CLAIMING OWN SPACES: ANALYSING SPATIALITY IN SELECT DALIT WOMEN LIFE NARRATIVES

Abstract [English]

This paper examines Dalit women’s autobiographies as powerful sites of articulation, focusing specifically on how spatiality shapes and structures their lived experiences of caste and gender oppression. Dalit autobiographies are marked by their immediacy and authenticity, as they narrate everyday realities such as exclusion, labour, hunger, and humiliation from within the community. Within this genre, Dalit women’s life narratives occupy a distinct position, revealing forms of marginalisation often overlooked in both mainstream literature and male-authored Dalit texts. By foregrounding domestic, bodily, and intimate spaces, these narratives expose the layered intersections of caste, patriarchy, and class.

The study analyses select autobiographies by Urmila Pawar, Baby Kamble and Viramma to explore how space operates as a mechanism of control and exclusion. Segregated settlements, restricted access to public resources, and regulated mobility illustrate how caste is materially embedded in spatial arrangements. Simultaneously, patriarchal norms impose further spatial constraints on Dalit women, confining them to private spheres and marking their bodies as sites of ritual impurity, particularly during menstruation and childbirth. Public spaces, too, become contested arenas where their presence is surveilled and stigmatised.

By reading these narratives through the lens of spatiality, the paper demonstrates that oppression is not merely social but geographically organised. At the same time, it highlights moments of resistance, where writing becomes an act of reclaiming space and asserting identity. Ultimately, Dalit women’s autobiographies map a complex geography of suffering and agency, challenging dominant structures and redefining the relationship between space, caste, and gender.