Articles

Literary Resistance in Contemporary Dalit Feminist Fiction: A Study of P. Sivakami’s The Grip of Change and Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess

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Abstract

Dalit feminists have critiqued the conceptions of genderless caste and casteless gender in the discourses of Dalit and feminist movements in India since the 1990s. Bringing this critique into the literary and cultural sphere, this paper studies the different literary techniques used to resist the oppressions faced by Dalit women in contemporary Indian society. The modes of resistance in the artistic choices made in literary fictions by contemporary Dalit female authors are studied by closely reading The Grip of Change and Author’s Notes by P. Sivakami, and The Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy. Using textual and formal analysis, this paper will identify the literary devices used in these works of contemporary fictions, to not only represent the oppressions faced by Dalit women, but also textually resist the oppressive forces of caste and gender. I will argue that through such literary resistance, Dalit feminists radicalise the political unconscious of the contemporary Indian society.

Keywords: Dalit feminism, Contemporary Indian fiction, Literary resistance, Political unconscious, Narrative radicalisation, Caste, Gender, Dalit Feminism, Contemporary Indian Fiction, Literary Resistance, Political Unconscious, Narrative Radicalisation

How to Cite:

Devasya Ganesh, S., (2025) “Literary Resistance in Contemporary Dalit Feminist Fiction: A Study of P. Sivakami’s The Grip of Change and Meena Kandasamy’s The Gypsy Goddess”, DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies 12(1), 84-98. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/digest.90311