Life Writing: A Study of History and Historiography

Autobiographies of/by the downtrodden (‘dalits’ in the Indian context) are a study in chronicling both history and historiography of the said caste, with the avowed aim of revealing the baneful hierarchizing of humans as also incorporating their chronicle into the Indian social mainstream. Such writings shore up their erasure in social history, as also see them as examples of engagement with construction of the Dalit chronicle to stand alongside the narrative of ‘higher castes’ in the oriental context, since erasure of dalit narrative has been deliberate and arbitrary. It is a form of class struggle, whose prognosis has been presented, in a different context, by scholars like Ernest Mandel (in Late Capitalism) and its cultural correspondences by acclaimed authors like Fredric Jameson (in Postmodernism). Dalit oeuvre celebrates their life as also their struggles and authenticity as courageous people who strive and exhibit their fortitude and never-say-die attitude. These autobiographies reveal their writers’ comprehension of gradual evolving of the power dynamics of class, ethnicity and social identity, and their much-needed rupturing of the flawed social fabric. This essay will critically analyze the socio-political and historical causes and consequences of Dalit struggles, and the possible solutions as envisaged by influential thinkers, social reformers, and grass root movements. It also tries to analyze how the struggles have influenced modern-day Dalit identity, confronted institutionalized oppression, and added to the debate on social justice, equality, and constitutional provisions in India.