Ethnographic Poetry in North-East India and Southwest China

2022

The expression 'North-East India' invokes an ethnographic monolith in popular imagination without looking into its multilingual setup , heterogeneous cultural locations and diverse literary traditions, most of which are unscripted, orally composed and community-specific. Orality, which appears to be a crucial tool to understand the nuances of the literary landscape of this region, assumes a dual role. On the one hand, it is stratified, textualised, homogenised and commodified by the global market. On the other hand, it becomes a tool to challenge anonymity and reclaim the roots of the people, who had been suffering from a rupture in identity since the advent of the colonial education system and the ever-growing dependence on written communication in the modern socioeconomic structure. This paper, through a close reading of three women poets of NorthEast India-namely, Temsula Ao, Mamang Dai and Esther Syiem, explores the reclamation of identity through the use of traditional tales, formulaic composition and indigenised vocabulary in their poetry. It also argues how orality is constructed within the ambit of the written text using coloniser's language thereby creating a space for cultural hybridity thus subverting the hierarchy between orality and writing.

The paper looks at the intimate ethnic dimension in contemporary poetry in Assamese in Assam as well as in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya. The contemporary writings in Assamese has been preeminently characterised by the enduring presence of ethnic voices articulated from the vantages of their respective mores. This recent trend in Assamese writings has provided an extraordinary richness to its narrative as well to its world view and to the universe of its imagination. The paper seeks to critically understand the myriad nuances of Assamese poetry of recent times that has significantly evolved through a complex and enriching reconfiguration of multi ethnic cultural manifestations and negotiations.

The Creative Launcher

Indian English poetry with a view to achieving modernity, tries to do different kinds of experiments. Rhyme and Stanzaic forms had replaced free verse. Verbal melody came to be evoked through the use of alliterative words. The tone was one of the intellectualized irony and sarcasm. The stance of the poets was one of the complete detachment and objectivity. The other innovation of the modern Indian poets is the use of symbolism. The poets use modern techniques used by the film industry and advertising industry besides the stream of consciousness and free association of ideas. There is much “word hunting” and “image hunting” which reflects the medium of consciousness on the part of the poet. The Indian, poets therefore borrows words from their regional languages. To be Indian, poets have to be rooted in Indian-geographically, historically, socially or psychologically. Poetry is the expression of human life from times eternal. India, in fact has a long tradition of arts and poetry from...

Dialogue: A Journal Devoted to Literary Appreciation, 2018

The world of story is not a simple one. Every story is a story of something imagined or real, experienced or narrated, personal or political, and, mythic or modern. Issues such as nation, nationality, identity, home, country, being and belonging enter the arena of creativity whenever a writer pens his or her story from the margins. For the voices from northeast India every story, every reading creates a new meaning- a new construct. They create, rewrite and share their identity through collective culture, shared history or ancestry very often. Such one writer who contemplates in her works within these frameworks and boundaries from the point of an individual and the community is Temsula Ao. Hailing from the region, she delivers an extremely sensible and almost firsthand experience of the happenings in the region in her writing that is so evocative at the same time. The present paper aims to explore the short stories by Temsula Ao from her Sahitya Academy Prize-winning collection Laburnum for My Head (2009) from the perspective of both written and oral accounts of emotional identities and aspects of showing multiple ways of being, becoming and belonging. The Northeast has long been on the fringe of mainstream literary consciousness, edged out by its complex socio-politics, crisis of identity and the prolonged rule of the gun. Temsula, through her narratives,has expressed a strong political awareness to interrogate the violence that has ravaged the Northeast region as a whole and the 'Naga nation' in particular due to the tussle between the insurgents 'underground extortionists or rebel forces' and the Indian government in complex ways. Keywords: short story, identity, culture, north-east, history.

SUMMARY: The Himalayan setting-especially present-day Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand-has fascinated many a writer in India. Journeys, wanderings, and sojourns in the Himalaya by Hindi authors have resulted in many travelogues, as well as in some emblematic short stories of modern Hindi literature. If the environment of the Himalaya and its hill stations has inspired the plot of several fictional writings, the description of the life and traditions of its inhabitants has not been the main focus of these stories. Rather, the Himalayan setting has primarily been used as a narrative device to explore and contest the relationship between the mountain world and the intrusive presence of the external world (primarily British colonialism, but also patriarchal Hindu society). Moreover, and despite the anti-conformist approach of the writers selected for this paper (Agyeya, Mohan Rakesh, Nirmal Verma and Krishna Sobti), what mainly emerges from an analysis of their stories is that the Himalayan setting, no matter the way it is described, remains first and foremost a lasting topos for renunciation and liberation.

Creation and Criticism 1.3, Oct, 2016

Review for Book: Sudhir K. Arora. Cultural and Philosophical Reflections in Indian Poetry in English: Footprints (Volume I). New Delhi: Authorspress, 2016. Pp. 324. Price: Rs. 1300/- (Hardcover). ISBN: 978-9352072064 MLA Citation: Chauhan, Abnish Singh. Review of Cultural and Philosophical Reflections in Indian Poetry in English: Footprints (Volume I), by Sudhir K. Arora. Creation and Criticism, vol. 1, joint issue no. 3, Oct 2016. Web Page.

The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 1996

A survey of principles of selection and national identity formation in anthologies of Indian English poetry.

Indian literature cannot be defined by its linguistic singularity; rather it celebrates due to its plurality. It is the literature which is being written in different languages of the nation. Therefore various attempts have been made by the scholars to discuss about the ethos behind the literature written in different languages. The contemporary Indian society is undergoing through some significantly rapid changes, therefore the depiction of the issues reflected in literature is also changing. The societal politics is in a position that the tradition of India has also been challenged. The colonial legacy and the fight to re-establish the identity was a common feature of the post-independence Indian literature. But the neo-colonizers have guided us to such a position that we even feel ambiguous in searching the right path towards identity. The Indian poetry of the contemporary age has nicely picked up such issues of the contemporary society. In this paper, an attempt has been made to discuss about how the poets have attempted to focus about the existence of the primeval feelings of being Indian through the poems. The established beliefs on the issues like society, identity, individuality, existence etc. has been challenged by the contemporary happenings. The poets of the contemporary India has tried to focus such issues including the challenges. By citing some examples of a few contemporary Indian poets, some of the major issues of contemporary Indian poetry will come to light and this will be helpful in further discussion about the present and future of Indian poetry.

New Literaria

Tribal voices are perennially absent in the domains of disciplinary knowledges. Contemporary indigenous writings from different parts of the world contest this archival and textual invisibility of the indigenous subject by documenting the unremitting pain and anguish these communities undergo due to systematic territorial displacement and cultural dislocations. Literary narratives originating within these indigenous communities transcend paradigms of literature by offering a dynamic repertoire of indigenous epistemic practices and lived experiences. Keeping this understanding broadly in the background and contemporary tribal literature(s) from India at the focal point, this paper proposes to argue that critical readings of such texts problematize predominant discourses of ‘indigeneity’. Embedded within the (neo)colonial ethnic stereotypes is the reductionist understanding of ‘indigeneity’ which puts forward a dualistic image of the tribal subject who is either an innocent, vulnerabl...

Heritage Publishing House, 2015

Veio Pou’s writing is incisive: he comes to the point without leading his readers around in the wilderness of intellectual thinking. His book Literary Cultures of India’s Northeast: Naga Writings in English is very comprehensive. It brings history to bear upon the literary production of Northeast writing and this is a very important aspect that should not be overlooked. This book is a pathfinder in the field of Naga literary criticism and should be referred to as such by scholars working on Naga and Northeast writing. - Easterine Kire, Author and Poet, winner of The Hindu Prize 2016 and Tata Literature Live Award 2017 for Best Fiction The most significant aspect of Naga writings lies in the fact that much of this literature has directly or indirectly derived much inspiration from our oral tradition which is replete with the resources of literature like poems, folk songs, long narratives, folk stories, and even elements of magic and fantasy… Literary Cultures of India’s Northeast: Naga Writings in English must be read and given due credit by every right thinking Naga. - Temsula Ao, Author and Poet, and Padma Shree Awardee

Ars Artium, 2018

is remarkably great. The conflict between tradition and modernity at various levels-social, cultural, familiar, national and cosmopolitan is well marked in the works of modern poets. It can be said about the modern Indian poetry in English that with every passing decade an increasing immediacy and heightened awareness of actual Indian experience is noticeable. Gradually with passing time the English language poetry became more Indianized in nature. It is discernible in works of modern Indian poets of English. The book under review is a collection of fourteen critical papers. It explores the works of modern Indian poets who are significant voices of our time. Aju Mukhopadhyay is a bilingual award winning poet, author and critic, writing on literature, environment, wildlife and more. In this book, Aju Mukhopadhyay in his paper, "Devotional Zeal in Modern Poetry", has discussed Indian tradition, culture and philosophy. He writes about some important devotional poets with their distinguished traits. He lays emphasis on the themes of spirituality and mystical experiences in the poetry of Dev Ganguly, Syed Ameeruddin, Rudra Narayan Mishra, N. Karthikeyan Osho, O. P. Arora and Anuradha Bhattacharya. He notices spiritual strain in the poetry of Rudra Narayan Mishra, When I utter Thy name, O Lord! When I hail to Thee, My filthy heart gets purified And seems to dance in glee. ("When I Hail to Thee", Flashes 1) The poets writing in English from the Northeast share the romanticism and mythopoetic vision of their vernacular counterparts both past and present. The common bond of poetic sensibility is predominated by love for the land, nature, myths, and tribal folklore. Professor Nigamananda Das has dwelt upon eco-cultural and spiritual aspects in the

Pacific Books International, 2022

Nature plays a vital role in the literature of Northeast India. Writers like A. C. Agarwala, B. K. Bhattacharya, Dimbeswar Neog, Hemchandra Barua, Hemchandra Goswami, Hem Barua, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Kamalakanta Bhattacharya, Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Mamang Dai, Nalini Bala Devi wrote extensively enumerating the detailing picture of their region. They have echoed the long prevailed and isolated self of their own with the incorporation of sociocultural and environmental issues. They have shown how the states have been torn apart and neglected by mainland of India. They eulogize nature as the lap of their mother and how tenderly they have been raised by this mother. They nostalgically relate their lineage to mountains, forests, streams, trees, stones, their traditional gods etc. In a similar way, Temsula Ao does not forget her own true self. She has a stout bond with this nature too and has proved this throughout his writings whether in her poetry or in her short stories. But what makes her different from other writers is her delineating nature in touch with the human psyche and heart. She incorporates the spirit and human in the same line and goes on her experimentation of human nature relationship.

2020

have deep rooted connection through a shared history and culture. The experience of sharing a history and culture that is common, yet utterly personal, makes the literature of the region unique and provides the South Asians a common basis for understanding their position in the contemporary world. Critics of South Asian Literature mostly focus on religion, region and nationality within South Asia, but my concern in the present lecture moves beyond this. It addresses the problems of identity and survival, particularly linguistic inside a changing geography and changing society. Colonial oppression, ethnicity, religion and border issues are paramount and have led to rabid linguistic regionalism. The present discussion involves a survey of literatures in English available in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is important to look into the connections these offer and to see where they have positioned South Asians in contemporary times and how South Asian Literature in English is going to be shaped in the future against all odds.