Ambedkar’s Writings and Dalit Sensitivities: Voice, Suffering, and Repressed Emotions

This paper examines the intersections of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s structural, political, and philosophical writings with the interiority of Dalit sensitivities. While scholarship frequently emphasizes Ambedkar’s legalism and constitutionalism, this study investigates how his oeuvre anchors the emotional landscape of the subaltern—specifically focusing on the articulation of institutionalized suffering, collective trauma, and repressed emotions. By close-reading foundational texts like Annihilation of Caste, The Untouchables, and his autobiographical notes in Waiting for a Visa, this paper maps the transition of Dalit consciousness from silent, internalized humiliation to an organized, confrontational socio-political voice. The paper argues that Ambedkar’s writing functions not merely as political theory, but as an affective archive that legitimizes Dalit grief and translates visceral anger into structured emancipatory grammar.