The intangibility of untouchability: Gender and caste in Deshmane's autobiography

Critical debates as well as everyday discourses treat caste and gender experiences as distinct categories often failing to address the complexities of the intersectional lives. The presumption of maleness in Dalit Studies and the apparent presence of privilege in feminist studies often leave out Dalit women’s experiences. The paper proposes to critically read Samata B Deshmane’s Matangi Deewatige (2015), the first autobiography by a Dalit woman in Kannada to explore the intersectional experience of Dalit women. Deshmane’s text, written from the margins, once again takes us back to the fundamental aspects of life and living. Deshmane, in her life narrative, describes how she and her family suffered the injustices of the caste system although her father was a freedom fighter and a communist party member. However, the family was also ostracised by their own people because they did not conform to certain conventions of the community. Deshmane says and believes that education is the only way out of caste discrimination. Deshmane’s narrative gives us important insights into the intertwined nature of caste and gender when it comes to the lives of Dalit women. Despite being an important site of oppression and discrimination in the Indian subcontinent, caste seldom gets critical attention within the discourses of South Asian decoloniality and critical race studies (Dwivedi 2023). The paper intends to read Deshmane’s life narrative to see how the intersectional experiences of Dalit women illuminate the emerging field of critical caste studies.