TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES: AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSNATIONALISM AND DALIT FEMINISM (original) (raw)

2022, International Journal of Humanities, Law and Social Sciences

Literature becomes a global experience, when it transcends nation-state boundaries, by crossing the limits of language, culture, and ethnicity. And thus it becomes transnational in its nature by crossing the borders and moving beyond nations, recognising differences as well as points of connection between cultures and contexts. One of the most extensive and predominant modes of oppression existing in our society is women's subjugation. No matter whatever may be the difference exists in between nations, the plight of women are always the same, being the worst forebears of social injustice, mainly evolved out of their gender identity. The history of women's lives, all over the world, like the traumatically colonized subjects, have been relegated to the position of the "demonic other", "marginalized" and in a metaphorical sense, their lives get crumbled in the hands of male supremacy. In this context, being always relegated to an inferior position, and always referred to as 'a damsel in distress', the term 'subaltern' gets ideally fits in with their position in the world. And this kind of marginalisation exists in the lives of Black women in America as well as the Dalit women in the Indian subcontinent. The resemblance between these two sections who belong to two entirely different yet far-reaching nations is in the fact that they are constantly undergoing a tug of war with this triple subjugation of caste or race, gender, and class. This paper scrutinizes how transnationalism paved the way for the emergence of Dalit feminist writings by taking inspiration from American Black womanism.