Scripting Subalternity and the Crisis of Contemporaneity: Reading B. R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste

Arjun R,Dr Tom Thomas

doi:10.24113/ijellh.v8i9.10771

Abstract

The paper attempts a subaltern reading of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste and tries to highlight the importance of the speech as a subaltern script in the contemporary world. It foregrounds how subaltern voices are supressed in India with the influence of religious and caste politics. The representation of the subaltern mass is problematized by this nexus which further leads to a total control over their lives. A resurrection of silenced voices is the need of the hour.

Highlights

N “In the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak” (Spivak 287)
The Dalit question is a question of subalternity which is denied a discourse and a proper connection to history
The idea is decidedly foreign, Western, and I think I might say Christian”(18)Though Hinduism has drawn ideas from several other cultures, the concept of brotherhood and equality was unacceptable for them even though different castes united under the umbrella term Hinduism

Summary

Introduction

N “In the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak” (Spivak 287). The Dalit question is a question of subalternity which is denied a discourse and a proper connection to history. Ambedkar’s speech, Annihilation of Caste discusses this Dalit issue and undertakes a trenchant analysis of the crisis of subalternity. Ambedkar held the view that a social reformation was vital to ensure the uplift and representation of the Dalits in the country and believed that a social reform should reflect in the whole society and bring about liberty, equality and fraternity so as to ensure the proper working of democracy.

Results

Conclusion