Writing Disability in Contemporary Indian English Fiction: A Posthumanism Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the intersections of disability and posthumanism in contemporary Indian English fiction (CIEF), which has largely been parallel in literary scholarship. Drawing on foundational work in Indian disability studies and posthumanism theory, the study shows how representations of disability in Indian fiction are shaped by and challenge entrenched socio-cultural hierarchies of gender, caste and class. While Indian scholars such as Anita Ghai, Renu Adlakha, Nandini Ghose and Nishant Mehrotra have analysed disability in local social and cultural contexts, posthumanism thinkers such as Donna Haraway, P.K. Nayar and Jill Didur have provided theoretical frameworks that question the normative boundaries of the human, highlighting hybridity, relationality and embodied difference. This paper synthesises these streams, arguing that posthumanism disability studies provide powerful conceptual tools to reinterpret disability beyond deficiency, instead presenting it as a site of alternative agency, kinship and ethical entanglement. By critically engaging with key literary texts, including the works of Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh and Anita Desai, this study explores how disabled characters disrupt the sovereign humanist subject, bringing to the fore issues of trauma, silence and ecological reconciliation. The analysis also highlights limitations of prior scholarship, including the lack of representation of disabled and Dalit writers, the need for deeper intersectional and regional analysis, and the under-explored positive possibilities of non-normative embodiment. Ultimately, this paper establishes a strong foundation for future research that goes beyond social stigma, positioning disability in CIEF not simply as a matter of exclusion but as a profound lens for questioning and expanding the boundaries of the human in literature.

Keyword - Disability Studies, Posthumanism, Contemporary Indian English Fiction, Intersectionality Embodiment