RAJ KUMAR, Professor, PhD (JNU)

Raj Kumar, Professor 

Telephone No: 011-2766 6757 (off) 27616324 (res) 

e-mail: bedamatiraj@yahoo.co.in 

Preferred Contact hours: 11am to 12 pm 

BA (Sambalpur), MA (Sambalpur), MPhil (JNU), PhD (JNU). 

Statement 

Education, for me, is emancipation. I strongly believe in that education which brings transformation in society. This belief, I think, is due to my socio-economic background. Coming from an illiterate community and one of the most backward districts of Orissa, i.e. Kalahandi, I have been struggling to get myself educated. It is another matter that I have now been a part of Delhi University, one of the premier educational institutes in our country. Ever since I started receiving education I was fascinated by its noble objective. So from the very beginning I wanted to be a teacher. My dream has finally been realised. Now that I have nearly settled down in life my endeavour is to use my skills and knowledge for the greater benefit of people at large. For this I am using my teaching and research components. My research areas, over the years, have been issues relating to caste, class, ethnicity, language, religion and gender in literature. My most recent research projects are on the subjectivity of marginal voices especially on Dalit literature. Thus by and large education has helped me to explore some possibilities which I am striving for. 

Areas of interest/research: 

Dalit literature, Indian Literature, Autobiography, Post-colonial studies, Literary criticism, Oriya literature. 

Courses taught: 

Literary Criticism, Indian Literature (MA), Dalit Literature (MPhil) 

Honours, awards, appointments: 

Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1999) 

Representative publications: 

Dalit Personal Narratives: Reading Caste, Nation and Identity. Orient BlackSwan, Delhi, 2010. Paperback Reprint in 2011. 

Edited Special Issue on Autobiography, Creative Forum: Journal of Literary and Critical Writings, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, January-December, 2010, of 265 pages. 

Edited  Special Issue on Dalit Writings, Creative Forum: Journal of Literary and Critical Writings, Vol. 20, No. 2, July-December, 2007, of 171 pages 

Edited Special Issue on Dalit Writings, Language Forum: A Journal of Language and Literature, Vol. 33, No. 1, January-June, 2007, of 144 pages. 

“Dalit Literature: A Perspective from Below” in Dalit Assertion in Society, Literature and History, edited by Imtiaz Ahmad and Shashi Bhushan Upadhy, Orient BlackSwan, Delhi, 2010. 

“Community, Identity and Politics: Muli’s Life History”, Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature, Vol. 46, 2008-09. 

‘Alienation, Consciousness and Assertion: An Interpretation of Oriya Dalit Narrative’ inLanguage Forum, Vol. 33, No. 1, January-June 2007. 

‘Narrative, History, Politics: An Interpretation of Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi’ in Creative Forum, Vol.18, No.2, March 2005. 

‘Dalit Culture: A Perspective from Below’ in Social Action, Vol. 50, No. 1, January-March 2000. 

‘People at the Bottom: A Study of Untouchables in Indian Novels’ in The Fourth World, No. 8, October 1998. 

‘Relevance of Ambedkarism in India’ in Mainstream, May 18, 1996.