Gendered Epistemologies and the Women Leaders of Muthanga and Chengara

The Muthanga and the Chengara land struggles in Kerala were unprecedented in the way in which the tribal communities questioned the much-acclaimed Kerala Model of Development, which was flaunted all over the country and the world. These struggles also marked the paradigm shift in the Dalit and Adivasi fight for claiming self-respect through a change from a thrust on government-oriented welfare schemes to the just demand for a sizeable, cultivable land for ensuring livelihood for every Adivasi. This paper attempts to look at the emergence and transformation of two subaltern, rebel, women leaders of Kerala, C. K. Janu and Selena Prakkanam, against the historical context of Dalit-Adivasi subjugation and their growth through the Muthanga and Chengara land struggles. From being 'docile' bodies in control of certain political forces, they have, through years of relentless revolt against the conditioning of the society, emerged in the direction of being women who have challenged the gendered male prerogative in the production of knowledge structures as against experience in their pursuit of a dignified living.Their presence in the political visual field of Kerala, rises up every now and then, as a mote in the eyes of the governmental regimes which suppress the uprising with an iron hand, as these women representatives strive to demystify the myths associated with the Dalit and Adivasi cause, foreground instances of the past resistance and build a knowledge base in their authentic, Dalit and Adivasi histories.