North East Literature & Culture - Page 6

Postcolonial Aesthetics and Sensuous Geographies in Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stories

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Ivy Roy Sarkar1 & Rashmi Gaur2

1Doctoral Student, Dept. of Humanities & Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. First Author & Corresponding Author. Email: Ivy.vns.2013@gmail.com, isarkar@hs.iitr.ac.in. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6558-3743

2Professor, Dept. of Humanities & Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. Email: rgaurfhs@iitr.ac.in

 Volume 13, Number 3, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n3.25

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Abstract

The place is fundamental to our existence; it conforms to the phenomenology of being in the world as we always occupy a place “if not with our minds, then always with our bodies”, to quote Moslund. The role of the senses in knowing the geographies of our existence, form a kind of structuring of space and defining of place. To understand the construction of sensorial-socio-cultural space of Assam at the time of extrajudicial killings that produces a ‘sense of fear’ jeopardizing the everyday negotiations of people inhabit the exceptional zones, this paper takes into account Aruni Kashyap’s debut novel The House with Thousand Stories (2013) that set in Hatimura village of Mayong area and deals with alternate retellings of micro-historical account of Assamese people. The paper dwells upon the artist’s creative response to the Agambenian ‘bare life’ that he associates with ‘bare’ or ‘pure senses’ to cultivate the idea of sensuousness of geography produced through the life stories of people and the interactions between human and non-human beings. Like Manipuri mother’s Naked March in front of Kangla Fort and Irom Sharmila’s sixteen years-long hunger strike that can be looked at as the metaphor for staging the ‘bare life’ against the body polity of the state, the sensual dimension of the geographic experience of Pablo, the narrator of the novel, in the village helps to understand the spaces of difference in the time of conflict.

Key Words: Peripheral Aesthetics, Sensuous Geography, Secret Killings, Embodied Experience, Assamese Literature in English

The Metamorphosis of a Female Subject into a Gendered subject: A Study of Easterine Iralu’s A Terrible Matriarchy

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Bompi Riba1 and Karngam Nyori2
1Assistant Professor, Department of English, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, Pin-791112, ORCID id: 0000-0002-0341-2348. E-mail:  bompi.riba@rgu.ac.in

2Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of English, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, Pin-791112, ORCID id: 000-0002-3477-141.  Email: nkarngam@yahoo.com

 Volume 13, Number 3, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n3.24

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Abstract

It is a universally practised phenomenon across society to conveniently create a dichotomy that is based on the physiological difference between a male and a female. This difference is further defined by the dichotomy of gendered roles and labour that are imposed on them. The hegemony of the gendered ideology makes it all so natural to assign gendered role to a baby the moment it is born. Its body serves as a continuing signifier for the gendered structure of a patriarchal society. Since these gendered ideologies are disseminated through established institutions such as education, religion and law; their manifestations can be found in culture, religion, clothes, discourse, movies, and even in gestures that this polarity between a man and a woman is accepted as natural. There still is no general consent among the cultural anthropologists that an unambiguous matriarchal society existed. Classical scholars like Johann Jakob Bachofen tried to argue that matriarchal society existed on the basis of unreliable historical sources such as Iliad and Odyssey (Bamberger, p.263). Easterine Iralu’s A Terrible Matriarchy intrigues the reader with this highly deceptive title that ironically bares the patriarchy of contemporary Naga society. However, if these reasons are taken into account that Feminism is all about equality and that matriarchy is the flip side of patriarchy with all its horrors; then she is not far from the truth in prefixing “terrible” to “matriarchy”. This article is an attempt to familiarize the milieu of a quintessential Naga girl and her resistance to the anxious process of self-denial imposed upon her by her grandmother who embodies the concept of ‘terrible matriarchy’. The article also concentrates on the typical mechanism of gender construction and how such mechanisms are responsible for metamorphosing a female subject into a gendered subject.

Key words: Angami-Naga society, female subject, gendered subject, matriarchy, patriarchy

Inscribing the Migratory History of Tea Plantation Labours of Assam: A Journey from Ignorance to Experience

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Pradip Barman

PhD, Deptt. of History, Rangapara College, Rangapara, Sonitpur, Assam. ORCID Id: 0000-0002-5125-918. Email: adipta2013@gmail.com

 Volume 13, Number 3, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n3.23

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Abstract

The tea garden labours of Assam have an absorbing history of their own. They were imported to Assam from various parts of Bengal, United Province, Central Province, Madras, etc. At the time when they were facing economic hardships in their day-to-day life, the agents of the tea planters of Assam visited those areas and tempted them with plenty of facilities and economic incentives. Believing the false promises of these dishonest agents, these innocent people decided to follow them to get relief from economic deprivation and reached Assam. Thus, the process of importation of labour into Assam started and gradually their number was increasing year by year. But as soon as they left their native place, they met with adversity and it was increasing day by day. On their way to Assam also, many of them died of various diseases and eventually when they arrived in Assam, they were subjected to inhumane conditions. No one was known to them and unhealthy food and unhygienic habitation added further misery. On many occasions, they were even physically assaulted which increased their mental instability. Despite this, they gradually adopted themselves in Assam and started to treat Assam as their land. Now, the tea garden labour community of Assam is a part and parcel of Assamese society and in politics also they have been performing a major role.

 Keywords: Migration, Labour, Tea, Importation, Misery

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History, Memory and Legend: Contextualizing Joymoti Utsav in Assam

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Suranjana Barua1 & L David Lal2

1Assistant Professor in Linguistics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Bongora, Guwahati, Assam, India. Corresponding author. Email ID: suranjana@iiitg.ac.in

2Assistant Professor in Political Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Information Technology Guwahati, Bongora, Guwahati, Assam, India. Email ID: david@iiitg.ac.in

 Volume 13, Number 3, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n3.22

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This paper traces the inception, emergence and relevance of the celebration of a historical figure of Assam – Joymoti – as the Joymoti Utsav (Joymoti Festival). With the first attested public celebration of the festival in Upper Assam in 1914, Joymoti Utsav was a landmark public celebration on multiple counts. Firstly, it created a feminist and nationalist consciousness in the region through its celebration of Joymoti – an Ahom princess; secondly, it marked public support to celebration of an ideal female figure whose qualities and character women were encouraged to aspire to; thirdly, it followed and also spearheaded a socio-cultural movement that found expression in literature and arts including the first Assamese movie Joymoti in 1934; fourthly, it brought together people and organizations in the making of a legacy that gave direction to the feminist movement in Assam thereby establishing it as a major socio-cultural feminist festival of Assam. This paper traces the emergence of this iconic festival in Upper Assam, its role in establishing feminist ideals, carving out a distinct regional history and nurturing national sentiment, its depiction in various literary genres of the 20th century and the current relevance of the festival in Assam. In doing so, the paper locates Joymoti Utsav in a socio-historical perspective in the context of Assam while crediting it with creating a feminist consciousness in the public discourse of early twentieth century Assam.

Keywords: History, Memory, Joymoti Utsav, Feminist Consciousness, Assam Nationalism.

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Inking the Identity: a Study of the Apatani Tradition of Tattooing through Bakhtinian Chronotope

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Shrestha Bharadwaj1 & Uttam Boruah2

1Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh. ORCID: 0000-0002-0201-4452. Email: shresthabhardwaj112@gmail.com.

2Research Scholar, Dept. of English, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh. ORCID: 0000-0002-4862-1210. Email: uttamboruah2014@gmail.com.

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s29n1

Abstract

Known for their inked faces, the last generation of ‘tattooed’ Apatani women stands as a testimony of this obliterated tradition of tattooing the tribe practiced. Started as a mark of uglification, this practice later turned to be a cultural epitome. A symbol of beauty, it became the celebration of being a culture, a tradition, a strong woman and an Apatani. Outlawed in the 1970s, this tradition is today considered as grotesque and is now only a site of the exotic. The last practitioners of this heritage reside in desolation in the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh, after which this endangered customary paragon goes into extinction. The present paper will try to analyze the tattooed Apatani octogenarian women as Bakhtinian Chronotope. Their spatial configuration will be examined along with the patterns of trauma and identity crisis. In this process Bakhtin’s idea of grotesque will also be analyzed taking into consideration the progressive Apatani frame of reference.

Keywords: Apatanis, Chronotope, Exotic, Grotesque, Tattoo, Trauma.

Narrative Strategies of Decolonisation: Autoethnography in Mamang Dai’s The Legends of Pensam

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Samrita Sinha

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sophia College (Autonomous). ORCID: 0000-0003-1021-4988. Email: ssengsophia@gmail.com, samrita.sinha@sophiacollege.edu.in

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n4

Abstract

According to John Quintero, “The decolonisation agenda championed by the United Nations is not based exclusively on independence. It is the exercise of the human right of self-determination, rather than independence per se, that the United Nations has continued to push for.” Situated within ontologies of the human right of self-determination, this paper will focus on an analysis of The Legends of Pensam by Mamang Dai, a writer hailing from the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, to explore the strategies of decolonisation by which she revitalizes her tribe’s cultural enunciations. The project of decolonisation is predicated on the understanding that colonialism has not only displaced communities but also brought about an erasure of their epistemologies. Consequently, one of its major agenda is to recuperate displaced epistemic positions of such communities. In the context of Northeast India, the history of colonial rule and governance has had long lasting political repercussions which has resulted not only in a culture of impunity and secessionist violence but has also led to the reductive homogeneous construction of the Northeast as conflict ridden. In the contemporary context, the polyethnic, socio-cultural fabric of the Northeast borderlands foregrounds it as an evolving post-colonial geopolitical imaginary. In the light of this, the objective of this paper is to arrive at the ramifications of employing autoethnography as a narrative regime by which Mamang Dai reaffirms the Adi community’s epistemic agency and reclaims the human right towards a cultural self-determination.

Keywords: Decolonisation, Autoethnography, Northeast India, Displaced, Epistemic Agency

The Lioness Defending Her Clan in the North East: A Study of Ecospiritual Elements in Mamang Dai’s Fiction

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Meghamala Satapathy1 & Ipsita Nayak2

1PhD Research Scholar, KIIT Deemed to be University; Email: satapathymeghamala@gmail.com; ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3519-766X

2Assistant Professor in English and Research Supervisor, KIIT Deemed to be University; Email: ipsita.teacher@gmail.com; ORCID ID:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4584-7470

 Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n1

Abstract

Ecospirituality signifies spiritual evolution in consequence of one’s response to ecological stimuli. Mamang Dai is a powerful tribal voice from the North East India who has explored in depth the theme of Ecospirituality in her books. The article explicates those ecological attributes manifested in Dai’s works which form an integral part of the spiritual voyage of her characters. In an attempt to define the term ‘Ecospirituality,’ a review of existing literature has been placed at the beginning which is followed by discourse analysis of the five works of fiction which Dai has to her credit. All the arguments put forth in the article are substantiated by textual evidence from her books. The analysis of the said texts is followed by a conclusion suggesting a way forward. The present study examines the elements of Ecospirituality in Dai’s ‘fictional’ works alone hence the exclusion of her books of non-fiction. It shows how a slew of ecospiritual elements are identifiable in the fictional outputs of Dai and yet the theme demands more elaborate treatment due to the advent of new theoretical constructs.

Keywords: Ecospirituality, North East, Ecospiritualism, Mamang Dai, ethnography, folklore, Deep ecology, topography, ethnic identity

Donyi-Polo and Deep Ecology: A Select Reading of Mamang Dai’s Midsummer Survival Lyrics

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Sukla Singha

Research Scholar, Department of English, Tripura University, Tripura, India, ORCID ID:  0000-0003-4948-7297, Email:  shukla.singha85@gmail.com

   Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s18n2

Abstract

The Adis of Arunachal Pradesh consider everything coming from nature as sacred and living. As opposed to the Christian theological teachings that regard humans as the conqueror of everything else on earth, in the Adi worldview, human beings do not occupy the center stage. Instead, the Adis believe in the intrinsic worth of all beings – both human and nonhuman, which exist on earth, as reflected in the Adi philosophy of ‘Donyi-Polo.’This paper attempts to study select poems from Mamang Dai’s book of poems Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014) in the light of the philosophy of Donyi Polo. It also attempts to link this Adi worldview to the ecosophy of Arne Naess popularly known as ‘Deep Ecology.’

Keywords: Donyi-Polo, Deep Ecology, Ecosophy, Human, Nonhuman

Authenticity v/s Glocalization as Represented in the Digital Platforms: A Study on the Food Culture with Special Reference to Tripura

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Gitanjali Roy

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts, ICFAI University, Tripura. E-mail: gitanjaliroy@iutriipura.edu.in

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n7

Abstract

Food habit articulates the local culture of a region. Tripura, a land-locked state of varied communities (the tribes and Bengalis of the soil) negotiates the countercultural exchange of cuisines. Traditional ethnic foods are markers of shared cultural values and identity. Preparation of traditional food involves the role of memory which involves passing down culinary skills, techniques, and ingredients from one generation to the next. The marketing industry and the restaurant culture have changed the taste of the consumers but again the ‘losses’ and the ‘need’ to preserve the traditional cuisines are archived in digital platforms. With the rise in YouTube food channels, Facebook pages, food delivery companies like Swiggy and Zomato; the local food met with the global consumer culture. On one hand, lost ethnic food habits are preserved by documenting the procedures of cooking traditional dishes. On the other, restaurants and bloggers are experimenting to prepare local food using global spices and techniques, resulting in a hybridized food identified by their hybridized name. This paper shall focus on how a new taste for food has developed in Tripura with the rise in digital participatory culture. The focus shall also be on the marketing signs and signifiers used in digital platforms to attract digital food readership. As e-readers, a survey of digital menu cards shall try to identify how the local food has evolved as glocalized cuisines.

Keywords: Local, Global, Glocal, Hybrid, Food, Tripura, Bengalis, Tribes, Cuisine, Authentic, Digital, Culture.

“There is No Home, Pig”: Examining the Dilemma of Northeast Queer in Time of Covid-19

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Lede E Miki Pohshna

Research Scholar, English Department, North-Eastern Hill University, Email- ledeemiki@gmail.com, ORCID- https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0434-9704

  Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s17n6

Abstract

While COVID-19 has unleashed waves of reverse-migration from the cities back to the hometowns due to economic and physical uncertainties that accompanied the pandemic, queer people from the North-Eastern Region of India choose to stay in the cities. Defying the reverse-migration trend, they choose the freedom that the city gives them over the prejudice of their hometown toward their sexuality. This paper will theorize how pandemic affects and at the same time affirms queer sexualities This paper will re-interpret metronormativity in the context of North-East queer people and will co-opt Judith Halberstam’s theory while at the same time reworking it to fit the local context of queer North-East. Unlike Halberstam’s theory that the metro offers a continuum of free existence to the queer people,  this paper will examine certain queer narratives both online and through  interviews in order to understand how the city offers not a “freer” existence ( in the sense that  freedom is given and implied upon) but rather a relatively anonymous existence which allows them to live freely in anonymity but never silent. It will problematize the concept of home and space and how queer subjectivities are (un)formed depending upon certain variables that the home offers which eventually affects queer existence. This existence will then juxtapose with Kosofsky’s “gesture of silence” of the home and the closet and in doing so, it will attempt to understand North East queer’s preference for the danger of COVID 19 and the “insecurities” of the city over the “security” of home.

 Keywords: Northeastern, Queer, Metronormativity, Reverse-Migration, COVID-19

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