1. Introduction: Understanding “Precarity”
The word precarity comes from the Latin word precarius, which means “depending on the will of another.” In modern usage, precarity describes a condition of life filled with uncertainty, insecurity, and instability. It is often used to talk about people who live without steady jobs, homes, or safety — those who are vulnerable to sudden changes that can harm them.
In today’s world, precarity can describe people who are poor, homeless, unemployed, refugees, victims of war or violence, people affected by climate change, or even gig workers like delivery drivers and freelancers. It is a condition that many people live in, without any guarantee of safety or stability in the future.
Literature of Precarity refers to literary works — novels, poems, plays, essays — that depict, explore, or give voice to these conditions of uncertainty, instability, and suffering. It shows how people live in fear of losing everything — their homes, jobs, dignity, and even their lives. Such literature does not just narrate stories of pain, but also questions the systems that produce such vulnerable conditions — like capitalism, war, caste, gender inequality, racism, patriarchy, and climate destruction.
2. Why Literature of Precarity Matters
In a world where millions are struggling just to survive, literature of precarity becomes a powerful tool of empathy and awareness. It helps readers understand the lives of others who are often ignored or forgotten. Literature of precarity:
- Gives voice to the voiceless.
- Reveals the cruelty of social, political, and economic systems.
- Documents suffering and survival.
- Challenges those in power to think about justice.
- Inspires solidarity, resistance, and social change.
As Judith Butler, a philosopher who has written about precarity, says in Frames of War (2010):
“Precarity designates that politically induced condition in which certain populations suffer from failing social and economic networks of support and become differentially exposed to injury, violence, and death.” (p. 25)
Thus, precarity is not just a personal struggle — it is a result of political decisions and societal neglect.
3. Origins and Theoretical Background
The idea of precarity gained popularity in academic and activist discussions in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Globalization, the collapse of steady jobs, the rise of neoliberal capitalism, and widespread migration forced people into unstable conditions. These transformations influenced literature and cultural theory.
A few key thinkers and books include:
- Judith Butler, who linked precarity to grievability — whose lives are seen as valuable, and whose deaths are ignored?
- Lauren Berlant in Cruel Optimism (2011), who explored how people hold on to fantasies of a better life even when the systems around them are crumbling.
- Achille Mbembe in Necropolitics (2019), who analysed how some people are made to live in “death-worlds,” where life is barely possible.
- Isabell Lorey, who distinguishes between precariousness (the human condition of vulnerability) and precarity (a condition politically created to control certain populations).
From these theories, a literary framework developed: how do novels, stories, and poems reflect the human cost of social, political, and economic precarity?
4. Themes in Literature of Precarity
Literature of precarity does not follow one single style. It can be lyrical or documentary, personal or political, realist or symbolic. But it often includes the following themes:
a) Economic Insecurity
Many stories show characters struggling to survive in low-paying or uncertain jobs. The characters may be migrant workers, factory laborers, or those caught in gig economies.
Example: Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) shows the brutal reality of class inequality and how poverty and lack of opportunity make life precarious for the Indian underclass.
b) Homelessness and Displacement
Displacement caused by war, communal violence, or climate disasters is a common theme. Characters are forced to flee their homes and live in refugee camps or on the streets.
Example: Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003) or Sea Prayer (2018) reflect the trauma of Afghani refugees escaping violence.
c) Gender and Sexual Vulnerability
Women, LGBTQ+ people, and gender minorities are often pushed into precarious situations — domestic violence, sex work, forced marriage, or homelessness.
Example: Mahasweta Devi’s short story Draupadi (1978) shows the precarity of tribal and female bodies under state violence in India.
d) Caste and Racial Oppression
In South Asia, caste-based discrimination has pushed Dalits into centuries of precarity. In the West, racism has led to similar marginalization of African Americans, Indigenous peoples, and migrants.
Example: Bama’s Karukku (1992), an autobiographical narrative, powerfully voices Dalit Christian women’s lived experiences of caste, poverty, and faith.
Example: Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) shows how formerly enslaved people carry intergenerational trauma and live lives shaped by pain, loss, and precarity.
e) Ecological Precarity
Climate change, pollution, and ecological destruction have also become major themes. Literature now explores how entire communities become vulnerable because of floods, droughts, or poisoned air and water.
Example: Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide (2004) is set in the Sundarbans and reflects on ecological fragility, human-animal conflict, and the marginalisation of indigenous people.
5. Forms and Styles
a) Testimonial and Autobiographical Writing
First-person accounts are powerful in precarity literature. They make the reader feel the emotional, psychological, and physical effects of unstable life.
Example: Om Prakash Valmiki’s Joothan (1997), a Dalit autobiography, recounts his life of hunger, humiliation, and struggle in caste society.
b) Dystopian and Speculative Fiction
Writers often imagine futures shaped by extreme forms of precarity — environmental collapse, authoritarianism, and social breakdown.
Example: Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) presents a world where women are denied autonomy and live in constant danger, echoing real-world gendered precarity.
c) Minimalist and Fragmented Narratives
Some literature adopts fragmented or non-linear narratives to mirror the brokenness of precarious life. This form denies smooth storytelling to reflect the disruptions in characters’ lives.
Example: Saidiya Hartman’s Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (2019) creatively reconstructs the lives of young Black women in early 20th-century America, showing the fragility and creativity of their resistance.
6. Global and Regional Examples
South Asia:
- Manik Bandopadhyay’s Padma Nadir Majhi (1936) explores the exploitation of poor fishermen.
- Anita Desai’s In Custody (1984) shows the declining world of Urdu poets and the precarity of culture.
- Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman (2010) talks about caste, infertility, and social rejection.
Africa:
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o explores colonial trauma and poverty in Kenya.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) shows the horrors of civil war and displacement.
Latin America:
- Roberto Bolaño’s 2666 deals with murdered women in border towns — a powerful portrait of gendered precarity.
Europe:
- Migrant literature in France, Germany, and the UK reveals the lives of second-generation immigrants facing racism, unemployment, and identity crises.
7. Literature of Resistance
Despite the pain, the literature of precarity is not always hopeless. Many of these works also celebrate resilience, dignity, and struggle.
Example: In Night (1956), Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust memoir, we see unimaginable suffering, but also moments of deep humanity and survival.
These works function as witnesses to injustice. They turn pain into literature — not to aestheticize suffering, but to demand remembrance and justice.
8. Criticism and Debates
Some critics have raised questions:
- Does precarity literature risk making poverty “fashionable” or marketable? Some fear that publishers exoticize the suffering of others for profit.
- Who gets to write precarity? Is it ethical for privileged writers to speak on behalf of precarious groups?
- Can literature truly bring change? Or does it just create emotional responses without action?
While these concerns are valid, many scholars believe that the literature of precarity remains an essential part of social critique.
9. Conclusion: The Ethics of Reading Precarity
To read the literature of precarity is to open one’s heart and mind to the lived realities of others. It asks us not to look away from suffering, but to confront it. It calls upon us to act, to question, and to imagine a more just and equal world.
As readers and teachers of literature, we must engage with such texts ethically, critically, and empathetically. We must ask:
- What does this text ask me to see?
- Whose pain is being shown? And why?
- What systems need to change to end this precarity?
The Literature of Precarity, then, is not just about stories of despair. It is about the dignity of the fragile, the resistance of the marginalized, and the power of words to bear witness.
Recommended Readings:
- Judith Butler, Precarious Life (2004) and Frames of War (2010)
- Lauren Berlant, Cruel Optimism (2011)
- Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (2019)
- Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017)
- Bama, Karukku (1992)
Literary Latitude 