Who can Speak, or Write, for Whom? Notes from Research/Fieldwork in Central India

Since anti-foundational histories compellingly raised questions about the denial of voice to marginalized persons and groups in mainstream history, those who are not writing about themselves – as in, their clearly identified communities – have suffered from the guilt of ‘co-opting’ subaltern voices; and have become uncertain about the way forward. Through his research and fieldwork experience among tribal communities of Central India, the speaker offers some meditations on the question of ‘voice’ in history-writing. Drawing from his own fraught location amidst a complex field of forces, he argues that our inherent inter-subjectivity offers possibilities across what has often been seen as unfordable divides.