The Marginal Subjects: Exploring the Relationship Between Space and Identity

Life narratives often portray the undocumented realities of human experiences interlinked with various socio-cultural identifications. This paper delves into the relationship between space and identity for a lower caste/class Dalit self as represented in Omprakash Valmiki’s autobiography Joothan: A Dalit’s Life (2003). The narrative portrays the plight of a poor untouchable boy from a village in Uttar Pradesh into a successful, educated, professional man living in suburban Mumbai. Regardless of the special shift, his journey notes constant encounters with caste discrimination and marginalization. The narrative highlights the complex relationship between identity and space and how it plays an innate role in the protagonist’s phenomenological experiences. Stuart Hall suggests that identity is multilayered and rather than an accomplished fact, identity production is an ongoing process, changing with new cultural practices (Cultural Identity 222). Identity, thus remains closely interconnected with sociocultural ideas; the notions of power; and existing frameworks of real and imagined communities. Hence, the paper attempts to analyze the complex relationship between ‘space’ and ‘identity’ in the context of caste experiences portrayed in Joothan.