Volume IV Issue III July-September 2024

Name of Author : MARIA RINCY

Title of the paper : Intersecting Oppressions Analysing Dalit Female Autobiographies in Intersectional Dalit Feminist Standpoint

Abstract: Distressing experiences resulting from the intersections of oppression have affected Dalit women more than any other sections of society. The typical matrix of class caste gender religion cannot in itself contain these oppressions which is difficult to categorise or explain as a whole. A standpoint which can combine Intersectionality, Dalit studies and Feminism will be able to confront the normal and typical conceptions of viewing from limited and restricted viewpoints. Such an Intersectional Dalit Feminist Standpoint can challenge the categorisation of women and can even elevate their inherent essence of endurance. The lived experiences of Dalit women finds better expression though their autobiographies as they portray the pain and pangs afflicted onto them by caste, gender and religion. With focus on Mahar Dalit female autobiographies, this paper tries to interrogate how Dalit women have navigated through the life amidst oppression and how they have claimed their rightful space in society. Through the autobiographies The Prisons We Broke by Baby Kamble and The Weave of My Life by Urmila Pawar, this intersectional analysis tries to bring up the converging and crisscrossing forms of discrimination and marginalisation. It hopes to provide a perspective on how the overlapping forces of dominance tries to constrain them with chains of caste, gender, class and religion.

Keywords : Intersectionality, Dalit feminist standpoint, autobiography, Mahar Dalit women.

DOI :

Page No. : 37-41