Tamil Dalit Women

The aim of the paper is to show how Dalit women suffer from triple or threefold marginalization, as they unlike Dalit men are not only oppressed because of their caste and class (poverty) but are also victims of patriarchy and therefore have intersectional identities. The paper would also examine the three texts−Karukku (1992), Sangati (1994) and Vanmam (2002), through Spivak’s idea of the ‘subaltern’ to show how Dalit women suffer the worst kind of marginalization (and oppression) and are “dalits among the dalits” (Narayankar, 3). It would discuss Bama’s writing as a contribution to Tamil Dalit Feminist literature and how she through her writing also contributes to Dalit Feminist Movement, which unlike mainstream Feminist movements (dominated

It would then go on to discuss Bama’s writing as a contribution to Tamil Dalit Feminist literature and movement. It would also put forward women’s education, the need for Dalits to unite as a community and to fight for their own rights as methods or tools that Bama through her writing puts forward for their

It is the traits or features that differentiate a person or thing from another. Identity may be a person’s own sense of self –his self image, that is, what he/she thinks are his/her opinions, beliefs, personality, values, characteristics, etc. are, or it may be imposed upon him/her by society, politics, culture, etc. A person’s identity may also be ascertained by his/her gender and sexuality. Although identity has a certain biological foundation, it is also an acquired or learned behavior. When we apply Descartes idea “I think, therefore I am” (Descartes, 19-20) to Dalit life, we find that the sense of ‘I’ is present in the Dalit individual’s consciousness but is repressed by the society through “its laws and belief systems” (Singh 114). Their sense of identity is not constructed by them but as Smriti Singh suggests, is “given over to them by society through the Lacanian symbolic order” (Singh 114) and is usually determined by those in power or the elite. Caste and class (poverty) are important determining factors of Dalit men’s identity, whereas, Dalit women’s identity is also determined by patriarchy or their gender (besides caste and class) and thus, they face triple or three fold