Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature

这个国际网络响应AHRC主题“翻译文化”确定的研究议程，打算分析达利特人(以前称为贱民)创作的文学作品，达利特人是印度最受压迫和最沉默的社区之一。种姓背景的人曾被称为“贱民”，约占印度人口的20%。术语“Dalit”(在马拉提语中的意思是“破碎的”或“粉碎的”)被“贱民”自己选为化名。达利特文学以其对底层文化的表现和主张是印度文学近三十年来最重大的发展，但这一独特的文学语料库尚未得到应有的国际认可。尽管1950年独立的印度宪法废除了贱民地位，但对具有贱民种姓背景的人的歧视仍在继续，印度教证实了这一点。受20世纪70年代挑战马哈拉施特拉邦种姓歧视的政治激进主义的启发，达利特作家兼活动人士用马拉提语发展了一种高度政治化的文学。这为泰米尔纳德邦的泰米尔语、喀拉拉邦的马拉拉姆语、安得拉邦的泰卢固语、卡纳塔克邦的卡纳达语和印地语等其他地方印第安语达利特文献的出现开创了先例。达利特文学在形式、叙事视角和语言使用方面往往具有很高的创新性，但到目前为止，只有少数达利特作家的作品被翻译成英语和其他欧洲语言。该项目由诺丁汉特伦特大学后殖民研究中心主持，将开启一场关于达利特文学迄今未被研究的方面的国际对话。即使在印度由熟悉达利特原文的批评家研究时，对达利特文学的文学性的分析也被忽视；相反，它几乎完全是从社会学和历史学的角度来探索的。该项目旨在建立一个网络，其研究成果将达利特人的文学文本与背景联系起来，以使更多的受众能够接触到它们，但也要利用文学批评和后殖民和女权主义理论的方法，将它们作为文学艺术品进行分析。学术后殖民文学课程越来越多地包括翻译的课程文本，但很少有来自达利特文学的课程文本，因为没有专门使非专家能够接触这些文本的学术研究。这个项目凭借其多样化的研究成果，打算弥合这一差距。这笔赠款将资助一系列会议、研讨会和其他活动，这些会议、研讨会和其他活动专门致力于分析这部在印度以外的令人兴奋的、以前几乎看不见的文学作品。因此，该项目将在达利特文学领域的主要研究人员之间建立国际对话，促进在文学和文化研究领域工作的英国和欧洲学者与研究这一领域的印度学者的密切合作，并与达利特文学的作者、翻译家和出版商建立联系。该项目将产生几项已发表的研究成果，如多投稿人卷和同行评议期刊上的几篇文章，从而使南亚研究的非专家、文学研究人员、学生和公众能够参与这项工作，这项工作往往是用当地的印第安语编写的，面向该地区的受众。这些成果的目的是维持该网络，并提请注意和讨论这些在印度以外基本上被忽视的丰富的文学材料，从而促进与以前被边缘化的文化和社区的对话。

This international network, which responds to the research agenda set by the AHRC theme 'Translating Cultures', intends to analyse the literature created by Dalits (formerly referred to as Untouchables), one of the most oppressed and silenced communities in India. People with caste backgrounds which used to be referred to as 'Untouchable' form roughly 20% of India's population. The term 'Dalit' (meaning 'broken' or 'crushed' in Marathi) has been chosen by 'Untouchables' themselves as a nom de guerre. Dalit literature with its representation and assertion of subaltern cultures is the most significant development in Indian literature in the last three decades, but this unique literary corpus has not yet received the international recognition it deserves. Despite the fact that the 1950 constitution of independent India abolished Untouchability, discrimination against people of untouchable caste backgrounds has continued, validated by Hinduism. Inspired by the political activism that challenged the discrimination on the grounds of caste in Maharashtra in the 1970s, Dalit writer-activists developed a highly politicised literature in the vernacular language of Marathi. This set the precedent for the emergence of other regional Dalit literatures in vernacular Indian languages such as Tamil in Tamil Nadu, Malayalam in Kerala, Telugu in Andhra Pradesh, Kannada in Karnataka and Hindi. Dalit literature is often highly innovative in its form, narrative perspective and use of language but so far only the work of a few Dalit authors has been translated into English and other European languages.This project, undertaken under the aegis of Nottingham Trent University's Centre for Postcolonial Studies, will open up an international dialogue on hitherto unresearched dimensions of Dalit literature. Even when studied in India by critics familiar with the original language of Dalit writing, the analysis of the literary quality of Dalit literature has been neglected; instead it has been almost exclusively explored from a sociological and historical perspective. This project aims to produce a network whose research outputs contextualise Dalit literary texts in order to make them accessible to a wider audience, but also analyse them as literary artefacts, drawing on the methods of literary criticism and postcolonial and feminist theory. Academic postcolonial literature courses increasingly include course texts in translation but rarely from Dalit literature because academic studies do not exist that specifically enable the non-expert to engage with these texts. This project, with its varied research output, intends to close this gap. The grant will fund a series of conferences, workshops and other events that are exclusively dedicated to the analysis of this exciting and previously almost 'invisible' literature outside of India. The project will thus establish an international dialogue between key researchers in the areas of Dalit literature, foster the close collaboration of UK and European academics working in the field of literary and cultural studies with Indian scholars researching in this field and cultivate contacts with authors, translators and publishers of Dalit literature. This project will produce several published research outputs, such as a multi-contributor volume and several articles in peer-reviewed journals, thus allowing non-experts in South Asian Studies, researchers in literary studies, students and the public to engage with this work, which tends to be produced in vernacular Indian languages for a regional audience. These outputs are aimed at sustaining the network and drawing attention to and discussing this wealth of literary material that has been largely neglected outside of India and thereby contributing to a dialogue with previously marginalised cultures and communities.