Liberation narrative

The Prisons We Broke: The Autobiography of a Community
Baby Kamble
Published by Orient Longman

The Prisons We Broke is significant because it traces the evolution of the Mahar community from pre-Ambedkar days to its rapid transformation through education and mass conversion.

Dalit literature, historically, has been writing of protest and part of a larger social movement. While Baby Kamble’s The Prisons We Broke continues the tradition, it is also an important life narrative whose original title Jina Amucha (Our Existence) communicates simply an urge to share the trials, tribulations and triumphs of an extraordinary people.

Janhavi Acharekar
THE HINDU, 2 March 2008