The globalization and the subsequent flourishing of ‘englishes’ have dismantled the monolith of ‘the’ English Literary Canon by bringing into effect ‘new’ literatures and various interdisciplinary principles and approaches that have in way effected a ‘re-ordering’ of the existing order . In such a moment of paradigmatic shifts – especially in the wake of the postcolonial theories and the subaltern studies - the emergence of the Dalit Literature/s provides ample scope for examining the ‘politics of representation’. However, my paper is not concerned as much with the question of the Dalit Literature proper as with the dynamics of the polemical word – ‘dalit’ – and with how, besides a registered manifestation of physical / tangible ‘violence’ or ‘resistance’, not always of course, constant negotiations between narratives and counter-narratives mark the ‘dalit space’ . For this I rely on the elasticity of the term ‘dalit’ and intend to show how the term, often misunderstood, implies “masses exploited and oppressed economically, socially, culturally in the name of religion and other factors” and also how ‘dalit space’ becomes ‘vocal’, and sometimes achieves ‘liminality’ through inter-religion/inter-racial correspondence . In “Mahesh”, Gafur, a Muslim, challenges what Ambedkar called the caste Hindu’s tolerant behavior towards non-Hindus, and suffers the ‘position’ of a dalit who finally registers a passive resistance through ‘dislocation’ . On the other hand, in “Shikar”, Mary Oraon, an organic intellectual, comes out of the constraints of dalit position as she is the cross-product of an inter-racial coupling, as she ‘hunts’ the (in)human predator and also as she embraces the ‘brave new world’.
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Works Cited
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Post-colonialism expresses the opposite idea of colonialism. Hence, post-colonialism literature is a consequence of colonialism. Post-colonialism continues to be a process of hostility and reform. One scholar suggested that although most countries have gained independence from their colonizers, they are still indirectly subjected in one way or another to the forms of neo-colonial domination. (Ashcroft et al.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
...ly plays out the dilemma of the postcolonial writer that Anantha Murthy had discussed. Her writings and concerns are clearly subversive of the traditional bastions of power and keep out of the trappings of regressive social forces. On the other hand through her creative use of language, Roy engages in a dialogue with the West, challenging dominant narratives of India’s history. She does not confine herself to redressing the ‘insults’ of a colonial past, but is also keenly aware of the shadow of an older pre-colonial history. In her narrative of Transgressions, Roy offers a view of a Nation caught in transition and proves herself to be a product of its postcolonial culture. She makes no clear choices between tradition and modernity in any exclusive way, instead striving to arrive at a heterodox reality that does not belie the complexities of the Indian Consciousness.
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back. 2nd. New York: Routledge, 2002.
NA. "Who Are Dalits? & What Is Untouchability?" — Portal. NCDHR, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014.
Leenerts, Cynthia. "'How Can We Be Like We Used to Be?': The Collective Sita and the Collective Draupadi in Raja Rao's Kanthapuraand Jyotirmoyee Devi's The River Churning." South Asian Review 24.2 (2003): 84-105. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 255. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
One statement in the beginning of the book was especially poignant to any one who studies Indian culture, It is easy for us to feel a vicarious rage, a misery on behalf of these people, but Indians, dead and alive would only receive such feelings with pity or contempt; it is too easy to feel sympathy for a people who culture was wrecked..
Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children employs strategies which engage in an exploration of History, Nationalism and Hybridity. This essay will examine three passages from the novel which demonstrate these issues. Furthermore, it will explore why each passage is a good demonstration of these issues, how these issues apply to India in the novel, and how the novel critiques these concepts.
The t0pic 0f the research paper is 0n KAMALA DAS as a C0nfessi0nal p0et with special reference t0 her P0em DANCE 0F THE EUNUCHS. Kamala Das is perhaps the m0st interesting and c0ntr0versial figure in p0st-c0l0nial Indian English p0etry. She writes with 0utsp0kenness and truthfulness unusual in Indian c0ntext. Her private experiences and 0bservati0ns are portrayed in her poems but those familiarities and interpretations appear t0 bec0me universal. Her v0ice als0 symb0lizes the m0dern w0men’s v0ice wh0 wants t0 free her fr0m the religi0us 0rth0d0xy (d0s and d0n’ts). Being a c0nfessi0nal p0et, Kamala Das takes the reader int0 the w0rld 0f her private life and unveils the delicate facts and even the bedr00m secrets.
Ramamoorthy, P. “My Life is My Own: A Study of Shashi Deshpande’s Women” Feminism and Recent Fiction in English Ed. Sushila Singh. New Delhi: Prestige, 1991.
Of the themes which dominate the representative writings of the forth world literatures include the theme of resistance, rebellion, opposition, assertion, challenge, sacrifice, suffering and displacement. All these general ideas are interconnected with the common concept of ‘freedom’ and an aspiration for which is truly a driving force for the indigenous people. In this paper an attempt has been made to look into the theme of resistance and how it contributes to the development of the spirit of self-determinism as it is reflected and re-presented in the Fourth World literatures with special reference to dalits’ writings in India in order to appreciate and advance the common cause of freedom in the larger interest of Humanity.
Dalit movement began in Maharastra during the seventies of the twentieth century, witnessed the emergence of Dalit literature. The translation of such literature proclaims the problems of Dalits, the voiceless to the world. The first wave Dalit writers have shown Dalit women characters as victims not as fighters, whereas the second wave, attempted to portray women as real: heroic, audacious and self-respecting, began placing them in the battle field for fighting against atrocities. One such Dalit writer is Bama, well-known for her novels Karruku (1992), Sangati (1994) and Vanmam (2002), belongs to paraya community. Holmstrom commends in the introduction of Sangati that, “Bama was already formulating a ‘Dalit feminism’ which redefined ‘woman’
Aravind Adiga in his debut novel The White Tiger, which won the Britain’s esteemed Booker Prize in 2008, highlights the suffering of a subaltern protagonist in the twenty first century known as materialism era. Through his subaltern protagonist Balram Halwai, he highlights the suffering of lower class people. This novel creates two different India in one “an India of Light and an India of Darkness” (Adiga, p. 14). The first one represents the prosperous India where everyone is able to dream a healthy and comfortable life. The life of this “Shining India” reflects through giant shopping malls, flyovers, fast and furious life style, neon lights, modern vehicles and a lot of opportunities which creates hallucination that India is competing with western countries and not far behind from them. But, on the other side, the life nurtures with poverty, scarcity of foods, life taking diseases, inferiority, unemployment, exploitation and humiliation, homelessness and environmental degradation in India of darkness.
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.
Ranjan,Mukesh. “Mahesh Dattani’s Where There’s a Will: Exorcising the Patriarchal Code”.The Dramatic World of Mahesh Dattani-A Critical Exploration.Ed.Amar Nath Suri.Sarup Book Publishers,2009.136-144.Print.