From Oppression to Freedom: A Dalit Feminist Reinterpretation of Existence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n03.005Keywords:
Dalit Feminism, Existence, Caste, Gender, Oppression, Freedom, IntersectionalityAbstract
This study article by a Dalit feminist explores how socioeconomic inequity, gender, and caste shape existence. It asserts that classical philosophy, particularly existentialism, ignores significant social structures that influence people’s lives in favour of seeing existence as a singular, universal experience. This study demonstrates how Dalit women are subjected to oppressive structures that restrict their opportunities, rights, and dignity in addition to their freedom of choice. Additionally, the report highlights how Dalit women actively challenge these systems through literature, education, and group resistance. By analysing well-known authors and philosophers, the study demonstrates how lived experience may inform knowledge and transform identity and agency. Freedom is no longer an individual ideal but rather a societal goal that calls for equality and social change. In order to provide a more comprehensive and grounded explanation of life, this study offers a Dalit feminist existential framework that connects individual experience to social reality. It concludes that the only way to achieve true freedom is to confront and change patriarchy and caste, giving everyone; especially the marginalized; a purpose in life.
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