Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of Representation - 9781138660229

Taylor & Francis

Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of RepresentationAuthor(s): Sarah Beth Hunt\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge India\nISBN-13: 9781138660229, 978-1138660229\nSynopsis\nThis study explores how Dalits in north India have used literature as a means of protest against caste oppression. Including fresh ethnographic research and interviews, it traces the trajectory of modern Dalit writing in Hindi and its pivotal role in the creation, rise and reinforcement of a distinctive Dalit identity. \n\nThe book challenges the existing impression of Hindi Dalit literature as stemming from the Dalit political assertion of the 1980s and as being chiefly imitative of the Marathi Dalit literature model. Arguing that Hindi Dalit literature has a much longer history in north India, it examines two differing strands that have taken root in Dalit expression the early popular production of smaller literary pamphlets and journals at the beginni.