Dalit Women’s Writings at the Intersection of Illness and Disability: An Analysis of Selected Skin Stories

Abstract

Dalit literature, specifically Dalit autobiographies, has largely missed out on dealing with the intersections of illness and disability. But these intersecting experiences are retold by Dalit women in empathetic online spaces, which offer them an agentic potential and can channel their associated pain and trauma. By analysing select essays from Skin Stories, an Indian feminist media outlet that publishes gendered articulations of illness, disability and healing, this article explores how Dalit women’s writings can help one regain control over one’s bodily narrative and highlights the effects of converging identities in their lives. The study attempts to draw attention to the fourth layer of ostracization that Dalit women experience on a daily basis by employing the analytical frameworks of intersectionality and Dalit feminism.