Writer and historian Stalin Rajangam on Saturday said that inadequate documentary evidence was a unique challenge faced while writing Dalit history, and therefore, one could not primarily depend on written text as the source while writing it.
In a conversation with G. Gurusamy, writer, researcher and Head of the Department of Tamil in Arul Anandar College in Madurai district, at The Hindu Lit Fest 2024 on the topic ‘Dalit History: Text and Context Reading and reconstructing Dalit history through Dalit non-fiction’, Mr. Rajangam said history was constructed based on what could and what could not become text in the past; this in turn becomes a primary source for writing history later.
“Absence of documentary evidence cannot mean that Dalits did not have history,” he said. Thus, he added, there was a need to rely on oral history, proverbs and remnants in culture and traditions and deconstructing them based on the path shown by Pandit Iyothee Thass.
Read more: ‘Written text cannot be the only source for writing Dalit history’
