The Antharjanam: Translating the Self, Reformism and Keralami

Abstract

The current paper studies Antharjanam (2012), the combined English translation of two
Malayalam autobiographical texts, Nashtabodhangalillathe (2003) and Yathra:
Kaatilum Naatilum (2006) by Devaki Nilayamgode. Due to the specificity of her being
an Antharjanam [women of Malayala Brahmin caste], Nilayamgode places her seminal
texts in a fraught relationship with caste and gender. Being the first woman of her caste
to write an autobiography, she is also voiced into discourses of feminism in Keralam.
In this context, the paper seeks to locate the various transactions that are opened up
through translation; this includes the translational economies of the texts, as well as the
commerce with pertinent discourses and worlds outside the texts. Further, the research
seeks to explore the interstices of caste, gender, and feminism into which the seminal
texts and their translation place themselves.