Environmental Casteism and the Democratisation of Natural Resources: Reimagining Dalit Testimonies

Abstract

Mainstream Indian environmental movements and academic environmental histories, embedded in casteism, have overlooked the inequitable distribution of natural resources, leaving the ecological crisis facing Dalits unaddressed in both scholarly discourse and public arenas. This study aims to scrutinise the casteisation of natural resources and Dalits’ socio-ecological precariousness in two Dalit self-narratives—Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke and Bama’s Karukku. We seek to deconstruct and transform narratives about environmentalism in India, which can best proceed through the active and progressive intervention of the insecure social classes (mainly Dalits). In doing so, the study will throw light on egalitarian eco-consciousness in Dalit narratives, and highlight Dalit voices as fundamental to shaping post-colonial ecocriticism.