Bearing The Burden of Precarity: The Intersectional Struggle of Dalit Women

Abstract

Precarity, as a theory, confronts uncertainty, be it with life, job, or situation. As a situation which was earlier associated with the economic condition of the people, it has now transverse to other fields as well such as sociological and cultural. As a global phenomenon, it finds its reflection in almost all literatures of the world. In Indian society, when precarity is associated with the prevalent caste system, it further alienates the lower-caste people who are on the fringes. These outcaste people are also referred to as Dalits. In Dalit narratives or Dalit literature, precarity can be employed to define the anxiety that surrounds their very existence in the society. Born in socially marginalised, politically crippled and economically oppressed section of the society, the lives of Dalits in India are precarious. However, the worst sufferer even among them are the Dalit women. Being the women and being the Dalit make them socially vulnerable in the face of violence- be it social or caste, economic vulnerability, and exploitation in general. Not only they are exploited by the people of upper caste, but they are also harassed within their own community. Neglected by both the feminist reformers, as they focused on gender violence and neglected the caste ideology inherent behind the violence against Dalit women and Dalit movement because it focused only on the caste violence and not on gender violence.

The present paper attempts to bring out the precarious condition of Dalit women by focusing on P. Sivakami’s novel The Grip of Change (2006). Besides this, it will also work to find out the resistive and assertive forces taken by Dalit women in the face of their oppression.