Reclaiming Subaltern Subjectivities: Intersections of Caste, Gender, and Tribal Identities

Ruhina Prasad, Dr Sudhir Narayan Singh

Abstract


Abstract

This study explores how caste, gender, and tribal identities intersect in contemporary Indian English literature, serving as powerful counter-narratives against colonial perspectives. It uses decolonial theories and indigenous Indian epistemologies to reinterpret and reclaim the experiences of Dalit and Adivasi women, challenging the dominant Brahmanical and colonial discourses that have historically silenced or erased marginalised voices. Modern Indian English writings, including works by Bama and Jacinta Kerketta, challenge mainstream narratives by addressing issues such as caste exclusion, patriarchal violence, and land and cultural dispossession. These texts oppose the colonial legacy of epistemic violence, characterised by orientalist portrayals of natives as primitive or passive, by promoting resistance through oral traditions, testimonial storytelling, and speculative narratives that celebrate tribal cosmologies, ecological knowledge, and gendered agency. Drawing on intersectional perspectives rooted in Dalit feminist theory (e.g., Sharmila Rege, Gopal Guru) and Adivasi viewpoints, the analysis shows how subaltern women are not only victims but also active agents in the production of alternative knowledge. For example, stories of land memory and ecological resistance in Adivasi literature oppose displacement driven by development. At the same time, Dalit women’s writings reveal how caste and gender hierarchies intersect in daily survival and resistance. By highlighting these marginalised voices, the paper argues that such literature contributes to decolonising English literary studies, broadening the canon beyond upper-caste dominance, fostering inclusive epistemologies, and envisioning futures based on equity, sovereignty, and indigenous resurgence. Ultimately, these counter-narratives act as ethical interventions, challenging inherited hierarchies of knowledge and emphasising marginalised histories as vital to global decolonial progress.


Keywords


Subaltern subjectivities, caste-gender-tribal intersections, counter-narratives, decolonial epistemologies, Indian Knowledge System, Dalit-Adivasi literature

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References


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