Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
With the publication of Yashica Dutt’s (2019) Coming Out as Dalit, a clear shift in Dalit autobiographical writing tradition is becoming visible, and this article tries to capture that shift by locating it within a global discourse on marginality and discrimination. This shift enables Dutt to rebrand a certain understanding of caste from a birth-marked identity to a more free-floating and performative understanding of caste. The emphasis on the performative aspect of caste provides it the necessary synergetic value to attach with multiple global discourses around marginality, discrimination, sexuality, and race. The article highlights how Dutt’s text is trying to develop a new urban aesthetics of caste to capture the sensibilities of a dominantly urban and global audience, and at the same time, expanding and signifying the understanding of caste. The article argues that it is this attempt to develop a new aesthetic formulation of caste that can explain the use of what is primarily a queer symbol of expression ‘coming out’ to couch the expression of caste discrimination. The article further indicates how similar synergies are developed with racial discourses and, finally, argues how these attempts can be understood as part of a global response to inequalities and the right to the city, making and expanding Dalit literature’s participation in the category of protest literature.
Author Archives: Kunwar Nitin Pratap Gurjar
Translating Intent: Developments and Challenges in Translating Dalit Literature
Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
There have been many studies on locating the developments and challenges encountered in the translation of Dalit literature and the numerous impacts introduced by translators, editors and publishers. But hardly any attempt has been made to understand how Dalit writers themselves understand the process of translation. This is important because they often work very closely with these agents, and yet their opinions seem to get lost in the nitty-gritties of translation studies. It is perhaps for this reason alone that Limbale’s response to his translator evinces out this need when he says ‘You are worrying about my books and I am worrying about my movement’. It seems that Dalit writers have a distinct understanding of the role and process of translation which needs a necessary extrapolation. This essay then makes an attempt to suggest a theoretical framework which Dalit writers seem to have in mind when they advocate a need for a ‘socially committed translator’. The expression ‘Socially or politically committed translator’ itself needs to be explained as Dalit writers and their translators continue to use this expression, but the expression itself remains relatively untouched. This paper will therefore address these two important issues to contribute some insights into this field.
There have been many studies on locating the developments and challenges encountered in the translation of Dalit literature and the numerous impacts introduced by translators, editors and publishers. But hardly any attempt has been made to understand how Dalit writers themselves understand the process of translation. This is important because they often work very closely with these agents, and yet their opinions seem to get lost in the nitty-gritties of translation studies. It is perhaps for this reason alone that Limbale’s response to his translator evinces out this need when he says ‘You are worrying about my books and I am worrying about my movement’. It seems that Dalit writers have a distinct understanding of the role and process of translation which needs a necessary extrapolation. This essay then makes an attempt to suggest a theoretical framework which Dalit writers seem to have in mind when they advocate a need for a ‘socially committed translator’. The expression ‘Socially or politically committed translator’ itself needs to be explained as Dalit writers and their translators continue to use this expression, but the expression itself remains relatively untouched. This paper will therefore address these two important issues to contribute some insights into this field.