Testimonios: An Indian Perspective

S. Armstrong Associate Professor and Head i/c Department of English, University of Madras, Chepauk, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

This paper examines the genre of testimonial literature from an Indian perspective, tracing its origins in Latin American discourse and exploring its relevance to Indian Dalit writing. It discusses how subaltern people have long been relatively powerless in presenting themselves in the literary world and how testimonios offer a means of resistance and self-representation. The paper considers the works of Bama, Viramma, and other Dalit women writers as Indian manifestations of the testimonial tradition, and proposes pedagogical approaches for teaching testimonios in Indian classrooms.

Keywords: testimonio, subaltern, Dalit literature, testimonial narrative, Bama, Karukku

The Testimonial Tradition

Literature is usually produced by members of the dominant classes in society and represent ideas as seen from their social as well as cultural position. Subaltern people have long been relatively powerless in presenting themselves in the literary world. Georg Gugelberger has noted that critical theory and research is being created on the margins between literary theory and anthropology.

George Yudice defines Testimonial literature as “an authentic narrative, told by a witness who is moved to narrate by the urgency of a situation (eg. war, oppression, revolution, etc.).” John Beverley suggests that the best way to approach the subaltern is through testimonial literature. Gugelberger considers Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, published in 1959, as the originating point of testimonies.

Women’s Testimonies

Women’s testimonies are considered the only “true” account as opposed to testimonies in general. Nancy Saporta Sternbach highlights three important traits shared by women’s discourse and testimonial literature: the vindication and use of oral history; the use of the paradigm of female slavery as the cause of the testimonio; and the understanding of the personal as the political.

Indian Dalit Testimonios

Indian Dalit testimonios bear witness and testify life experiences. M.S.S. Pandian considers testimonio as a strategy of erasing specificities by masking them with a veil of anonymity. Bama’s Karukku is no longer considered an autobiography. M.S.S. Pandian argues that Bama verbalises her own life story, depletes the autobiographical “I,” and displaces it with the collectivity of the Dalit community. The story is not her own but that of others too.

In Bama’s case nobody can interpret her story. It is something that is very personal. Her life is related to her people. She documents the reality of the whole people of her community who were not allowed to voice their own story. Sharmila Rege’s Writing Caste/Writing Gender: Narrating Dalit Women’s Testimonios (2006) is a collection of Dalit testimonios writing against the establishment interspersed with essays and dialogues in translation.

Novelization and Testimonial Discourse

The emergence of testimonial discourse in Latin America, Asia and other Third World countries could be considered or could be closely associated with revolutionary developments in literature and culture. The process of “novelization” along with cultural influence form the Latin American and Dalit Autobiographies with four important features: free oral storytelling, self-expressiveness, truth-based narration and memory recalling. These testimonios subvert the conventions and established discourses of the writings of the Centre.

Teaching Students Testimonios in Indian Classrooms

Teaching needs to make students have a realistic identification of the reader with the social and personal problems set forth in the work of art. It must give the students a knowledge of themselves, bring them face to face with choices of values and actions that are a daily reality in life, and enhance self-discovery and personal development.

Works Cited

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