Voicing the Subaltern in African-American and Dalit Women's Autobiographies

Isabel Beltrán

doi:10.5565/rev/indialogs.176

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse two major autobiographies of Dalit women’s literature and African American women’s writing – Karukku (1992) by Bama Faustina and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet A. Jacobs – to bring forth the similarities between these two groups of subaltern women. Through the means of autobiography, both writers transmit their own experiences and denounce the gender, race and caste oppression endured. The subaltern theory coined by Antonio Gramsci and developed by Gayatri Spivak will be used to analyse these texts and the way they establish a link between two different worlds as well as how they share the common objective of making their narrators’ exclusion visible in their patriarchal worlds.

Highlights

RESUMEN Dando voz al sujeto subalterno en las autobiografías de mujeres afroamericanas y dalit Este artículo trata de analizar dos importantes autobiografías de la literatura de mujeres dalit y mujeres afroamericanas – Karukku de Bama Faustina (1992) e Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl de Harriet A
Du Bois had filed a petition to the United Nations Organisation asking for accountability for human rights violations perpetrated against African Americans in the United States
This article analyses two autobiographical narratives written by two marginalized subjects: Karukku (1992) by Bama Faustina, a Tamil Dalit teacher and activist, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Ann Jacobs, an African American slave

Summary

The Indian and the African American Subalterns

Antonio Gramsci coined the term “subaltern” to refer to the groups of workers and peasants who were subject to the power and control of the hegemonic ruling classes. Phule dedicated his work to those Americans who had fought to free slaves, linking the American abolitionist movement and the condition of black people in the United States to that of the lower castes in India He wanted his country to emulate the African American fight for freedom and to raise awareness among the Dalit community to be rid of the oppression of the caste system. Ambedkar followed his example and had Phule in the highest esteem, considering him to be his guru These two communities, worlds apart, were intrinsically connected as belonging to marginalized groups, silenced by the voice of the ruling class, and left aside as the voiceless, the subaltern. Even though slavery was abolished more than a century and a half ago and the Civil Rights Movement put an end to a system of segregation, inequalities and discrimination are still fought through movements such as #BlackLivesMatter

Subaltern Autobiographical Women Narratives

Conclusion

WORKS CITED