RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE: NARRATIVES OF MARGINALIZED WOMEN IN INDIA

Abstract

This study examines the interwoven dynamics of resistance and resilience in the narratives of marginalized women in India, particularly those at intersections of caste, class, gender, sexuality, and region. Drawing from autobiographies, oral histories, and activist testimonies, it explores how Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim, queer, and transgender women confront systemic violence while asserting agency in everyday life. Employing an intersectional feminist framework, the research highlights how these women resist oppression through personal defiance, collective mobilization, cultural expression, and digital activism. Simultaneously, it foregrounds their practices of resilience—manifested in education, labor, community building, and spiritual reclamation—as political acts. These narratives challenge dominant representations of passivity and victimhood, offering alternative understandings of power and survival. By centering subaltern voices, this work contributes to feminist scholarship in South Asia and underscores the importance of recognizing lived experiences as sites of protest and transformation.