CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Perczel, Júlia |
|---|---|
| Title | Publishing Dalit Texts in English |
| Summary | In my thesis I examine the processes and forces that go into the production of dalit literary texts in English and its effect on discourses on dalit identity. As my case study I take the production of a collection of short stories in English, Unclaimed Terrain, by Ajay Navaria, a Hindi dalit writer who has come to prominence today. Through Raymond Williams’ (1977) theory of literature I show the text as the product of historically situated determination, and the forces of hegemony, I show how the study dalit literature using Bourdieu’s theory of the field of cultural remains limited if it does not take into account the processes of brahmin hegemony and material production. This study demonstrates through the publishing process of the translated short story collection, Unclaimed Terrain, how the oppositional forces of hegemony and ‘alternative hegemony’ determine the extent to which new transgressive voices can create a literary text and can be incorporated into hegemonic practices. I demonstrate how the publishing process, the actors involved and the marketing strategies reveal the interplay of these forces. I show how apart from the author’s ‘authentic’ dalit experience, other considerations, constrictions and forces come to play a role in producing dalit texts. At the same time, I also offer a reading of the short stories to identify the ways in which Navaria, a relatively new literary voice, opens up questions of dalit representation in literature. The conclusion is that Navaria’s writing and his translated collection represent a particular moment in the continuous and indissoluble processes that exert their pressures and set the limits that enable the production of certain kind of literary discourses and practices. |
| Supervisor | Rajaram, Prem Kumar |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/perczel_julia.pdf |
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