Contextualising Dalit women’s voices: A study of Urmila Pawar and Bama’s autobiographies

Abstract

Since the beginning of resistance against patriarchy, women’s issues have become an integral part of public sphere globally. This has been possible due to their constant struggle to understand their own agency that women have got their due representation. However, the issue of Dalit women’s representation has not effectively managed to be heard and losing its sheen as it lacks agency owing to the homogenisation of their experiences with the elite ones. In this regard, an independent and autonomous assertion of Dalit women has emerged possibly through writings, particularly; life narratives. Therefore, various Dalit women writers viz. Baby Kamble, Urmila Pawar, Bama, Gogu Shyamala and others have started registering their presence in the literary world through autobiographies, memoirs, narratives etc. Dalit women writers audaciously expose the society which has objectified them, abused them and stripped them off their identity and has effectively maintained patronising stance. The present article aims to study and analyse the Dalit representation/ voices through Dalit women autobiographies namely Urmila Pawar’s The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs and Bama’s Karukku.