Dalit Autobiography as a Literary Genre: Asserting Identity and Reclaiming Narrative Space in the Works of Omprakash Valmiki and Bama

Abstract

This research examines Dalit autobiography as a distinct literary genre through a critical analysis of two seminal texts: Omprakash Valmiki's (Joothan,1997) and Bama's (Karukku, 1992). The study posits that Dalit autobiographies represent a radical departure from conventional Indian autobiographical traditions and constitute a form of counter-narrative that challenges hegemonic literary representations. Through close textual analysis, the research identifies distinctive formal, thematic, and linguistic features that characterize Dalit autobiography as a genre with specific social and political functions. The study employs theoretical frameworks from subaltern studies, testimonio criticism, and postcolonial theory to analyze how these narratives function as acts of literary resistance and testimonial witnessing. Findings indicate that Dalit autobiographies employ specific narrative strategies including: non-linear chronology, communal rather than individualistic focus, deliberate incorporation of Dalit dialects and sociolects, and the strategic use of bodily experience as evidence. The research demonstrates how these autobiographies operate simultaneously as literary texts, sociological documents, and political interventions, challenging not only social hierarchies but also literary conventions. By examining these works as acts of narrative reclamation, this study contributes to our understanding of how marginalized communities use life-writing to assert presence in literary spaces historically denied to them and reconstitute the relationship between literary aesthetics and social justice.