Voicing the Marginal: A Study of Anita Agnihotri’s Mahuldiha Days

Abstract

Rohini Punekar and Abhigyan Prasad in their essay “Absence as Presence: The
construction of ‘Subalternity’ in Amitabh Ghosh’s The Calcatta Chrosome” write, “One
indication of subordination and dominance is the absence of voice and representation: the
subaltern is someone who is, generally, represented and spoken for by others.” Thus
representation has remained an important concept in the discursive field of ‘postcolonial
studies’. Deepika Bahri in “Feminism in/and postcolonialism” states that “lack of
representation” has often been compensated for by (mis)representation of minorities by the
powerful in any discourse of power differences. Thus, “those with the power to represent
and describe others clearly control how these others will be seen” (204-5) Some of the issues
raised in Subaltern Studies echo these concerns: Who represent the subalterns? How do they
represent them? To what end are they represented?