Adivasi

Problematising Tribality: A Critical Engagement with Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories

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Francis Ekka1 & Dr. Rosy Chamling2

1Research Scholar, Department of English, Sikkim University.

Email id: fekka.20mpen01@sikkimuniversity.ac.in, ekkafran@gmail.com. ORCID id: 0000-0002-2777-3121.

2Associate Professor, Department of English, Sikkim University.

Email id: rchamling@cus.ac.in. ORCID id: 0000-0002-4936-4767.

 Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.09

Abstract

Tribality simply means the characteristic features of various tribal communities and the qualities of being tribal. In the 1940s leading anthropologists like Verrier Elwin and G.S.Ghurye tried to theorize and categorize tribal identities. However, they were often accused of representing either a ‘protective’ or ‘romantic’ notions of tribality. One cannot determine the tribality of a person based on their features, dialects, food habits or geographical location. Tribality is said to bind the pan-Indian Tribal literature which is again problematic considering language which is considered as the useful indicator of any identity. Tribal Literature is a distinct form of writing to represent people, things and ideas in their cultural authenticities. The tribals essentially have an oral culture and thus when a tribal writer like Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, a Government Doctor by profession, writes in the canonical English language, we will be tempted to probe if he seeks to ‘write in’ or ‘write back’ to the mainstream literary culture; or if his works can fit into the mould of minor literature, thereby making the seemingly personal an intensely political statement. This paper also aims to interrogate issues of tribal identity and their representation through a critical engagement with Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories (2017).

Keywords: Adivasi, Tribality, Identity, Representation, Minor Literature

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Articulating Difference: Self, Identity and Representation

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Mohan Dharavath

Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Email: mohan.dharavath@tiss.edu

 Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.08

Abstract

The Adivasis are often presented as they exist in a timeless, historical space, untouched and unperturbed by complex changes in society, politics and culture though the reality is the other way round. The self-esteem and the identity of the Adivasis are not just distraught and distorted by the non-Adivasi writers but is a fraught with misconceptions. In such a scenario, the writings of the Adivasi writers on Adivasi become more significant with all due respect since it reflects the insiders’ perspective. The paper therefore examines the voices and concerns of the Adivasi through Adivasi writings and attempts to substantiate assertively on how and why any non-Adivasi writers could not escape from representing the Adivasi without distortion. It further explores that the non-Adivasi writer, an outsider is more than fascinated to write more of the fetish, exotic and criminalization of the Adivasi on one hand and on the other hand stereotyping them rather understanding the Adivasi life. It also focuses on and discusses the broader concerns of the Adivasi life and experience that ensure the subject happens to occur from the locational similarity.

Keywords: Adivasi, Articulation, Identity, Self, Representation

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Problematising ‘Indigeneity’ through Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey

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Amitayu Chakraborty

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Durgapur Women’s College, West Bengal, India. ORCID: 0000-0003-3999-448X. amitayuc@yahoo.com;

Volume 11, Number 3, October-December, 2019 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n3.19

Abstract

The article problematises dominant discourses on ‘indigeneity’ (within the context of India) through an analysis of the novel The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (2014) written by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (1983—). Those discourses are predicated on colonial and neocolonial ethnic stereotypes: at times ‘the indigenous’ denotes a reluctant subject of the nation-state, a primitive mindlessly opposing the ‘modernising’ corporate projects; at times, it constitutes a pristine innocence, an antithesis of the ‘corrupting’ urban life. Santhals, among various other indigenous communities in India, have been a victim of such reductivism. The article argues that Hansda’s novel offers a nuanced depiction of a Santhal community in India which is fraught with internal conflicts as well as external threats undercutting the grand narrative in which the adivasi is a cultural imaginary, either an embodiment of atavism and wildness to be curbed or vulnerable artefacts to be preserved. The tale of Rupi appears to be a critical departure from the monolithic images of adivasis as it blends the magical with the real.

Keywords: indigeneity, Santhal, adivasi, tribe, magical realism, subaltern, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar.

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Representation of Indigenous Women in Contemporary Aboriginal Short Stories of Australia and India: A Study in Convergences and Divergences

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Indranil Acharya, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India

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