Towards a Tribal Literary Criticism in India: Engaging Northeast Tribal Voices in English Literature
Abstract
This article formulates and applies a tribal literary criticism to the tribal voices of Northeast India articulated in English literature. It moves beyond prevailing literary paradigms that have traditionally marginalised indigenous worldviews and viewpoints by adopting indigenous-tribal epistemologies and a decolonial approach. By applying tribal knowledge through close readings of selected tribal literary texts produced by tribal writers from the Northeastern regions of India, the study explores key concepts such as community, land, identity, and ecology, rooted in the tribal holistic worldview of the God-world-human continuum. Relying on tribal worldviews, oral traditions, memories, storytelling, and lived experiences, indigenous-tribal interpretative tools offer alternative frameworks. Furthermore, the study validates tribal ways of knowing and expands the field of literary criticism by including diverse epistemic traditions.
Keywords: tribal literary criticism; tribal–indigenous literature from Northeast India; Indigenous epistemologies; decolonial reading; God-world-human continuum
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