About the Book
Dalit Writings: Emerging Perspectives provides in twenty-four essays and an Introduction, a critical exploration of the Dalit literary works, the new themes, new voices and perspectives that have emerged therein by the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The different essays trace how the historical, political and social developments that have taken place in India within the last century have made deep impact on the different Dalit groups as well as in the reconstruction of the entire country. Dalit writings, from the Dalits and non-Dalits, from early thinkers like Jotirao Phule and B.R. Ambedkar to the contemporary, such as Kancha Ilaiah, poets like Kalyani Thakur reflect the slow and subtle changes in the identity formation of individuals and groups, their economic and socio-cultural expressions.
For ages, the caste-dominated Indian society practiced forms of inequalities and injustice that affected Dalit consciousness and its modes of self-expression. Social reform movements created a growing awareness of their rights and various protest movements spread across the country gave rise to increased literary creativity. The volume here studies closely the Dalit questioning of the nation’s claims to provide an egalitarian, democratic society and texts that remind the Indian society its promise to provide equal opportunity to all.
In their critical and analytical essays Jasbir Jain, Raj Kumar, Nibir Ghosh, Usha Bande, Jaydeep Sarangi and others examine the theoretical and aesthetic aspects of the literature which has used a wide variety of forms and genre, written in many different Indian languages. With deep roots in acute sense of protest, rebellion and pain, the literature has grown in its variety and output. Recognized on international forums, a review of the Dalit Literature serves an academic purpose. This book is an attempt to meet that need.
Contents
1 Working Through Experience: Writing, Reception and Evaluation / Jasbir Jain
2 The ‘Other’ Indians: Reading Dalit Discourse in Joseph Macwan’s Angaliyat / Raj Kumar
3 ‘When a Hurricane Grows Legs’: Resistance, Retaliation and Revenge in Three Dalit Short Stories / Usha Bande
4 Democracies and Dilemmas: The Poetry of Ethelbert Miller and Namdeo Dhasal / Sunita Rani Ghosh and Nibir K. Ghosh
5 Bangla Dalit Womanist Speaks: An Interview with Bengali Dalit Writer Kalyani Thakur Charal / Jaydeep Sarangi and Bidisha Pal
6 Kancha Ilaiah’s Writings: Perspectives of the ‘Other’ Within / Santosh Gupta
7 Dalit Women’s Voices: A New Vocabulary of Emancipation / Shobha P. Shinde
8 Literature, Leadership and Resolve: The Dalit Identity Crisis / Mini Nanda
9 Narrativizing a Social Movement: Bama’s Karukku / Charu Mathur
10 Interrogating Social Ostracism: Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand / Nidhi Singh
11 At the Mercy of Fate: The Fishermen Community in Bangla Dalit Writing / Bandana Chakrabarty
12 No Escape Routes: Social Exclusion in Pyre and Samskara / S. Asha
13 Love Across the Caste Divide in Sangati and Samskara / Preeti Bhatt
14 Self Construction of Community: Kalyani Thakur Charal / Madhuri Chatterjee
15 Reforming the Mind Forged Manacles of Caste and Regulated Sexuality: A Reappraisal of Annihilation of Caste / Mukesh Pareek
16 Ecosomatic Paradigm in Mahasweta Devi’s Short Stories / Akansha Kaushik
17 Exploring the Self and Community: Limbale’s Akkarmashi / Somya Sharma
18 Dialectics of Dalit Deprivation: A Study in Om Prakash’s Joothan and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things / Neeraj Kumar
19 A Feminist Perspective of Vaharu Sonawane’s Godhad and Rodali / Valavake Samajadar M.
20 Sociocultural Misrepresentation of Bahujan Samaj and Agencies of Discrimination in the Present Scenario / Grishma Khobragade
21 Reading Bama’s Karukku, Sangati and Just One Word: An Archetypal Approach / Chandna Singh Nirwan and Preeti Bhatt
22 Thou Shalt Not Rise: Reading Uday Prakash’s Mohandas / Jyoti Bhatia
23 Untouchable Spring: In Hope of a Better Future / Urmil Talwar
24 Dalit Search for Freedom to Dream: Githa Hariharan’s I Have Become the Tide / Santosh Gupta
About the Author / Editor
Santosh Gupta is an independent scholar. She was formerly Professor and Chairperson of the Department of English, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. Her main areas of interest are Modern Fiction, Indian Literature and Postcolonial Studies. For her Emeritus Fellow Projects (2013–2015), she worked on Modern Literature from India’s Border states, mainly the North-East and Jammu & Kashmir.
Bandana Chakrabarty, an independent scholar, was formerly Joint-Director (Academic) in the Commissionerate of College Education, Rajasthan, Jaipur. She has also been Principal of Rajasthan School of Art, Jaipur. She has taught English at various government colleges of Rajasthan for over three decades. Author of Fictions of the Self: Alice Munro, she has co-edited several anthologies.
