Survivor Narratives and the Politics of Echmukutty’s Memoir

Recognising the poignance of women’s autobiographical discourses in engenderingdiscussions around domestic abuse and sexual violence, this study takes up the memoirIthente Rakthamanithente Mamsamanetuthukolluka (This is My Blood, This is My Flesh,Take Them) by the Malayalam writer Echmukutty to examine the politics and possibilities ofthe narrative in not only exposing the microstructures of hegemonic patriarchy but also infostering feminist dialogues on women’s rights and justice. To this end, the study reads theselect memoir as a ‘claims narrative’ that forges affective ties with its readers, therebyclaiming an ethical response from them. The study critically contextualises the memoir totease out the ways in which Echmukutty narratively constructs her identity position as anagential subject who speaks and affectively prods others to speak. It further argues thatEchmukutty’s memoir—an archive of trauma—potentially serves to problematize and, to anextent, alter the generic perceptions regarding the state’s development narratives.