Subversive Leanings in Marginalized Literatures: The Idea of “Distancing” and “Panoptic-Surveillance” in Dalit and African-American Narratives


Priyanka Jindal ()

My paper works with the idea of Social-Distancing in context of the marginalization practiced against Dalit and African-American communities. It engages with the idea of Panopticon in context of untouchability and apartheid practiced against the above mentioned communities. To understand these concepts, I have used the narrative-political voice of authors Ajay Navaria(Dalit) and Paul Beatty(African-American) who explicate and subvert the signifiers associated with margins and center, overturning the hierarchies and undercutting the ideas of freedom and equality sold by neoliberal world order. They deploy the concept of antipodal culture(Richard Lannoy) to celebrate the existence of multiple centers and margins, decentring the voice of the hegemonic order

Part of 03-14 Text, Translation, and Documentation, Thursday, October 13, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm