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Identity, Indigeneity and Excluded Region: In the Quest for an Intellectual History of Modern Assam

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326 views

Suranjana Barua1 & L. David Lal2

1Assistant Professor in Linguistics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. Email: suranjana.barua@gmail.com

2Assistant Professor in Political Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. Email: davidkani21@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n3

Abstract

If Indian intellectual history focussed on the nature of the colonial and post-colonial state, its interaction with everyday politics, its emerging society and operation of its economy, then how much did/ does North-East appear in this process of doing intellectual history? North-East history in general and its intellectual history in particular is an unpeopled place. In Indian social science literature, North-East history for the last seventy years has mostly revolved around separatist movements, insurgencies, borderland issue and trans-national migration. However, it seldom focussed on the intellectuals who have articulated the voice of this place and constructed an intellectual history of this region. This paper attempts to explore the intellectual history of Assam through understanding the life history of three key socio-political figures – Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnu Prasad Rabha and Chandraprabha Saikiani. Their engagement at the turn of the twentieth century with ideas for the future North-East region in general and Assam in partcular is parallel to the formation of the Indian nation state. Research on the writings and works of these socio-political figures is analysed to address what North-east history can contribute to the intellectual history of India and how essential is it in the field of indigenous studies?

Keywords: Intellectual History; Indigenous Studies; North-East India; Assam; Gopinath Bordoloi, Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Chandraprabha Saikiani

Language Recognition and Identity Formation in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills

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343 views

Mereleen Lily Lyngdoh Y. Blah

Assistant Professor, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, E-mail: mblahs@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n2

Abstract

The official use of any language by the administration and employment of the said language by the state whether through educational institutions and administrators as a standard literary dialect, gives it recognition. The Education policy adopted by the British and the choice of English being made the language of instruction throughout the country is made evident in Macaulay’s Minute of 1835 and is reiterated again more than a decade later in the Minute of 1847. From the very beginning English was associated with the administration and the benefits that it would bring but they failed to take into account the people who were unfamiliar with it. The categorization and later association of languages with religion, caste, community, tribe and class is evident in the various census undertakings as the official recognition became a determination of its status. In the Census of 1891, the Khasis and Jaintias are relegated as “two groups statistically insignificant”, considering the population and the number of people who spoke the languages associated with the communities. The use of the Roman script had by this time been, “thoroughly established” by the missionaries. The first few census data and later writings by indigenous writers helped cement the association of language with the community. The use of the vernacular in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, by the earliest missionaries, initially arose more out of necessity and convenience rather than by official decree. The choice and standardization of dialect and script in print however, helped solidify a Khasi identity. This paper seeks to look at the link between recognition of the standard language used in print and identity formation in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and the relevance of language as a marker of identity today.

Keywords: Standardization, Print language, Language and Identity Formation, Khasi Identity.

Negotiating Representation: The Self and Community in The Story of a Tribal: An Autobiography

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278 views

Badakynti Nylla Iangngap

PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University, E-mail: bnylla.iangngap23@gmail.com. ORCID: 0000-0001-8220-3431

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n1

Abstract

Literature as a means of representation and understanding selfhood and identity was oral based for the Khasis prior to colonialism but the coming of education via the proselytising efforts of the Welsh Mission led to the development of Khasi literature by the end of the 19th century. As mode of representation, literature for Khasis became a space of negotiation and of adaptation of foreign modes of expression and representation to reclaim an identity which has been suppressed by the colonial rulers via their discursive practices. This is clearly seen in the trend of the literary production of the community.  The 20th century saw a mushrooming of literary production by Khasi writers, with most of them preferring to write in their own language and about their oral tradition. Interestingly, despite this trend, the first autobiography by a Khasi, B. M. Pugh’s The Story of a Tribal (1976), was written in English. The title of the text itself alerts the readers of the highly politicised term ‘tribal’ as Pugh himself points out in his Preface and along with the fact that it is an autobiography the implication of issues of representation in terms of identity and selfhood cannot be missed. The text is also historically significant because of the author’s articulation of his understanding of identity making in the midst of the cultural and political forces of colonialism and later Indian nationalism especially because it provides a glimpse of the hill state movement that surged in the Northeast immediately after Independence. This text thus gives an eye-witness account of the struggle that the hill tribes of Northeast faced to maintain their political and cultural identity.

Keywords: postcolonialism, literature, representation, self, identity, literature, autobiography

Positioning the Gendered Subaltern: Body, Speech and Resistance in Mahasweta Devi’s Narratives

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400 views

Joe Philip,1 Renu Bhadola Dangwal2 & Vinod Balakrishnan3

 1Research Scholar, English, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand, Srinagar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand-246174, Email id:joephilip.phd14@nituk.ac.in. ORCID: 0000-0002-7593-046X

2Assistant Professor, English, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand, Srinagar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand-246174, Email id: rbdangwal@nituk.ac.in. ORCID: 0000-0002-7929-1570

3Professor, Department of Humanities, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu-620015, Email id: vinod@nitt.edu

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s16n5

 Abstract

The postcolonial theory locates subaltern women as ‘doubly effaced’ and distanced from achieving agency to speak and participate in resistance. Due to her diversified colonized identity, much of the critical thought does not see any possibility for subaltern women participating in resistance. This line of argument implies a critical space in which the engagement with problematics inevitably leaves out subaltern women in the emergent resistance discourse. Moreover, such a position is suggestive of perceiving human activity and experience in closed terms and an intent to preserve subalternity. The present paper argues that, if perceived through a wider understanding of the concept of resistance, subaltern women may be seen to achieve agency as they communicate their plight vocally or silently and participate in resistance. Taking inferences from the literary narratives of Mahasweta Devi like Imaginary Maps, Breast Stories, the paper examines the strategies Devi employs to bring marginalized women into resistance and establishes that the ‘body’ emerges not only as a site of oppression but also as an important trope of power and resistance in her stories.

Keywords: gendered subaltern, doubly colonized, agency, hegemony and resistance.

Psychosocial Impacts of War and Trauma in Temsula Ao’s Laburnum for My Head

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207 views

Raam Kumar T.1 & B. Padmanabhan2

1PhD Research Scholar, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University, E-mail: raamkumar.efl@buc.edu.in. ORCID: 0000-0003-0694-8671
2Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University, E-mail: padmanabhan@buc.edu.in. ORCID: 0000-0001-7395-126X

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s16n4

 Abstract

Violence constantly carries trauma and suffering to combatants as well as non- combatants identically. It also brings enmity and negativity to everyone both emotionally and physically. The cause for any conflict does not emerge from single motive but depends on multiple factors like socioeconomic conditions, marginalisation, discrimination, political power and sometimes even environmental elements. In recent times, the conflicts often emerge among various regional groups rather than states. North Eastern part of India is one of the hotspots for such ethnic conflicts and violence. The major motives for bloody conflict between Indian Army and the underground armed rebels are perceived political imbalance and desire for a separate nation. Even the common civilians are forced to join the rebel groups without knowing consequences. Temsula Ao is one of the prominent English writers from Nagaland who through her moving narratives brings out the existent misery of conflict in her native land. The aim of this paper is to study the psychological impact of domestic violence over the combatants as well as non-combatants whose lives are inseparably intertwined with violence and bloodshed. Though violence is considered as typical condition of human nature most of the time it leads to unbearable trauma and misery. This paper also attempts to interpret the representation of women from the marginalised Ao community who finds difficult to preserve the customs and moral values in spite of regional revolt.

Keywords: Psychological imbalance, Domestic violence, Aggression, North East India

Women and Agency in Bankim’s Rajmohan’s Wife and Tagore’s The Home and The World

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397 views

Manju Dhariwal

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur. ORCID: 0000-0002-1579-1218, Email: manju@lnmiit.ac.in

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s16n3

Abstract

Written almost half a century apart, Rajmohan’s Wife (1864) and The Home and the World (1916) can be read as women centric texts written in colonial India. The plot of both the texts is set in Bengal, the cultural and political centre of colonial India. Rajmohan’s Wife, arguably the first Indian English novel, is one of the first novels to realistically represent ‘Woman’ in the nineteenth century. Set in a newly emerging society of   India, it provides an insight into the status of women, their susceptibility and dependence on men. The Home and the World, written at the height of Swadeshi movement in Bengal, presents its woman protagonist in a much progressive space. The paper closely examines these two texts and argues that women enact their agency in relational spaces which leads to the process of their ‘becoming’. The paper analyses this journey of the progress of the self, which starts with Matangini and culminates in Bimala. The paper concludes that women’s journey to emancipation is symbolic of the journey of the nation to independence.

Key Words: Swadeshi, Nationalism, Female agency, Patriarchy, Liminality

Unraveling the Social Position of Women in Late-Medieval Bengal: A Critical Analysis of Narrative Art on Baranagar Temple Facades

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250 views

Bikas Karmakar1 & Ila Gupta2

1Assistant Professor, Government College of Art & Craft Calcutta. bikaskarmakar@gmail.com

2Former Professor, Department of Architecture & Planning, IIT Roorkee. ilafap@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s16n2

Abstract

The genesis of the present study can be traced to an aspiration to work on the narratives of religious architecture. The Terracotta Temples of Baranagar in Murshidabad, West Bengal offer a very insightful vantage point in this regard. The elaborate works of terracotta on the facades of these temples patronized by Rani Bhabani during the mid-eighteenth century possess immense narrative potential to reconstruct the history of the area in the given time period. The portrayals on various facets of society, environment, culture, religion, mythology, and space and communication systems make these temples exemplary representatives for studying narrative art. While a significant portion of the temple facades depicts gods, goddesses, and mythological stories, the on-spot study also found a substantial number of plaques observed mainly on the base friezes representing the engagement of women in various mundane activities. This study explores the narrative intentions of such portrayals. The depictions incorporated are validated with various types of archival evidence facilitating cross-corroboration of the sources. The study sheds light on the crucial role played by women in domestic spheres and their engagement in social activities. The portrayals act as indispensable visual evidence for a holistic understanding of the life of women in Late Medieval Bengal. However, with the passage of time, the temples have been susceptible to the processes of decay necessitating the need for conservation and urgent restoration of this invaluable heritage site.

Keywords: Terracotta temples, Baranagar temple facades, women of Late Medieval Bengal, narrative art, Murshidabad temple architecture.

 

The Mysteries of Food: Reading Select Detective Fiction by Kalpana Swaminathan and Madhumita Bhattacharyya

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351 views

Somjeeta Pandey1 & Somdatta Bhattacharya2

1Assistant Professor of English, Gobardanga Hindu College, E-mail: somjeeta072@gmail.com,https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8107-9686

2Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, E-mail: somdatta@hss.iitkgp.ac.in, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8332-7989

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s15n3

Abstract

Food studies, a new addition to the family of humanities, has experienced a rapid rise in the last twenty years and a number of scholars have devoted their time and energy in studying food culture as well as the patterns of eating (Albala, 2013). Food writing has slowly spread its branches into all literary genres including into crime fiction. In more recent crime mysteries, the main plot is supplemented by authentic recipes and descriptions of food and cooking and “gumshoes not only track killers” but also “grill sherry-flavoured tuna” or “bake” chocolate cookies (Carvajal, 1997). The sub-genre of crime fiction that brings together food and crime, has been termed as ‘culinary mystery’ and with the more recent academic interest in food in literature, it has received the critical attention it deserves. The present paper will analyze the role of food in the Reema Ray mysteries of Madhumita Bhattacharyya, The Masala Murder (2012) and Dead in a Mumbai Minute (2014) and the Lalli mysteries of Kalpana Swaminathan, The Secret Gardener (2013) and Page 3 Murders (2006). While for Lalli and her niece Sita, food becomes a luxury, an indulgenceafter a hard day’s grim investigative work; for Reema, baking is her sleuthing tool and stands for her intelligence and autonomy. This paper will thus argue how these novels, with female sleuths who use food/cooking as tools of detection, pose a challenge to the patriarchal roles assigned to women as caregivers and providers of nutrition, and attempt to show how “food mysteries are ultimately about female independence and sustaining the self” (Kalikoff, 2006, p. 75). In doing this, it will alsofocus on how women bridge the gap between the public and private spheres.

Keywords: detective fiction, food studies, crime fiction, Indian English women authors

Understanding Women-Nature Dynamics: Eco-consciousness as a Quest for Identity in Selected Texts from Assam

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314 views

Paloma Chaterji

Research Coordinator in Organic Studies at M.G.gramudyog. E-mail: chaterjipaloma@yahoo.in, ORCID: 345382637

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s15n1

Abstract

My paper will explore the constantly changing dynamics of women-nature relationship through social and cultural history of Assam. I will gradually explore the eco-consciousness and the changing principles of my subjects as I shift my focus from the Shakti cult, to the Vaishnavite, to the modern urbanised subjects of the texts. The women characters in these texts will be the primary focus of this study as I begin to explore how they struggle to recognize their individual identity and how their association with nature comes as a response to accommodate what has been rendered passive by patriarchy. I will reflect on how the ever ideal and nurturing image of nature is problematic. The place-specific behavior of the characters in my study will offer a better vision of how women combat the ever presence patriarchal horrors through interaction with nature. Such an interaction reveals how nature actually makes women conscious of their individuality. This study will convey how free spirited nature helps these women overcome their limited space laced with patriarchal beliefs of selfless nurturing where the self is denied. Building on postcolonial critics like Chandra Mohanty, I would like to explore the discursive limits set by the processes of homogenization to which Assamese women have been subjected by a range of texts. This paper will explore the changing configurations of these limits and their implications, especially with regard to their interpellation in patriarchy. Through gendered readings of representative texts like Indira Goswami’s The Man from Chinnamasta and The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tuskar and Mitra Phukan’s The Collector’s Wife, I will try to dismantle the essentialist binaries of nature/culture, men/women. Finally, this paper aims to dilute the ‘feminine’ and the ‘masculine’ principles and looks beyond the gynocentric essentialism of both nature and women.

Keywords: Nature, Gynocentrism, Eco Consciousness, Patriarchy, Postcolonialism

Resisting Sexual Colonization, Reclaiming Denied Spaces: A Reading of Tattooed with Taboos: An Anthology of Poetry by Three Women from Northeast India

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291 views

Anindya Syam Choudhury1 & Amrita Bhattacharyya2

1Associate Professor, Department of English, Assam University, Silchar, Assam. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0365-9663. Email: anindyasyam@yahoo.com

2Assistant Professor, AISER, Amity University, Kolkata, West Bengal. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6529-3842. Email: arushi.asmi13@gmail.com

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s13n4

Abstract

In the pervasiveness of the dominant male voices in literature, the resistant female voices have traditionally got drowned. This has made the act of identification and foregrounding of the works of women an important political act, enabling women to gain agency by focusing attention on the silences and taboos on their bodies, sexualities, desires and pleasures thereby disrupting the hegemonic patriarchal establishment. It is in this context that this paper attempts to make a reading of Tattooed with Taboos: An Anthology of Poetry by Three Women from Northeast India, a collection of seventy-seven poems which tries to understand what it means to be a woman in a society fettered with the shackles of patriarchy. The resistance in the anthology (first published in 2011), complied by poets who hail from a peripheral province in the Indian nation-state, begins with the cover design, which powerfully foregrounds a picture of the hem of a phanek (a traditional sarong-like dress worn by women in Manipur), which, because of the norm created by the social matrix of the patriarchal Manipuri society, is regarded as inauspicious and untouchable for the menfolk because of its association with the body of the woman. The paper endeavours to explore how the picture of a vilified piece of dress, symbolising the social control of women’s bodies, becomes in the hands of these women poets potent cultural capital as they go about resisting in/through their poetry the sexual colonisation of their bodies and the smothering of their desires by a patriarchal society. In this context, the paper attempts to look at how the poets in this anthology try to re-historicise the pain, sufferings and trauma inscribed on the ‘abject’ bodies of women by questioning the existing discourse and trying to find a new way of viewing/writing their bodies. This endeavour on the part of the poets, as this paper tries to show, leads them to express a desire to trespass into spaces usually denied to women in the personal and the public.

Keywords: Abject bodies, Northeast India, poetry, resistance, sexual colonization

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