Overview

Touchable/Untouchable showcases extraordinary Dalit writing from India in translation. Dalit is the preferred term for the caste-oppressed communities in India formerly known as ""untouchables."" Though untouchability has been outlawed in the Constitution of independent India since the middle of the twentieth century, Dalits continue to experience tremendous violence and social marginalization, including in the literary sphere. Edited by guest editor K. Satyanarayana and series editor S. Shankar, Touchable/Untouchable presents, for the first time in English, work from five celebrated contemporary Dalit writers—poems by Tamil writer Sukirtharani, translated by Anushiya Ramaswamy; two excerpts from the Telugu novel Panchatantram by Bojja Tharakam, translated by Shirisha Amme; two works in Marathi, a creative/critical essay by iconic writer Baburao Bagul and a long poem by Pradnya Daya Pawar, both translated by Maya Pandit; and an excerpt from Murdahiya, an autobiography in Hindi by Tulsiram, translated by Joel Lee. In the last twenty-five years, Dalit literature has experienced a boom in publication in India. Only a small portion of this boom has found its way outside India in translation. In publishing the five works, Mānoa joins in amplifying Dalit voices in the global literary scene. The works included reveal the diversity of genres, styles, and political orientations in a literary movement shaking the foundations of Indian writing and reshaping Indian literature in unprecedented ways. Dalit writing is a literature of witnessing as well as aesthetic experimentation. The spectacular works gathered here are presented in English versions through the creative labor of five translators who have deep knowledge about the languages, histories and cultures from which the works emerge. Touchable/Untouchable gathers substantial work from each of five important Dalit writers, providing readers a sustained look at their literary achievement and honoring the distinctiveness of authorial voices drawn from different regions of India. An introduction by K. Satyanarayana and S. Shankar presents an overview of Dalit literature, and each writer is introduced by a translator’s note.

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S. Shankar is a novelist, cultural critic and translator. Shankar is also Professor and Chair of English at the University of Hawai'i at ​Mānoa. K. Satyanarayana is professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He has designed and taught a set of courses under the rubric ""Dalit Studies"" and has published books and essays in the broad field of Dalit intellectual and literary history.

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