Decoding Lynching: Reading of African American and Dalit Literature

Note: Brill has shown interest in the concept of this project and will publish it in one of their series provided the contributions are positively assessed during the peer review process.

Lynching, historically understood as extrajudicial killings by mobs, has been a brutal mechanism of oppression employed across different contexts and cultures. While most commonly associated with racial violence against African Americans in the United States, similar practices of mob violence and public executions have also been used against Dalits in India. This book, Decoding Lynching: Reading of African American and Dalit Literature, aims to explore the literary representations of lynching in both African American and Dalit contexts. 

What is Lynching?

Lynching is the illegal killing of a person by a group, often a mob, without a legal trial. It typically involves brutal methods such as hanging, but can include other forms of extreme violence. The term originates from the practice of “Lynch Law,” named after Charles Lynch, an 18thC Virginian, who led extralegal trials and executions. According to Merriam-Webster, lynching is “to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission” and the Oxford Dictionary describes it as “the illegal killing of somebody, usually by hanging, by a crowd of people and without a trial.” A typical lynching involved accusing someone of a crime, making an arrest, gathering a mob, and then seizing, physically tormenting, and murdering the victim.

Usually, lynching is motivated by racial, social, or political grievances, and is carried out to punish alleged offenses. It has historically been used as a form of social control, instilling fear and maintaining hierarchical power structures. In the American context, lynching has been predominantly used against African Americans to reinforce white supremacy. Similarly in India, lynching has been used to perpetuate caste hierarchies, particularly targeting Dalits who are often seen as transgressing their prescribed social boundaries. 

Part I: Literary Representations of Lynching in African American Literature

African American literature offers a poignant and harrowing depiction of lynching, serving as a testament to the systemic racism and brutality faced by Black communities. Lynching has been employed as a means of social control and to perpetuate existing power structures by white Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which makes it an “explicitly racist act of violence” (PMC). In the United States, between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,743 recorded lynchings, with the majority of victims being African Americans, according to reports by NAACP. 

While lynching might seem like a thing of the past, it persists into the present day. In 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot while jogging near Brunswick, Georgia. The recorded death of George Floyd in 2020 is often seen as a modern-day lynching. He was killed in broad daylight by Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, who held him down with a knee on his neck. On May 1, 2023, Jordan Neely was tragically killed on the New York subway. He was choked to death by a 24-year-old white former marine, Daniel Penny. 

Through literature, numerous writers tackle the subject of lynching, which shows its deep-seated impact on black communities. Recognising these representations is crucial for understanding the historical and ongoing struggles against racial-based violence. 

Part II: Literary Representations of Lynching in Dalit Literature

Dalit literature similarly articulates the experiences of marginalised communities facing caste-based violence, including lynching. While the phenomenon is most commonly associated with racial violence against African Americans in the United States, similar practices of public execution and mob violence have been used against Dalits in India. Dalit atrocities are not a new phenomenon in India; they have been a grim reality for centuries. Lynching, a particularly brutal form of mob violence, has become a distressingly common method of targeting Dalits, underscoring the deep-seated caste-based prejudices that persist in Indian society. 

The Khairlanji incident stands out as a grim instance of caste-based violence. On September 29, 2006, an upper-caste mob stripped, paraded, gang-raped, and then killed a Dalit woman and her 17-year-old daughter. Additionally, two sons of the family, aged 19 and 21, were murdered and their bodies were dumped in a canal.

On May 22, 2018, Mukesh Vaniya, a 38-year-old Dalit, was miserably thrashed and murdered by owners in Rajkot, Gujarat, on suspicion of theft from the factory unit. On November 7, 2019, Jagmeal Singh was lynched by a mob in Sangrur, Punjab, India. He was brutally beaten by four men and forced to drink human urine. He was a lower-caste Dalit construction worker. The attack stemmed from a dispute over sitting arrangements in a Panchayati of the upper caste.

More recently, on November 7, 2022, a Dalit man was beaten to death over drawing of water from a tubewell in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. On August 29, 2023, eight men were arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district after a Dalit youth was lynched and his mother was stripped by a mob. The attack was allegedly triggered because his sister refused to withdraw a molestation case filed in 2019. 

So, it becomes essential to recognise such representations of lynching in Dalit literature. These literary representations help in understanding the full scope of the atrocities and the resilience of those who endure them.  

The book seeks chapters on how writers from these communities have documented atrocities, challenged oppressive system, and inspired movements for social change. The contributors are supposed to answer the following questions:

1. Spectacle of Lynching in African American Literature/Dalit Literature
2. Types of Lynching: Physical, Sexual, Psychological and Emotional in African American Literature/Dalit Literature
3. Consequences of Lynching on Individual, Family and Community in African American Literature/Dalit Literature
4. Lynching as an archetype in African American Literature/Dalit Literature
5. Lynching as a metaphor in African American Literature/Dalit Literature

The book will be divided into two parts, where the first part will deal with the literary representations of lynching in African American Literature and the second one will deal with the literary representations of lynching in Dalit Literature. Each part will comprise of five chapters.  

The contributors are invited to submit the abstract (250-300 words) along with a 50-word bio note at africanamericananddalit@gmail.com on or before July 21, 2024. Selected submission will be notified in a timely manner.