Telling, Writing and Translating: Narratives of Reclaiming People’s Rights

In this essay I will not be talking of the idea of universal humanism put forward through literature but I will be talking on how writing literature, telling narratives, translating literature and publishing those are conscious political project of promoting humanism and confirming human rights to the communities who have been denied that since the time immemorial. Again my discussion is limited to the location of a literary practitioner who observes the making of literature along with teaching. I argue that a literary practitioner, through their continuous engagement with reading and teaching, engages themselves with the project of affirmative action to ensure human rights for those who are denied. This paper, therefore, is also about the curriculum and pedagogy of literary studies in general in India. This paper refers to a few examples from few case studies done under few research projects and also a study of publishing initiatives of literature observed recently in different parts of India. Thereafter in conclusion this paper suggests that greater academic and social responsibility of the academic units and institutions significantly act if not for confirming the human rights of many but for bringing a wider consciousness among different groups of people of the society. Thus this paper reiterates not only the greatness of literature alone but also the academic study of literature.