Self-Reflexivity in Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke: A Phenomenological Approach

Abstract

Space is man-made socially constructed locations, without which they cannot have a comfortable life. Reflecting on the life experiences of the people who exist in the margins of the society, autobiography appears to be the appropriate genre that reflects the lived experiences of the characters as they live through them. It reflects not only the author's personal experiences but also the people whom they meet in their lifeworld. In other words, it is a narration of both individual and collective lived experiences. Dalit writing in Indian literature has become the most controversial topic in recent times, taking autobiography as its predominant form of writing. This paper attempts to explore Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke as a self-reflexive narrative. The characters experience extreme humiliation in the public and private spheres of their lives. The purpose of the paper is to categorise their absolute humiliation experience using Van Manen’s lifeworld existentialism and self-reflexivity as a theoretical framework.