an insider writing
about the Dalits and the non-Dalit's discourse about the Dalits as an outsider.
Dalit literature got its distinctiveness as a marginalized discourse because of
Ambedkar's radical struggle for a Dalit space. Dalitist literature is an attempt
to contain the Dalit identity within the paradigms of Marxian, Gandhian and
nationalistic framework.
The thesis analyzes the central issue of the appropriation of Dalit
subjectivity by closely reading a few works from a cross-section of regional
languages and English that represent the caste subalterns.
The focus of
enquiry is to find out how these texts narrativize, textualize and problematise
the subjectivity of the Dalit subaltern. The analysis helps to understand those
problematic representations that tend to misappropriate the voice and identity
of the caste subaltern and the gendered caste subaltern.
It would be appropriate here to mention how I got interested in Dalit
literature. While doing my post-graduation at the Central University, I got a
chance to read Kancha Ilaiah's epoch-making book Why I am not a Hindu.
The book had created an academic sensation in the campus that led to a series
of discussions. I got associated with some Dalit activist students during these
discussions and learned more about Dalit Writings in various Indian
Languages. What surprised me most was that not even a single Dalit work
was prescribed for us in the paper on Indian Writings in Translation or
Postcolonial Writings, in spite of the fact that Dalit literature had made its
presence felt in most Indian Languages and that a sizable population of the
student community at the university consisted of the Dalits. My readings
from the multi-volume series Subaltern Studies left me wonder, if it was
possible to locate a counter hegemonic culture and narrative to the
mainstream culture and literature in India. Readings of Ambedkar's works
enabled me to re-examine Dalit literature from the political and historic
perspective of Dalit Movements. Further readings of Gramsci, Fanon, Said
and Spivak enabled me to connect and, at times, to disconnect the Dalits'
condition with other subaltern people.
Ill
The thesis is structured into five chapters. As the thesis is worked out
within the theoretical framework of Subaltern Studies, the introductory
chapter provides a brief account of the concept of subaltemity as elaborated
by Gramsci, Said, Spivak and the Subaltern Studies group of historians.
Subaltemity has become an overriding concept in contemporary theoretical
discourses.
Ranajit Guha uses it to denote "the entire people that is
subordinate in terms of class, caste, age, gender and office or in any other
way" (Subaltern Studies 1, vii). Although Dalit subaltemity cuts across caste,
race, class and gender, the focus in the present study is on the subaltemity by
virtue of their caste and the problems of its representations in Dalit literature.
The second chapter, "A Socio-Political History of Dalit Writings in
India" deals with the history of Dalit writings in India. The attempt is not to
trace the literary tradition of Dalits, as Dalits do not have any documented
literary tradition of their own, in spite of their having rich oral and folkloric
tradition, but to locate the socio-political factors that have given rise to Dalit
literary movement in the twentieth century. Dalit literature has evolved as an
offshoot of Dalit Political Movement, which had been spearheaded by
Ambedkar. In fact, Ambedkar's movement is a culmination of various anticaste movements led by lower-caste social reformers like Jotiba Phule,
Periyor E.V. Ramasamy, Ayyankali and Sree Narayana Gum, to name a few.
It is essential to trace the origin of Dalit literatures from these movements in
order to account for the thematic and ideological linkages among various
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Dalit literatures in different parts of the country, in spite of the differences in
Dalits' subaltemity across the country.
The third chapter, "Narrating the Dalit Self focuses specifically on
Dalit Autobiography. The ideological and cultural practices of caste system
have had an all-pervasive effect on the social thinking and self-perception of
Dalits.
The cultural oppression of the caste subaltern was far more
dehumanizing than their economic exploitation. The Dalits were denied even
their subjectivity. With the emergence of Dalit literature, Dalits have not only
questioned the maimer in which Dalit identities are constructed in uppercaste writings, but also have found alternate ways to interpret their identities
differently from the way the upper-caste have constructed them. Therein lies
the significance of the Dalit autobiographies. Significantly, most of the texts
selected under the category "literature by Dalit subaltern" for this study are
autobiographical narratives: Sharankumar Limbale's Akkarmashi, Laxman
Gaikwad's Uchalya, Narendra Jadhav's Outcaste, Omprakash Valmiki's
Joothan Bama's Karukku and Sangati. An attempt is made to analyze the
representation of Dalit selves and their problems in these narratives.
The fourth chapter, "Dalit and Dalitist Writings" makes a comparative
study of "Dalit" and "Dalitist" writings. The fictional narratives from select
Indian languages and English are selected for both the categories to ensure
regional and linguistic representation within the availability of works in
translation,
Narendra Jadhav's Outcaste, Laxman Gaikwad's Uchalya,
Sharan Kumar Limbale's Akarmashi, Potheri Kunhambu's Saraswativijayam,
Bama's Sangati and Karukku have been selected for the first category.
Tagore's Gora, Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable, U. R. Ananthamurthy's
Samskara, Mahasweta Devi's Breast Stories, Arundhati Roy's The God of
Small Things, have been selected as examples for the second category. The
attempt is to foreground the appropriation of Dalit voice involved in Dalitist
representations.
The fifth chapter throws lights on the writings of the gendered Dalits.
Dalit woman constitutes an exclusive category and needs a separate
framework of "caste," in the tradition of Phule and Ambedkar, to analysis it.
Dalit women are doubly marginalized within the Hindu society, because of
their caste and gender subaltemity. Dalit women's voices of protest against
caste and Dalit patriarchy are most powerfully registered in the writings of
Dalit women. Dalit feminist writings are an attempt to create a space for
Dalit women within the male dominated domain of Dalit literature. Dalit
women's struggle against upper-caste atrocities, social untouchability,
economic and sexual exploitation and patriarchal oppression find a vigorous
voice in the novels of Tamil writer Bama.
The conclusion summarizes, emphasizes the major thematic concerns
of the foregoing chapters, and states the major arguments and implications of
the study.