PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH DJILLALI LIABES UNIVERSITY OF SIDI BEL ABBES FACULTY OF LETTERS, LANGUAGES AND ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Non/Dalit Women Identity between Compliance and Defiance Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Candidacy for the Degree of “Doctorat” in Post- Colonial Woman Literature Written in English Presented by: Supervised by: Mrs. Nadjia BOUSSEBHA Prof. Fewzia BEDJAOUI Jury Members: Prof. Belabbes OUERRAD (President) DLU, Sidi Bel Abbes Prof. Fewzia BEDJAOUI (Supervisor) DLU, Sidi Bel Abbes Prof. Mohamed Yamine BOULENOUAR (Co-Supervisor) DLU, Sidi Bel Abbes Prof. Fayza SENOUCI (External Examiner) University of Tlemcen Dr Azzeddine BOUHASSOUN (MC-A) (External Examiner) University of Ain Temouchent Dr Abdellah BARAKA (MC-A) (External Examiner) University of Mascara Academic year: 2019-2020 Dedications This thesis is lovingly dedicated to: My parents, my husband, my children, grandchildren, brothers, and sister. II Acknowledgments I first and foremost thank God Almighty for His constant blessing, protection, strengths, wisdom and devotion to persevere for the completion of this work. I am also grateful for the studentship from Djillali LIABES University, Sidi Belabbes, which remains a source of knowledge and fruitful scientific communications. In fact, this thesis is a product of ideas, most of which, have already been tackled in academic settings, through books and articles that I have read, debates that I have attended and inspired by, and conversations of which I have had the opportunity to be a part. In this sense, I must assert the collective authorship of all those whom I have read and argued with as well as those to whom I listened. My greatest accumulation of debt and of gratitude is owed to Professor Fewzia BEDJAOUI, who directed this thesis and who has set an incredible example of how one can negotiate the academy and retain personal integrity. Her thoughtful and thought provoking suggestions and directions have kept me on task and have challenged me to think, reflect and then act and to find my own voice within my praxis. She made me self confident and proud of being a researcher and a ‘woman’. I need to articulate my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Professor Mohamed Yamine BOULENOUAR who gave me guidance and inspiration in my quest for knowledge from the beginning stay in the university. I am equally grateful to the members of the jury: Prof. Belabbes OUERRAD, Prof. Fayza SENOUCI, Dr. Abdellah BARAKA, and Dr. Azzeddine BOUHASSOUN for their valuable comments and suggestions, which help me enrich my knowledge and enhance the continuity of my research from a diversity of perspectives. My thanks go to my friends (researchers from India) who provided me with knowledge that helped me develop ideas for the thesis, mainly Purna Chudhari (from English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India). I am particularly indebted to all those who provided me with sustained spiritual and emotional abilities to complete this scientific piece of work. III Abstract In this era of globalized thoughts of democracy and human rights, the forms of women struggles across the nations are very similar. No matter how different the socio-economic, cultural and political ambiences are, literature becomes a weapon in the hands of women for self-assertion and realization. In this thesis, the focus is to compare the representation of the Indian woman by Dalit and non-Dalit women writers. The selected works are Sangati by Bama Faustina Faustina, The Prison we Broke by Baby Kamble, as Dalit writers; Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters, as non-Dalit novels. The study draws from aspects of the idiosyncrasies of narratology through which I examine to what extent the comparative approach methodically investigates the homogenization of differences, under the lens of postcolonialist and feminist theories, in order to identify the harmonious coexistence of the nation-state diversity and its unity. Then, based on history, psychology, sociology, and politics how the focus of intertextuality broadens the horizons of homogeneity to provide regional literature a valid category. Consequently, the common denominator theme is identity (de)construction. Furthermore, the study shows how Indian women, utilize literature to represent the odd issues of their society claiming that discrimination and oppression of the underprivileged, woman and Dalit, is at the core of the three dogmatic social rules: gender, caste and class. The authors’ remarkable insight grew primarily from their own experiences. With a hope of erasing the past and building a bright future, they form an arena for the suppressed to get representation and gain a voice to achieve a sense of self-knowledge and mobilized resistance against the rigid social codes. They also make efforts to empower their society and redefine the authentic identity of the universal individual/woman. Key words: Dalit, Indian/Dalit woman, Indian literature, patriarchy, caste, identity IV Table of Contents Dedications ................................................................................. II Acknowledgments ................................................................... III Abstract ..................................................................................... IV Table of Contents ....................................................................... V List of Figures/Tables ........................................................... XIV General Introduction .................................................................. 1 Chapter One: Dynamics of the Indian Context ..................... 17 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 17 The Indian Context ................................................................................................. 18 1.2.1. Hinduism: the Soul of India ...................................................................... 24 1.2.2. History of the Patriarchal Conviction ....................................................... 26 1.2.3. Myths and Feminine Construction ............................................................ 29 1.2.4. The Indian Culture .................................................................................... 34 The Status of Women in India ............................................................................... 35 Postcolonial Literature: For the Sake of Representation .................................... 37 1.4.1. Postcolonialism and Postmodernism ........................................................ 41 1.4.2. Post-Colonialism and Feminism ............................................................... 44 1.4.3. Identity and Context ................................................................................. 48 V The Caste System: Breathing Discrimination ...................................................... 49 1.5.1. Concept and Origins of the Caste System ................................................ 50 1.5.2. Construction of the Caste System ............................................................. 52 1.5.3. Untouchability in India ............................................................................. 54 Dalit: A Perpetual Discrimination ........................................................................ 55 1.6.1. Dalit Consciousness .................................................................................. 60 1.6.2. Dalit Movements for Self-Respect ........................................................... 61 1.6.3. Education: The Prime Avenue for Dalit Emancipation ............................ 64 1.6.4. Dalit Woman and the Social movements .................................................. 66 Globalization Narrowing the Gaps of Casteization ............................................. 69 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 72 Chapter Two: Women and Literature in India ..................... 73 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 73 Improvement in Women’s Conditions .................................................................. 74 Women’s Willingness and Social Reform ............................................................. 77 2.1.1. Feminism .................................................................................................. 80 2.1.2. Feminist criticism ..................................................................................... 84 2.1.3. Feminism in India ..................................................................................... 86 Modern Indian Literature: a Historical Background ......................................... 88 VI Indian English Writings ......................................................................................... 89 English Language and Indian Woman Literature ............................................... 91 2.6.1. Early Indian Women Novelists ................................................................. 94 2.6.2. The Post-Independence Women Novelists ............................................... 97 2.6.3. Modern Indian Women Novelists ........................................................... 100 Dalit Literature: Subverting the Monopoly .......................................................