Hegemony and consciousness-building processes in Dalit literature

PALA, MAURO

2013-01-01

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Abstract

Dalit literature helps us to critically regard the categories associated with the concept of subalternity, from state to civil society, through Gramsci’s formulation of hegemony. The Italian thinker’s hegemonic theory is particularly adept at grasping the deep political sense of the issues present in both Ambedkar’s writings and in mostly autobiographical Dalit literary output. In fact, Gramsci considers civil society as the sphere where ruling social groups organize and maintain consent over subaltern groups and, in his view, counter hegemonic practices can be detected in Dalit caste radicalism, where biographies acknowledge the Dalits’ quest for genuine emancipation, questioning the alliance between residual British colonial heritage and the nationalist reconstruction of Indian politics.