Women in Dalit Literature: Voice, Agency and Subjectivity

Abstract

This paper deals with issues of marginalisation of women, their lack of agency and voice, as well as their subjectivity as reflected in Dalit literature. The emphasis is on texts such as Bama's ‘Sangati’ (2001) and Baby Kamble's ‘Jina Amucha’ (2008). Using a feminist standpoint, we have analysed how women have been treated and what their roles have been in their social context. As we know, ‘Dalit’ connotes a marginalised group that has historically suffered exploitation and oppression in the Indian society. This oppression is reflected, to an extent, in the genre of work comprehended as Dalit literature, which delineates their consciousness, experiences and their anguish. We want to understand the lived experiences of women from this canon of work. The discourse analysis of the selected texts (namely Sangati and Jina Amucha) suggests that along with caste, gender is another vector along which the tentacles of oppression can be comprehended. Caste and class are two different social categories, but they seem to be operational together and in consonance with gender for women as represented in Dalit literature. Oppression of, and along, multiple processes makes it very difficult for women to realise their being. Women do not seem to have, as reflected in the two selected texts, appropriate conditions to know and act as subjects. On the contrary, they are treated as objects that are known and acted upon. The cultures of the community in which Dalit women make meaning of their everyday experiences cajole a culture of silence and domination from people and practices higher up in the social hierarchy. We must understand this and other kinds of oppressions as represented in our literature. To know is the first step in visualising social change. We hope that our comprehension and advocacy will help Dalit women fight oppression in solidarity with other marginalised groups.