Subaltern Women's Narratives by Samraghni Bonnerjee

Author:Samraghni Bonnerjee [Bonnerjee, Samraghni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781000333558
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

Sivakami (2006) points out that “caste purity is not protected only through control of caste Hindu women, but also through the absence of social sanction to certain inter-caste relationships.”73 This chapter analyses the three autobiographical narratives of Baby Kamble, Bama, and Sivakami to discuss the purity-pollution dyad and the touchability-untouchability binary of the Hindu hierarchical society. The question of purity-pollution and touchability-untouchability pertains to the body. Dalit people are still considered untouchables in various parts of India and Dalit women (the sub-subaltern category) are subject to various forms of (s)exploitation for being the tripartite victims of patriarchy. Alongside this, the chapter throws light on the so far subsumed aspects of Dalit women’s body and sexuality and investigates the particular ways of expressing those in the narrative frames, echoing what Aishwariya G. notes, “Dalit women writers reveal a sexually repressive and oppressive social structure that prevails over the social/public space and invades the domestic/private space.”74 In writing about the body and sexuality of Dalit women, the writers subvert and thwart the purity-pollution associated with the body politics of caste, and redefine the touchability and untouchability binary, where untouchable bodies come into focus in the narratives. Thus, untouchable bodies are made touchable through the shedding of caste body politics and the “outlawed” womanly desire.

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