Dalit life writing as locus of alternative modernity a critical study of selected texts

Abstract

Modernity is an ideological and a philosophical perspective that crystallised in Europe and spread to other parts of the world. The expansion, however, did not lead to homogenisation of modernity. It, rather, led to the appearance of multiple modernities in the world. So, there are as many modernities as there are number of modern societies. These societies challenge the hegemonic Euro/American centered modernity by claiming other possible trajectories of modernity i.e. Alternative modernity. Dalit modernity calls for such a different trajectory of modernity. It is a project of freedom from the barriers and constraints and may be described as a radical, transformative, cultural and intellectual movement that started among Dalits in response to the discrimination faced by them in the Indian society. Dalit life-writings reveal the contours of modernity which are specific to Dalits as a community in India. Dalit writers write with steadfast rationality and refuse to accept any primordial ideas of purity and pollution. These writings express the emotion and commitment of an activist, and present the various forms of resistance that formed part of their struggle to establish their distinct identity. Dalit life-writings, thus, construct an alternative paradigm of Dalits rooted in the productive processes which has developed their scientific, technological and productive knowledge systems over the years. newline