Table Of ContentDALIT FEMINIST THEORY
Dalit Feminist Theory: A Reader radically redefines feminism by introducing the
category of Dalit into the core of feminist thought. It supplements feminism
by adding caste to its study and praxis; it also re-examines and rethinks Indian
feminism by replacing it with a new paradigm, namely, that caste-based feminist
inquiry offers the only theoretical vantage point for comprehensively addressing
gender-based injustices.
Drawing on a variety of disciplines, the chapters in the volume discuss key
themes such as Indian feminism versus Dalit feminism; the emerging concept of
Dalit patriarchy; the predecessors of Dalit feminism, such as Phule and Ambedkar;
the meaning and value of lived experience; the concept of Difference; the analogical
relationship between Black feminism and Dalit feminism; the intersectionality
debate; and the theory-versus-experience debate. They also provide a conceptual,
historical, empirical and philosophical understanding of feminism in India today.
Accessible, essential and ingenious in its approach, this book is for students,
teachers and specialist scholars, as well as activists and the interested general reader.
It will be indispensable for those engaged in gender studies, women’s studies,
sociology of caste, political science and political theory, philosophy and feminism,
Ambedkar studies, and for anyone working in the areas of caste, class or gender-
based discrimination, exclusion and inequality.
Sunaina Arya is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Philosophy, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She is completing a dissertation on feminist
philosophy from a Dalit perspective. Her areas of research include Ambedkarite
social and political philosophy, philosophy and psychology, and the philosophy of
social sciences.
Aakash Singh Rathore is Visiting Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University,
Sonepat, and Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, India. He is
author of A Philosophy of Autobiography: Body & Text (2019), Plato’s Labyrinth:
Sophistries, Lies, and Conspiracies in Socratic Dialogues (2018), Indian Political
Theory: Laying the Groundwork for Svaraj (2017), and co-author of Rethinking
Indian Jurisprudence: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law (2018). His
18 authored/edited books range from political philosophy, law, and religion to
literature, sports, and wine. He is also the Series Editor of ‘Ethics, Human Rights
and Global Political Thought’. As professor of politics, philosophy, and law, Rathore
has taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Universities of Delhi, Rutgers,
Pennsylvania, Toronto, Humboldt-Berlin, and LUISS-Rome. He is a regular
contributor to The Indian Express and Outlook magazine with bylines in The
Times of India, Firstpost, Huffington Post, and Scroll.in. Rathore serves as advisor
to policymakers, thinktanks, educational and political bodies, and has featured
on Asia News Network, News18 and NDTV 24X7. He is also India’s number 3
Ironman triathlete, and has finished six Ironman Triathlons. Among his forthcoming
works are Vision for a Nation (with Ashis Nandy), Ambedkar’s Preamble: A History
in Six Concepts, and B. R. Ambedkar: A Definitive Biography.
DALIT FEMINIST
THEORY
A Reader
Edited by Sunaina Arya and
Aakash Singh Rathore
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Sunaina Arya and Aakash Singh
Rathore; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Sunaina Arya and Aakash Singh Rathore to be identified as
the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Arya, Sunaina, editor. | Rathore, Aakash Singh, editor.
Title: Dalit feminist theory : a reader / edited by Sunaina Arya and Aakash
Singh Rathore.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019020446 (print) | LCCN 2019981185 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367276812 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367278250 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780429298110 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Feminist theory—India. | Feminism—India. |
Dalit women—India—Social conditions. | Caste—India.
Classification: LCC HQ1191.I4 D35 2020 (print) | LCC HQ1191.I4 (ebook) |
DDC 305.420954—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019020446
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019981185
ISBN: 978-0-367-27681-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-27825-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-29811-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC.
Sunaina Arya dedicates this work to all Dalit women:
To everyday contributors, like my mother Kunti Devi and sister
Anjana Devi;
To inspiring achievers, like Devyani Khobragade;
To those risking their lives fighting for justice, like Bhanwari
Devi;
To those who have lost their lives in this struggle, like Delta
Meghwal, Jisha and Payal Tadvi.
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
List of figures x
Notes on contributors xi
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction: theorising Dalit feminism 1
Sunaina Arya and Aakash Singh Rathore
PART I
Indian feminism vs Dalit feminism 23
1 A critical view on intersectionality 25
Nivedita Menon
2 Problems for a contemporary theory of gender 40
Susie Tharu and Tejaswini Niranjana
3 Indian feminism and ‘Dalit patriarchy’ 60
Gopal Guru; Uma Chakravarti; V. Geetha
PART II
Predecessors of Dalit feminism 63
4 Dalit women’s agency and Phule-Ambedkarite feminism 65
Shailaja Paik
viii Contents
5 Ambedkarite women 88
Wandana Sonalkar
6 Ramabai and Ambedkar 94
Sharmila Rege
PART III
Lived experience as ‘difference’ 101
7 Brahmanical nature of violence against women 103
Sharmila Rege
8 Vilifying Dalit women: epics and aesthetics 117
Vizia Bharati; Y. S. Alone
9 Dalit women’s autobiographies 131
Sharmila Rege
PART IV
What difference does ‘difference’ make? 137
10 ‘Difference’ through intersectionality 139
Kimberlé Crenshaw
11 Dalit women talk differently 150
Gopal Guru
12 Debating Dalit difference 154
Sharmila Rege
PART V
Intersectionality in India 171
13 Why intersectionality is necessary 173
S. J. Aloysius, J. P. Mangubhai and J. G. Lee
14 The Dalit woman question 182
Susie Tharu
15 Responses to Indian feminists’ objections 188
Mary E. John; Meena Gopal
Contents ix
PART VI
Toward a Dalit feminist theory 199
16 Feminist fictions: a critique of Indian feminism 201
Julie Stephens
17 Revitalising Dalit feminism 211
Smita M. Patil
18 Dalit women’s experience: toward a Dalit feminist theory 223
Kanchana Mahadevan
Index 237
