3 Review(s)

This book attempts to critically examine Dalit women’s literature to analyse how Dalit women perceive and depict caste, class, and gender in their autobiographies and fiction. It endeavours to locate the beginning of Dalit women’s socio- political and cultural movements and peruse their nature, scope and significance. Literature of Protest: Reading Dalit Women’s Autobiographies and Fiction explores how traditionally suppressed, marginalized and muted Dalit women forayed into writing to express their distress, uncover dominant power structures, voice their indignation, and register their protest against them in order to abrogate disparities and restore their autonomy. Entwined with criticism of Dalit men for ignoring their specific sufferings or mocking the efforts of Dalit women to initiate an egalitarian system, these writings record voices that are strong, confident, inclusive and collective in their endeavour to transform the existing dominant power structures and relations in order to emancipate all women. The book also sheds light upon issues such as caste-based violence, mob lynching of Dalits, rationalization of caste based reservation, and oppression of Dalit students in institutions of higher education. This book comments on such issues and offers suggestions to overcome the disparities prevalent in contemporary Indian society.