Mapping of Environmental Injustice in Bengali Dalit Women’s Narratives

Abstract

In India, the politics of the caste system leads to the accumulation of resources in the hands of only a few people. Manual scavenging, cleaning the dirt and menial jobs are forced on Dalits due to social divisions. They are deprived of access to natural resources such as adequate healthy food and land, clean air, clean water, healthy living, etc. which results in environmental injustice. The mapping of sufferings due to environmental injustice can be seen in the narratives of both male and female Dalit writers. Dalit women suffer environmental injustice because of caste, gender and class. This article is an attempt to underscore the mapping of environmental injustice in Indian Bengali Dalit women’s narratives. The texts selected for study are the poem ‘Strange Students’ by Samritikana Haoladar and the story ‘The Ghat of the Date Palm Tree and Panchi’s Sense Organs’ by Saptadwipa Adhikari. The imagery of nature, poverty and hunger is used to narrate sufferings which symbolizes Dalit women’s struggle. The socio-economic–cultural situation of Dalit women is linked to environmental injustice and it needs to be seriously discussed in environmental, policy and literary discourses.