Marginalization of Lower-caste Christians in Mohammad Hanif’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti
Abstract
Lower-caste Christians are mostly the converts from Dalits who converted to escape injustices based on caste (Banerjee, 2023). Although caste consciousness is not as noticeable in Pakistan as it prevails in India, Pakistani lower caste Christians still face discrimination because of their Dalit ancestry (Kamran, 2017). Also, being a religious minority and having Dalit ancestry exacerbates their marginalization and force them to live their lives as subalterns. This paper explores the manifestations of marginalization against lower caste Christians as subalterns in the text of Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011). The study uses Spivak’s (1988) concept of subalternity and proposes that lower-caste Christians face marginalization not just for their religion but also for their Dalit ancestry in the text of OLAB. It also establishes the notion that lower caste Christians are considered untouchables and impure because of their jobs as sweepers which makes them subalterns in the text. While analyzing the text, the study explores Spivak’s concept of subalternity which she proposed in her famous essay Can the Subaltern Speak? (1988). Spivak says that subalterns are the oppressed people who are living outside the periphery or cultural imperialism (Mostafaee,2017).
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References
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