A DIALOGUE BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY

This paper discusses the theoretical debates around the questions ‘Who speaks of whom and about whom and how?' This is a vital question to ask of all ethnographic and autobiographical writings. This paper will explore what we see when we compare the two kinds of writing. Are Dalit autobiographies (usually) not about an individual self but about a community, in much the same way that ethnographic writing is also supposed to be about a community? What does a comparison of Dalits autobiographies and ethnographic writings on Dalits tell us about questions of representation and self representation? Does it make a difference if the ethnographer is Dalit? What are the issues involved?