Cast(e) in ‘Other’ Mold: Agency and Anxiety in Translation of Dalit Literature

Abstract

The case of English translation of Dalit literature in India has been complicated by several contesting discourses. In this discursive universe, the logic of the market and dominance of Savarna literary culture tend to shore up caste ethos and structural discrimination in contradistinction to Dalit literature, which is grounded in alternative social imaginary and discursivity. The mission of the Dalit literature is to fashion oppositional identities by inscribing experiences of pain and suffering inflicted by the exploitative socio-cultural structures and raise the consciousness of readers. As a Savarna translator approaches a Dalit text, this dichotomy is intensified further due to the (im)possibility of inhabiting Other’s experience and an alternative social. In addition to the questions of negotiating Dalit experience, epistemology, and esthetics, the very act of translation throws up the challenge of representation and cultural citizenship. In this paper, I probe the ways in which a Savarna translator of Dalit texts can carve out a space of agency without being overwhelmed by a burden of anxiety.