Bama

Raj Kumar is Professor in the Department of English, Delhi University. His book, Dalit Personal Narratives: Reading Caste, Nation and Identity has been published by Orient BlackSwan, New Delhi in 2010. His English translation of Akhila Naik’s Bheda, the first Odia Dalit novel is published in 2017. His book Dalit Literature and Criticism was published in 2019. S. Armstrong is Professor and Head, Centre for Endangered Languages, University of Madras, Chennai. He is a former Fulbright and Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellow and authored Voice of the Voiceless (2013) and edited three books. He is currently working on Blue Humanities and Literatures.

Introduction SECTION I: Documenting Many Dalit Worlds: Fiction by Bama Excerpts from novels 1. Karukku 2. Sangati 3. Vanmam 4. Manusi 5.Viruchanglagum Vithaigal Selected Short Stories 6. Pongal 7. Dhavani 8. Ponnuthayi 9. Rapscallion Selected Short Stories for Children 10. The Ichi Tree Monkey 11. Identity 12. The Yellow Butterfly 13. Durga and I SECTION II: Poems by Bama 14. Born to Burn 15. Death 16. Hope beyond Hope 17. Maternal Fragrance 18. Fiery Frolics 19 Yearning SECTION III: Voices of Dissent and Protest: Critical Essays of Bama 20. Writing as Healing 21 Dalits as Artisans of a New Humanity 22. Life, as though He Knew it was Historic 23. Through Solitude to Solicitude SECTION IV: Bama in Interviews 24. “A Dalit Woman Writer Writes Back” 25. “Letters are always Life-giving Angels” SECTION V: In the Public Gaze: Bama in Criticism Critical Reading of Karukku 26. Space and Caste: Mapping the Physiognomy of Bama’s Karukku 27. Karukku and Beyond: Bama’s Literary Journey 28. Can a cātik kuṭi ever become a tiṇaik kuṭi again? A Reading of Karukku Intersectionalities of Caste, Class and Gender 29. Dialogics of the Oppressed: A Study of Caste, Gender, Textuality, and Corporeality in Sangati 30. The Sociological Self as Palimpsest: Caste, Class, Religion and Gender in the Select Writings of Bama 31. Negotiating Spatial Autonomy and Personal Agency: A Reading of Bama’s Manusi Bama Making History 32. A Publisher’s “Bama” Faustina 33. The Deep Vernacular History of Casteless and Anti-Caste Indians Bama, the Narrator 34. Bama, the Nature Teacher 35. Bama’s Stylising of Ballad Narrative Appraisals of Bama by Her Teacher and Brother 36. Bama as I Know Her 37. The Way I Think about Bama’s Writings SECTION VI: Bama’s Evolving Life a. A bio-Chronology b. Citations from Awards c. Bibliography