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Caste in a Casteless Language?
English as a Language of ‘Dalit’ Expression
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This
paper focuses on a new archive of dalit writing in English translation.
The "archive" has a forced homogeneity imposed by the term "dalit",
which embraces an urban middle-class dalit and a member of a scavenger
caste; the homogeneity is consolidated by the fact that the translated
texts are in an international language. The questions asked concern the
relationship between caste and the English language, two phenomena that
represent considerably antithetical signs. Dalit writers accept English
as a target language, despite the fact that local realities and
registers of caste are difficult to couch in a language that has no
memory of caste. The discussion shows how English promises to dalit
writers (as both individuals and representatives of communities) agency,
articulation, recognition and justice. The paper draws attention to the
multiplicity of contexts that make writing by dalits part of a literary
public sphere in India, and contribute to our thinking about caste
issues in the context of human rights.
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