Intersecting Marginalities: A Postcolonial Study of Subalternity and Transgender Identity in Arundhati Roy’s 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness'

Abstract

Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017) delicately interlaces marginalised identities, providing a postcolonial criticism of power, subalternity, and transgender subjectivity. This paper analyses the convergence of caste, gender, and religious marginalisation from the perspective of Anjum, a transgender (hijra) protagonist, whose identification positions her at the fringes of Indian society. Utilising postcolonial theory, namely Gayatri Spivak’s definition of the subaltern and Homi Bhabha’s ideas of hybridity, the research examines how Roy’s story questions prevailing discourses of nationhood, citizenship, and conventional gender binaries. Anjum's lived experiences, characterised by exclusion, resilience, and community, illustrate the challenges those silenced by overlapping oppressions face. The novel's disjointed structure reflects the splintered reality of subaltern existence, challenging uniform narratives. Roy attacks the Indian state's inability to safeguard its most vulnerable by contextualising transgender identity within the wider frameworks of socio-political violence, including the Kashmiri insurgency, caste atrocities, and neoliberal exploitation. This study contends that The Ministry of Utmost Happiness redefines subaltern agency, not as an individual act of resistance but as a communal, embodied form of survival. Ultimately, Roy's oeuvre necessitates a re-evaluation of identity, belonging, and justice in postcolonial India, emphasising the perspectives of individuals marginalised by society.