Language, Silence, and Voice: Narratives of Resistance in Indian Trans Life Writing through the Works of A. Revathi, Kalki Subramaniam, and Living Smile Vidya

This paper explores the intersections of language, silence, and voice as they shape transgender identity in
Indian autobiographical narratives. Focusing on A. Revathi’s The Truth About Me, Kalki Subramaniam’s
We Are Not the Others, and Living Smile Vidya’s I Am Vidya, the study examines how trans individuals
articulate resistance and reclaim agency through life writing. Drawing on queer theory, postcolonial
critique, and subaltern studies, the paper investigates how language is employed not only to narrate but
also to transform trauma into testimony. It argues that these narratives challenge normative binaries by
foregrounding linguistic hybridity, testimonial power, and performative resistance. Silence, often
mistaken as absence, is repositioned as strategic defiance. The authors’ bilingual expression, primarily in
Tamil and English, becomes a critical medium of navigating identity, community, and belonging. By
examining the narrative structures, rhetorical strategies, and linguistic negotiations present in these texts,
the paper aims to show how Indian trans autobiographies function as discursive sites of political resistance,
identity reclamation, and cultural transformation.