Dalit Literature is But Human Literature: A Reading of Selected Poems of Aparna  Lanjewar Bose

Ankit Ramteke

doi:10.32351/rca.v7.313

Authors

Ankit Ramteke University of Hyderabad https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3222-2631

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32351/rca.v7.313

Política de Crossmark DOI: https://doi.org/10.32351/politica-crossmark

Keywords:

Aparna Lanjewar Bose, Dalit literature, Dalit Poet, IWE Poetry, Dalit English Poet

Abstract

Refusal to be pigeonholed in categories forms one of the distinct features of Aparna Lanjewar Bose’s poetry. The annoyance and fury which is prevalent in many of her poems bear the imprint of her frustration at the extremely divided way of thinking in India. Still, she is definitely a poet of the world; she defamiliarizes her subjects rather consciously, withholding personal even in her most intimate poems, she projects a worldview that breaks free from the parochial, localized- casteist identities of India. This paper focuses on selected poems of Aparna Lanjewar Bose where she finds her voice not just in Anglophone poetic space but in the broader field of Dalit poetry also. I will also look into her delicate handling of ‘Dalit’ as a category that is neither reductive nor merely rhetoric. Caste oppression is no longer limited to the Indian context, it is a humanitarian crisis that has been and needs to be continuously addressed at the international level. Hence, Aparna’s subject suffers not particular Indian suffering, instability, and slippages; but an entirely humane quandary that needs to be addressed at all levels.

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Author Biography

Ankit Ramteke, University of Hyderabad

Doctoral student at the School of Literary Studies, English and Foreign Languages Central University, Hyderabad. He completed his Bachelor`s and Master`s degree from the University of Delhi. His teaching and research interest include
Dalit Literature, Anti-caste Literature, and Indian English Writings. His thesis project titled To Touch or not to touch: The Problem of
Caste in Indian English Writing, touches on, as of yet, a scarcely studied facet of English studies in India- the complex ramifications of the absence or presence of caste representation in IWE. His motivation to pursue a research project in Anti-caste literature stems not only from an intellectual or academic curiosity but also from the need to understand the personal experience that entails being entangled within the caste system.

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