Stories That Rewrite WhatтАЩs Possible
Narratives by Dalit women and marginalised communities who are claiming authorship of their own lives.
The Apan Katha Apanei Bunechi campaign was born from a radical act: listening, with humility, to the lived experiences of Dalit women. In a society that silences them, this initiative recognizes their experiences, memories, and oral histories as vital knowledge.
This is an experiment in understanding the caste system through the perspective of Dalit women who live under its rule. It explores the unspoken rules of love, marriage, food, and knowledge that govern their lives. The campaign is not just about teaching Dalit women, but about learning from them, consciously navigating power dynamics to center their leadership.
The learning began by studying established canons on caste and correlating them with lived reality. Fellows analyzed the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of Madheshi Dalit women. Alongside text-based learning on caste, gender, and sexuality, a weekly Narratives Lab equipped fellows with the tools to write their own stories.
The lab focused on a central question: How does one write one's story and establish one's own narrative? Through collaborative efforts between fellows and faculty, participants experimented with various forms of writing, including textual and non-textual, as well as drawing, photography, audio, and video, to produce new and inspiring narratives.
These creations were refined through multiple rounds of feedback from JFP faculty and peers, edited and improved in a spirit of mutual support. The process forged new worlds of intersectionality and camaraderie, centering Dalit women as they develop the language to frame their experiences and institutionalize their futures. This is an ongoing journey, with new works continuing to emerge.
