Possibilities and Tensions in Creating a Spatial Archive of the Female Survivors of Dalit Massacres in India: “Cartographies of Courage: Fictional Threads, Real Lives”
This paper consolidates our practical experiences in the process of creating a spatial archive entitled, Cartographies of Courage: Fictional Threads, Real Lives (mappingmassacres.iiti.ac.in), on the female fictional and non-fictional survivors of selected Dalit massacres in India. The paper is part of a completed doctoral project at the Digital Humanities and Publishing Studies Research Group at IIT Indore. The archive includes visualizations, analyses, and findings related to space, gender, and caste dynamics in Dalit massacres. The paper examines the methods employed in the project which is a combination of feminist geocriticism and digital cartography, the challenges faced in the process, and the impact of the archive on future research in this field. A basic introduction to the creation of such resources is also included in the paper. The initial section of the paper defines and establishes geospatial archives in digital humanities (DH) before proceeding to the spatial archive that is created as part of this doctoral thesis. The next section gives the background to the project – its aims and scope and the project structure. The methodology used for the creation of the spatial archive including the data, tools, technologies and the use of spatial hypertexts is detailed in the next section. The next section describes the possibilities and tensions in creating an Indian feminist geospatial archive in DH while documenting the lessons learnt during the creation of the project. The paper concludes with the limitations of the spatial archive and the scope for doing DH in the global South. This paper offers a workflow for the creation of Indian feminist geospatial projects using a prototype of the first open-access spatial archive of female survivors of Dalit massacres in India. The paper contributes to the current DH and literary scholarship in the sub-continent by offering innovative ways for sharing research on marginalised histories that can engage both academic communities and the public. For instance, besides the spatial archive, the project also contains educational resources including syllabus templates that can help in incorporating the project into existing DH pedagogy and curriculum.
Keywords: Spatial Archive, Dalit Massacres, Digital Humanities, GIS, Feminist Geocriticism
Geospatial humanities are a significant and rapidly growing branch of the digital humanities and constitutes the practice of applying Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and other quantitative technologies to the study of the representation of spatiality in texts, often to literary or historical content. A multitude of geospatial humanities projects involve geovisualizing literary texts (El Khatib and Schaeben 2020). Even digital archives are now using GIS-based spatio-temporal linking of archival materials to enable the users to query and access data depending on geographical or temporal information (Belton 2019). The use of GIS in humanities research is also variously termed as Geohumanities (Harris et al. 2011) and humanities GIS (Kretzschmar 2013). Geospatial archives represent a distinct type of digital archive that leverages geospatial technologies to preserve and present important multimedia documents. A wide range of DH projects now incorporate geospatial elements, with many DH centers, such as those at Lancaster University, IUPUI's Polis Center, and the Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities, are actively developing GIS-based literary and historical research. Notable examples include the Deep Map and Spatial Narrative Project at IUPUI, as well as the Deep Map of the English Lake District at Lancaster University. These initiatives effectively integrate diverse media formats—including visual imagery, annotated texts, and georeferenced historical maps—within a single, unified spatial framework.
The paper defines geospatial archives in DH as, “open-access DH projects that connect historical, narrative and or textual materials with geospatial coordinates for long-term preservation. The project then visualises the materials to physical place/s using an interactive digital map which in turn serve as a geospatial archive of the materials facilitating further analysis”. The characteristics of geo-spatial archives are, “open-access availability of the project website, use of spatial or geographical datasets, interactive map and map-like visualisation and the availability of multimedia data through the maps”. Foley and Murphy (2015) see deep maps or spatial archive with a GIS-based approach as a way to facilitate the users and the researchers to “interrogate and analyse spatial information, so that the users of this information are presented with a much deeper and richer experience” (4) of the place. Building upon the existing works on geospatial humanities, this paper focuses on the practical process of creating a geospatial archive. It outlines the possibilities and tensions in creating a spatial archive of the female survivors of Dalit massacres in India using the example of the Cartographies of Courage: Fictional Threads, Real Lives project. This open-access spatial archive is a work in progress and currently maps the fictional and non-fictional survivors of two Indian Dalit massacres – the Kilvenmani massacre (1968) and the Marichjhapi massacre (1979). The project aims to map the major Dalit massacres of independent India, that is after 1947, starting with two massacres in the initial decades after independence. The base map of the spatial archive (Figure 3) shows the major Dalit massacres after independence with two interactive points – Kilvenmani and Marichjhapi massacres. There are two major parts to the archive – one is the online and offline academic outputs generated as part of the doctoral work namely research articles and the thesis and the other is the website with the interactive cartographic output or the spatial archive – two separate, yet deeply interconnected components of the research process, that will together result in public and academic discussions of Dalit massacre.
Figure 1: Screenshot of the Home Page of the Project Website
The mixed methodology used is a combination of feminist geocriticism and digital cartography. Since the feminist geocritical theory is still in its developing stage different scholars interpret and apply the theory in a different way. Wells (2017) defines feminist geocriticism which she terms “geoparler femme” as a theory “which analyses how geography can function as one of the codes used to create a female literary language”. Wrede (2015) adds that feminist geocritics reads space as multiple, shifting and characterised by “difference”. Feminist geocriticism in the context of this study, in addition to the above, pays attention to the physical/historical/cultural/political location of Dalit women of selected Indian massacres and their representation in various narratives which is later visualised using digital cartography. Locating the Dalit women in order to track the exploitation that they face in a specific place and analysing how the place that they occupy contribute to their (different) experiences based on their intersectional identity forms a major part of this study. The use of digital maps in feminist geocriticism enables researchers to visualise the patterns of locations and movements of Dalit women of the selected massacres on a single map (or space) and to analyse and theorise on the same. Locating the writer, reader, characters, and action using feminist geocriticism becomes easier to visualise using digital cartographic techniques, especially GIS, that caters to the principles of feminism and geocriticism. Both feminist geocriticism and digital cartography that traces feminist and casteist geographies therefore becomes intersecting areas that this study incorporates while analysing the female experiences of selected Dalit massacres across the country.
Steps in Methodology: Following the geocritical pattern, first the place of the massacre is identified followed by the identification of narratives, English fictional and non-fictional, suited for the study. The women in the selected narratives on the massacres are identified next, following a feminist geocritical pattern resulting in the creation of a database that is utilized for the cartographic visualization. The data on the survivors are manually scraped to create a database which is later geocoded with the location during or before the massacre. The real survivors are identified from online newspaper reports, non-fictional works like oral history, and research articles. The fictional women are identified from selected literary and visual narratives. Kuruthipunal/The River of Blood/Chorapuzha (1978), The Gypsy Goddess (2014) and Heat (2019) and Tamil films like Kann Sivanthal Mann Sivakum (When Eyes Turn Red, the Soil Will Too, 1983), Aravindhan (1997), Virumaandi (2004), and Asuran (Demon) (2019) are the fictional narratives selected on the Kilvenmani massacre. The non-fictional narratives include the essay collection Haunted by Fire: Essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation (2016), the documentary Ramayyahvin Kudisai (The Ramayya’s Hut, 2005) and English online newspaper reports on the massacre (up to 2021). Fictional texts considered for the Marichjhapi massacre are The Hungry Tide (2011) and the semi-fictional documentary photography Where the Birds Never Sing (2020). Non-fictional texts include the Oral History Blood Island (2019), Interrogating my Chandal Life – An Autobiography of a Dalit (2018), Chap 6: Reconstructing Marichjhapi: From Margins and Memories of Migrant Lives (2015) and English online newspaper articles (up to the year 2020).
Figure 2: Steps in Methodology
The steps involved in mapping are: manual geoparsing (locating the survivors within their real places from diverse sources), geocoding the data i.e., assigning a location to the parsed data (the coordinates for the places are obtained from Google maps) and lastly georectifying historical maps wherever required (using QGIS) to address the temporal concerns. The maps thus created when embedded in a website serves as a spatial archive with interactive visualisation that enables readers to explore and formulate new questions on visualizing multivariable spatial data and to apply the tool creatively. The literary and cartographic analysis are utilized to confirm the hypothesis of the relation among caste, space, and gender in Dalit massacres. The digital maps on the massacres are compiled and published in an open-access spatial archive using ArcGIS online. The archive features a main map of major Dalit massacres in independent India, with interactive spatial hypertexts to detailed maps of each massacre. Besides a detailed textual and cartographic analysis of the female experiences of each of the massacres selected, a comparative analysis of the Dalit massacres is also conducted. Literary (cross-fictionality, and intertextuality), historical (Comparative Historical Analysis/CHA)), and cultural (comparative cultural studies) comparative theoretical frameworks alongside the primary frameworks of feminist geocriticism and digital cartography are employed to understand the similarities and differences in the events, narratives and female experiences of the massacre.
Both fictional and non-fictional narratives are selected as female survivor narratives are almost absent in the historical texts and documents related to the massacre. Copeland (2003) highlights the importance of examining fictional narratives on Holocaust to understand the differential experiences of women – as Jews or prisoners and as women, which she refers to as “double victimisation”. Dalit massacre therefore has the potential to evolve as a feminist literary genre of its own by offering alternative histories of female protagonists and detailed portrayal of their socio-cultural experiences before, during, and after the massacre. This will enable the readers to understand the differential experiences of lower caste women based on the triple burden of caste, gender and class that are enforced upon them. Thulla et al. (2002, p. 54) comparative study of real and fictional women in literature shows that fictional representation of real-life women is effective as “literary texts are indeed appropriate tools for the purpose of emancipation of women”. By focusing on the female experiences, the literature on Dalit massacres can have both advocative and emancipatory effects on women.
It is difficult to acquire data on the real female survivors of both the massacres though multiple sources were consulted which is in stark contrast to the large number of male narratives that are available in newspaper reports and other sources. Female survivors are mostly unnamed and homogenised as victims in the newspaper reports and other non-fictional narratives of the two massacres that are studied here. They are often identified as someone’s wife or mother thereby denying them agency. We also found that the use of fictional settings allowed writers to explore the causes and events of the massacre without risking the socio-political repercussions of using real names. The freedom offered by fictional setting helped authors address "the unspeakable" and give voice to the "unheard and unseen realities" (Müller et al. 2018, p. 25) of the event. The fictional “places created by writers, painters, film directors or game developers have the ability to transform the way we perceive the world by envisioning new dimensions of representations of reality” (Joliveau 2009, p. 36). Accordingly, the textual and visual narratives with fictional settings were able to offer alternative perspectives, and counter memories of the massacres especially from the caste, gender and spatial angle of the massacre. Satyapuri, Lusibari, and Thekkur represent safer imaginative geographies created by the authors that are located closer to the actual site of the massacre. These spaces provide authors with the opportunity to investigate subjects often neglected in conventional historical accounts such as caste-based segregation in rural India and the caste-gender violence that occurs during Dalit massacres, while ensuring their personal safety. In contrast, the use of real settings and direct references to the massacre helps in engaging the audience and in creating a curiosity to explore the event in detail. Indirect references and fictional settings, however, carry the risk of the massacre narrative becoming overshadowed within the broader narrative unless it forms the main theme of the narrative. Real settings when employed in fictional narratives like films increases tourist engagements (Butler 2011), and initiates public discourse on the place and the events discussed.
This project fills a critical gap in the accessibility and analysis of Dalit massacres in India by becoming a pioneering digital resource for future researchers, and by supplying open-access theoretical and methodological insights for developing similar geospatial DH projects in the global south. Mapping the massacres and publicising its gendered narratives through an open-access archive also influences the way geographical spaces are experienced by both the contemporary generations in India and by tourists within and outside the sub-continent. It can provide insights into the marginalised spatial histories of the Dalits as well as their experiences over years by motivating the academia and the public to learn about parallel neglected histories. Ultimately, the archive aims to make a lasting contribution to both the field of digital humanities and Dalit scholarship by providing innovative approaches for using technology to explore Dalit issues. For instance, the spatial archive contains open-access online pedagogical resources on Dalit massacres that can be easily integrated to the syllabus at various levels of education. The primary aim of the archive is to provide the scholars and the public with a comprehensive, interactive geospatial resource on the massacre, allowing for a deeper understanding of the space, caste and gender relations in Dalit massacres in India. This is achieved by:
offering a digital platform that identifies and records the sites of prominent Dalit massacres in India post-independence.
creating deep maps of the female fictional and non-fictional survivors of the massacre as spatial hypertexts (Justin and Menon 2023b).
3(a)
3(b)
Figure 3: (a) Screenshot of the Base Map of the Spatial Archive; (b) Upon Clicking on the Marichjhapi Massacre, the Users are Taken to a Deep Map of the Female Survivors of the Massacre
providing the first Indian record of Dalit massacres “that is comprehensive, based on a rigorous methodology, with well-structured data and a map, and providing the available evidence” for each Dalit massacre site (Colonial, n.d.).
initiating public and scholarly discussions about Dalit massacres by offering greater visibility of the research.
providing open-access and reproducible knowledge to the public/academicians that motivate the users to think critically.
inviting contributions through crowd-sourcing.
The scope of the project is limited to India at present – the prominent sites of the massacre and the timeframe considered is after independence (from 1947 to 2020). Currently the project includes only the Kilvenmani massacre and the Marichjhapi massacre – the prominent massacres from the initial decades of independence, although the final phase of the project will contain all Dalit massacres of the time frame. The spatial data of the survivors and related themes are collected from both fictional and non-fictional sources.
The primary goal of this paper is to showcase a theoretical and methodological workflow for creating an Indian geospatial humanities project in DH from ground up. The paper also documents the possibilities and tensions experienced while creating the archive, with the intention of helping and guiding future researchers interested in developing similar projects in the Indian context. The paper focuses on the creation, curation and utilisation of spatial databases for DH projects, especially the ones that focus on literary texts with real and imaginary places. The rationale behind the project, project structure, data curation, ethics and lessons from the project is elaborated in the paper along with the sustainability and reproducibility considerations of the project. Besides the spatial archive, the project website also contains educational resources including syllabus templates that can help in incorporating the project and related themes into existing Dalit and DH pedagogy and curriculum. We believe the project will empower its users to ask questions and identify patterns that may have escaped our attention thereby reaffirming Bernardi’s (2017) argument that digital archives are a form of critical scholarship. By adopting interdisciplinary methodologies, addressing ethical considerations, and embracing emerging technologies, we can harness the power of spatial archives to preserve, interpret, and share the history of Dalit massacres for future generations.
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