>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:21st-century Indian women writers to Category:21st-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

2021-06-24T17:41:25Z

Copying from Category:21st-century Indian women writers to Category:21st-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Faustina Mary Fatima Rani
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}}
| birth_place = Pudhupatti, [[Chennai]], [[India]]
| occupation = writer, teacher.
| nationality = Indian.
}}
'''Bama ''' (born 1958), also known as '''Bama Faustina Soosairaj''', is a Tamil Dalit feminist, committed teacher and novelist. She rose to fame with her [[autobiographical novel]] ''[[Karukku]]'' (1992), which chronicles the joys and sorrows experienced by [[Dalit]] [[Christians|Christian]] women in [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref name="tribune_20030817">{{cite news|title=Caste in her own image|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|first=Nirupama|last=Dutt|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030817/herworld.htm#1}}</ref> She subsequently wrote two more novels, ''Sangati'' (1994) and ''Vanmam'' (2002) along with two collections of short stories: ''Kusumbukkaran'' (1996) and ''Oru Tattvum Erumaiyum'' (2003).<ref name="tamilcon_bio">{{cite web|title=Biography, Tamil Studies conference|url=http://www.tamilstudiesconference.ca/tsc2008/programme/bama.html|publisher=Tamil Studies Conference|access-date=2012-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128043808/http://tamilstudiesconference.ca/tsc2008/programme/bama.html|archive-date=2010-01-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition to this she has written twenty short stories.

==Early life & family==
{{Quote box
|width = 18em
|border = 1px
|align = right
|bgcolor =#D0F0C0
|fontsize = 85%
|title_bg =
|title_fnt =
|title =
|quote = "We who are asleep must open our eyes and look about us. We must not accept the injustice of our enslavement by telling ourselves it is our fate, as if we have no true feelings; we must dare to stand up for change. We must crush all these institutions that use caste to bully us into submission, and demonstrate that among human beings there are none who are high or low. Those who have found their happiness by exploiting us are not going to go easily. It is we who have to place them where they belong and bring about a changed and just society where all are equal."
|salign = right
|source = — Bama in ''Karukku'' (2012).
}}

Bama was born in 1958 as Faustina Mary Fatima Rani in a Roman Catholic family belonging to the [[Paraiyar]] community from Puthupatti in the then Madras State.<ref name="tribune_20030817"/> Later she accepted 'Bama' as her pen name. Her father, Susairaj was employed in the Indian Army<ref name="Sarojini">{{cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/25987/8/08_chapter%201.pdf|title=From Oppression to Optimum Through Self-spun Philosophy- A Comparative Reading of the Fictional Output of Maya Angelou and Bama|last1=Sudha|first1=Sarojini|website=Shodhganga.inflibnet,ac.in|accessdate=20 May 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820144047/http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/25987/8/08_chapter%201.pdf|archivedate=20 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> and her mother was named Sebasthiamma. She is the sister of famous Dalit writer [[Raj Gauthaman]]. Bama's grandfather had converted from Hinduism to Christianity.<ref name="tribune_20030817"/> Bama's ancestors were from the Dalit community and worked as agricultural labourers. Bama had her early education in her village. Her early literary influences include Tamil writers like Jayakantan, Akhilan, Mani, and Parthasarthy. In college, she read and enjoyed [[Kahlil Gibran]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]]. On graduation, she became a schoolteacher for very poor girls, following which she served as a nun for seven years.<ref name="Sarojini"/> She chose to take the holy orders to escape caste-based discrimination, and also to further her mission of helping in the advancement of poor Dalit girls.

==Writing career==

After joining the nunnery, Bama found out that there was a separate training centre for Dalit Catholics.{{cn|date=November 2019}} Angered by the poor conditions of the Dalit Catholic training centre, she left the nunnery after seven years. She finished her studies and joined as a teacher at a Catholic Christian school. During her teaching experience, she found out that the Catholic nuns oppressed the Dalit children and teachers. This further added to her disdain towards the convent. This was when she began writing. With the encouragement of a friend, she wrote on her childhood experiences.<ref name="tribune_20030817" /> These experiences formed the basis for her first novel, ''Karukku'' published in 1992.<ref name="tribune_20030817" /> Bama wrote the novel in a dialect of Tamil that is unique to her community. She said she faced flak regarding the choice of her language from the members of the upper caste. That's when she decided to use the same dialect in all the novels subsequently.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/on-a-wing-and-a-prayer-tamil-dalit-writer-bama-25-years-of-karukku-5032667/|title=On a wing and a prayer: Tamil Dalit writer Bama on 25 years of Karukku|date=2018-01-21|website=The Indian Express|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref> When the novel was published, Bama was ostracised from her village for portraying it in poor light and was not allowed to enter it for the next seven months.<ref name="telegraph_20031228">{{cite news|title=The hard business of life|first=Gita|last=Hariharan|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1031228/asp/opinion/story_2710966.asp|work=The Telegraph|date=28 December 2003}}</ref> ''Karukku'' was, however, critically acclaimed and won the Crossword Book Award in 2000.<ref name="thehindu_20010504">{{cite news|title=Tales of an epic struggle|date=4 May 2001|url=http://hindu.com/2001/05/04/stories/1304046j.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413144336/http://hindu.com/2001/05/04/stories/1304046j.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2014|first=Ramya|work=[[The Hindu]]|last=Kannan}}</ref><ref name="prasadp69">{{cite book|title=Dalit literatuer: A critical exploration|page=69|first=Amar Nath|last=Prasad|publisher=Sarup & Sons|year=2007}}</ref> It has since become a textbook in various courses like Marginal Literature, Literature in Translation, Autobiography, Feminist Literature, Subaltern Literature and Dalit Literature, across many universities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/first-person/karukku-was-my-healing-bama-faustina|title=Karukku was my healing: Bama Faustina|website=National Herald|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref> Bama followed it with ''Sangati'' and ''Kusumbukkaran''. Bama got a loan and set up a school for Dalit children in [[Uttiramerur]].<ref name="telegraph_20031228" /> Bama's ''Karukku'' has been translated to English<ref name="thehindu_20010504" /> and ''Kusumbukkaran'' and ''Sangati'' to French.<ref name="tribune_20030817" /> ''Sangati'' has also been translated to Telugu by Dalit writer and activist [[Joopaka Subhadra]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://future.arts.monash.edu/literary-commons/joopaka-subhadra/|title=Subhadra Joopaka|date=2016-01-19|website=Literary Commons|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819051047/http://future.arts.monash.edu/literary-commons/joopaka-subhadra/|archive-date=2018-08-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bama recently published an essay in Single By Choice: happily unmarried women!, a collection of 13 essays by unmarried women in India talking about their singlehood. In her essay she talks about her choice of being a single professional Dalit woman in India. While she did grow up with dreams of marrying a man and having a girl child, she gradually chose being a single woman because according to her "the institution and structure of marriage and family as they exist today, are not woman-friendly at all." She also says, "I liked being myself; I didn’t want to lose my self, my being, my freedom and identity, for anyone."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Single by choice : happily unmarried women!|others=Sharma, Kalpana, 1947-|year = 2019|isbn=978-93-85606-22-9|location=New Delhi|oclc=1110885246}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/book-extract/how-i-learnt-to-carry-on-with-life-in-silence|title=How I learnt to carry on with life in silence|website=National Herald|date=21 July 2019|first=Bama|last=Faustina|language=en|access-date=2020-08-01}}</ref> However, her life choices have been without its own set of challenges. She talks about how she has had to experience insults and suspicion for choosing to be single.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/on-a-wing-and-a-prayer-tamil-dalit-writer-bama-25-years-of-karukku-5032667/|title=On a wing and a prayer: Tamil Dalit writer Bama on 25 years of Karukku|date=2018-01-21|website=The Indian Express|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref>

==Themes==

Bama 's novels focus on caste and gender discrimination. They portray caste-discrimination practised in Christianity and Hinduism. Bama's works are seen as embodying [[Dalit feminism]] and are famed for celebrating the inner strength of the subaltern woman. In an interview, Bama has said that she writes because she considers it her duty and responsibility to share the experiences of her people. In addition, she also finds the act of writing cathartic and liberating. For her, "writing itself is a political act", and a "weapon" that she uses to continuously fight against the dehumanizing caste practice.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sarangi|first=Jaydeep|date=2018-01-28|title=Interview with Bama|journal=Writers in Conversation|volume=5|issue=1|doi=10.22356/wic.v5i1.28|issn=2203-4293|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

* ''Karukku'' (1992; 2nd ed. with postscript, 2012)
* ''Sangati'' (1994)
* ''Kusumbukkaran'' (1996)
* ''Vanmam'' (2002)
* ''Oru Tattavum Erumaiyum'' (2003)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[K. Satyanarayana (academic)|Satyanarayana, K]] & [[Susie Tharu|Tharu, Susie]] (2011) ''No Alphabet in Sight: New Dalit Writing from South Asia, Dossier 1: Tamil and Malayalam'', New Delhi: Penguin Books.
*Clarinda Still (2014) ''Dalit Women: Honour and Patriarchy in South India'' ({{ISBN|978-81-87358-54-1}})

==External links==
* {{cite news|title=Women and words: forging new bonds|work=[[The Hindu]]|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/05/13/stories/2003051300420100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030624055910/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/05/13/stories/2003051300420100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 June 2003|date=13 May 2003|first=Uma|last=Maheshwari}}
* {{cite news|title=Labouring for the cause of Dalits|first=Suchitra|last=Behal|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/03/06/stories/2003030600570300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030701135910/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/03/06/stories/2003030600570300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 July 2003|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=6 March 2003}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121014122810/http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=45&id=3636 Bama interview, Muse India]

{{feminism}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bama}}
[[Category:Tamil writers]]
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian feminist writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Women writers from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Dalit women writers]]

Bama (writer) - Revision history

>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:21st-century Indian women writers to Category:21st-century Indian writers non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot