Abstract
142. Adiba Faiyaz
Traditions of Dissent in Dalit Autobiographies: A Literary Form of Social Protest
Movements of resistance have always acquired different forms and expressions in different political contexts in India. Works of Mahasweta Devi, music and poetry of the Progressives, Dalit literature are some instances of such cultural practices that are/have been engaged in questioning hegemonies. The objective of this paper would be twofold. One, it will seek to delve deeper into questions of resistance in Dalit autobiographies such as Bama’s Karukku and OmPrakash Valmiki’s Joothan. Through these texts, I would like to analyse what comprises resistance, in theory as well as in practice. In this paper, I also intend to examine the use of dissonance, dissent, polyphony as a means to assert one’s selfhood in these narratives. Several questions immediately raise themselves. Through these texts we shall analyse whether Dalit literature can be seen in terms of continuities with other types of protest literature or not? A critical engagement with these autobiographies would let us enquire whether Dalit texts are written with a separate Dalit aesthetics? In that case, do such texts also demand to be read in with different hermeneutics? As both these autobiographies, Joothan and Karukku, were later translated into english, a critical study of what happens to a Dalit text when they undergo translation (especially in english) would be done. In addition to that, can a Dalit text be originally written in English, the language of the priviledged? With the growing impact of market forces on literature in India, how far has the commodification of Dalit literature influenced/got influenced by it? Also, do the authenticity of such autobiographies rest solely on the experience of the writer? What happens to a Dalit literature when the socio-economic position of the author improves? Will those texts still remain as Dalit text? And lastly, who are the implied audiences for such kinds of literature? It is to grapple with very basic but crucial questions such as these that this paper makes inquiries into the terrain of Dalit literature. A functional and critical approach would be most appropriate for this kind of literature which focuses on the Subject as an individual who still has to face cultural ostracism, social stigma, immense humiliations in a democratic and ‘sickular’ country like India and is kept out/at the periphery of the ‘human’ society. It is in the second part of the paper that Dalit subaltern consciousness would be focused on. The inner quest of identity, the social struggle to assert oneself varies in both these autobiographies. A comparative study of these two texts, Karukku and Joothan, by a male and female author, would highlight the recurrent pattern of protest in their respective ways. Thus, these self-narrative “texts of resistance” and/or “protest literature” symbolises the intensification of Dalit’s quest for dignity and social justice and despite being in the embryonic stage offers a promise of annihilation of caste if not the abolition of it.
Adiba Faiyaz, Ph. D scholar, Registration No. 2011-40254,Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, 09650839240, adiba.english@gmail.com
Traditions of Dissent in Dalit Autobiographies: A Literary Form of Social Protest
Movements of resistance have always acquired different forms and expressions in different political contexts in India. Works of Mahasweta Devi, music and poetry of the Progressives, Dalit literature are some instances of such cultural practices that are/have been engaged in questioning hegemonies. The objective of this paper would be twofold. One, it will seek to delve deeper into questions of resistance in Dalit autobiographies such as Bama’s Karukku and OmPrakash Valmiki’s Joothan. Through these texts, I would like to analyse what comprises resistance, in theory as well as in practice. In this paper, I also intend to examine the use of dissonance, dissent, polyphony as a means to assert one’s selfhood in these narratives. Several questions immediately raise themselves. Through these texts we shall analyse whether Dalit literature can be seen in terms of continuities with other types of protest literature or not? A critical engagement with these autobiographies would let us enquire whether Dalit texts are written with a separate Dalit aesthetics? In that case, do such texts also demand to be read in with different hermeneutics? As both these autobiographies, Joothan and Karukku, were later translated into english, a critical study of what happens to a Dalit text when they undergo translation (especially in english) would be done. In addition to that, can a Dalit text be originally written in English, the language of the priviledged? With the growing impact of market forces on literature in India, how far has the commodification of Dalit literature influenced/got influenced by it? Also, do the authenticity of such autobiographies rest solely on the experience of the writer? What happens to a Dalit literature when the socio-economic position of the author improves? Will those texts still remain as Dalit text? And lastly, who are the implied audiences for such kinds of literature? It is to grapple with very basic but crucial questions such as these that this paper makes inquiries into the terrain of Dalit literature. A functional and critical approach would be most appropriate for this kind of literature which focuses on the Subject as an individual who still has to face cultural ostracism, social stigma, immense humiliations in a democratic and ‘sickular’ country like India and is kept out/at the periphery of the ‘human’ society. It is in the second part of the paper that Dalit subaltern consciousness would be focused on. The inner quest of identity, the social struggle to assert oneself varies in both these autobiographies. A comparative study of these two texts, Karukku and Joothan, by a male and female author, would highlight the recurrent pattern of protest in their respective ways. Thus, these self-narrative “texts of resistance” and/or “protest literature” symbolises the intensification of Dalit’s quest for dignity and social justice and despite being in the embryonic stage offers a promise of annihilation of caste if not the abolition of it.
Adiba Faiyaz, Ph. D scholar, Registration No. 2011-40254,Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, 09650839240, adiba.english@gmail.com
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