Watch | Dalit history: Stalin Rajangam in conversation with G. Gurusamy

Watch | Dalit history: Stalin Rajangam in conversation with G. Gurusamy

The session was titled ‘Dalit History: Text and Context Reading and reconstructing Dalit history through Dalit non-fiction’

Published - February 19, 2024 03:50 pm IST

Writer and historian Stalin Rajangam on Saturday said that inadequate documentary evidence was a unique challenge faced while writing Dalit history, and therefore, one could not primarily depend on written text as the source while writing it.

In a conversation with G. Gurusamy, writer, researcher and Head of the Department of Tamil in Arul Anandar College in Madurai district, at The Hindu Lit Fest 2024 on the topic ‘Dalit History: Text and Context Reading and reconstructing Dalit history through Dalit non-fiction’, Mr. Rajangam said history was constructed based on what could and what could not become text in the past; this in turn becomes a primary source for writing history later.

“Absence of documentary evidence cannot mean that Dalits did not have history,” he said. Thus, he added, there was a need to rely on oral history, proverbs and remnants in culture and traditions and deconstructing them based on the path shown by Pandit Iyothee Thass.

Read more: ‘Written text cannot be the only source for writing Dalit history’

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.