Digital Object Identifier
Modern India prides itself on economic growth, technological advancement, and global integration. However, caste operates as a parallel system of power and exclusion. Technology, too, has been weaponized to humiliate Dalits—viral videos of violence, online casteist abuse, and digital exclusion illustrate the adaptation of ancient prejudices in modern forms. India is one of the largest democracies in the world; yet Dalits continue to suffer the relentless caste-based persecution. This paper examines the condition of the weaker sections of society, particularly Dalits. Besides this, the paper studies the transformation of Dalit literature into a potent mechanism for voicing the lived realities concerning oppression, resistance, and identity of subaltern groups in India. Through a close reading of selected Dalit autobiographies and literary texts, the study reveals that these narratives serve to record systemic discrimination on caste lines, to awaken consciousness of self-assertion, and to effect socio-political change.
Aditi Raj. “From Margins to Assertion: Exploring Dalit Experience and the Transformative Power of Dalit Literature in Shaping Collective Consciousness.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 533–552. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.33.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
the-criterion.com