The Changing Contours of Dalit Women Poetry Critical Study

Abstract

newline The theme of silencing the subalternand#8223; has been one of the seminal subjects discussed and newlinedebated in the marginalized literature. A noteworthy corpus of different scholarships has newlinecommented on the role of the traditional discourses that have kept the marginalized women newlineperpetually subjugated. Gopal guru in his essay, Dalits in Pursuit of Modernity commented newlineon the fractured deliverance of the constitutional rightsand#8223; to the Dalits. While as in one of his newlineother essays, Dalit Women Talk Differently , Guru stressed upon the differences between newlinethe socio-economic location of Dalit women and the upper caste womenand#8223;. Sharmila Rege in newlineher work, Writing Caste Writing Gender drew attention to the obliterated space of Dalit newlinewomenand#8223; in mainstream and Dalit movement due to overbearing influences of savarn women in newlinemainstream movement and the patriarchy in the Dalit struggle. Anupama Raoand#8223;s Gender and newlineCaste, foregrounded the apathy of the state machinery towards the dehumanization of Dalit newlinewomen in their day to day lives. The present study makes its departure from the earlier works newlineby focusing on the selected poems of Dalit women poets who expressed themselves through newlinethe genre of poetry intending to re-configure their identity in global India. The selected writers newlinehave commented on their subjugated position and critiqued the patriarchal forces among Dalit newlinecommunity and the Brahmanism in mainstream society. Thus the study undertaken can be seen newlineas aptly put by Rekha in her book Gender, Space and Creative Imagination, a shift from newline representation to self-representation . newlineTo study the layered connotations of their struggle, this study has brought together...