| Introducing Dalit feminist biblical hermeneutics in this dissertation, I will first establish its context and situate its perspective through my own contextual and auto/biographical experience. Affirming a Dalit feminist perspective, I discuss the factors of subjectivity and representation, while asking who can speak of Dalit feminism and what can be defined as a Dalit feminist standpoint. In the process of clarifying its methodology, I will ask, explore and discuss the question, why Dalit feminist hermeneutics cannot be part of the already existing contextual methodologies such as Dalit biblical theology, feminist hermeneutics and cultural hermeneutics. In its constant critical interaction with other postmodern approaches, a Dalit feminist hermeneutic will unfold itself as a method of biblical interpretation claiming to be contextual, autobiographical and liberationist in its perspective, while articulating its distinctiveness and significance, particularly in the Dalit feminist context. In this new endeavor of biblical criticism, the narrations of auto/biographical experiences will assume a crucial role in the interpretation process, and it will be considered as both a norm and a resource.;The texts that I have selected from the gospels are: The story of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-28); the story of the Hemorrhaging Woman (Mark 5:25-34); the story of the Sinful woman (Luke 7:36-47), and the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4). As a Dalit feminist reader, I will discuss the issues of marginalization and how this has impacted the status of the women characters individually, discussing them in separate chapters. Auto/biographical experiences that I will narrate in the exegetical chapters will be used as a lens for interpretation, and it provides me with tools for critical analysis of both the text and its interpretive tradition to address the particular questions that emerge from the Dalit feminist context. The women in these stories act with courage, and exhibit unconventional behavior, which is considered as an essential step towards liberation. A Dalit feminist reading will critically engage in discussing the role of Jesus, who assumes a privileged status as opposed to the women in their marginalized status, to emphasize the need for transformation and mutual responsibility of both the privileged and those discriminated against in 'going beyond boundaries,' if not eradicating them for the sake of emancipation and liberation of the oppressed. |
