Authors retain the copyright without restrictions for their published content in this journal. HSSR is a SHERPA ROMEO Green Journal.
Publishing License
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of
CONSTRUCTING ETHNIC IDENTITY IN RAJANIKANTA BARDOLOI’S MIRI JIYORI: A (POST) COLONIAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE TEXT
Corresponding Author(s) : Khammoun Phukan
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews,
Vol. 8 No. 4 (2020): July
Abstract
Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to understand the concept of ethnic Identity projected in the early novels of Assamese literature. This study also investigates a colonial narrative in the text and tries to understand the present scenario highlighting the past.
Methodology: It is a descriptive analysis based on qualitative method research. Focusing on the concept of ethnic Identity the research has been done under the discourse of postcolonial literary theory. The data and speculation are drawn from the secondary sources. Any kind of technical software has not been used in carrying out the research.
Main Findings: The research brings out to the forefront that even in the colonial period; the native writers seem to be conscious about their own culture and the society. They were aware of the marginal boundary created by hegemonic colonial products. The writers raise the question of constructing ‘self’ and ‘other’ and a developing sense of cultural hierarchy.
Applications of this study: This study would help to locate the space of marginalised society in that colonial construction and help the researchers to understand the gap between the early Assamese literatures of the colonial period. Moreover, the study also finds out the awareness of the writers even in the colonial rule about the peripheral boundary and ethnic Identity of a multiethnic/multilingual society.
Novelty/Originality of this study: It is certain that Assamese novels have been studied under various theoretical frameworks, but as we are concerned this theme has not been discussed yet for this particular novel. The presentation of the colonial past in the text is the originality of this research.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Ashcroft, B. & Ahluwalia, P. (2008). Edward Said. Routledge. http://actv.am/wp-content/uploads/2016/ 09/edwardsaidbio.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203888070
- Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2013). Post-colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/978023777855
- Bardhan, N. & Zhang, B. (2017). A post/decolonial view of race and Identity through the narratives of U.S. international students from the global south. Communication Quarterly, 65 (3), 285-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2016.1237981 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2016.1237981
- Barua, S. (2012). Miri Jiyori. Guwahati.
- Baruah, S. (2008). Clash of resource use regimes in colonial Assam: a nineteenth century puzzle revisited. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 28(3), (pp. 109-124). https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150108438777 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150108438777
- Baruah, S. (2005). Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India. Oxford, New Delhi.
- Basu, D. & Das, D. (2020). Assam politics and NRC. Economic and Political Weekly, 2020, 55(5), 61.
- Bhaba, H. K. (2012). The Location of Culture. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551
- Bora, M. (2020). Colonial intervention to a new equation of politics in India’s Northeast. Space and Culture, India, 8(1), 198-207. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.799 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.799
- Borah, J. (2015). Representation of tribal life of Assam in the Assamese novels: A study with special reference to four novels (Doctoral dissertation, Tezpur University). http://hdl.handle.net/10603/134922
- Borah, P. (2012). Reconstructing Identity and ethnic movements in North East India: an analysis on the Mising community. Asian Journal of research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(11), 242-248.
- Borah, P. P., Deka, R., & Bhuyan, A. J. (2020). Ethnicity and fragmented identity: diverse forms of identity formation among the Misings of Assam. Asian Ethnicity, 1-24. https://doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1757403 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2020.1757403
- Bordoloi, M. (2014). Impact of colonial anthropology on identity politics and conflicts in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(20), 47-54.
- Retrieved July 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stabe/24479707
- Burney, S. (2012). Edward Said and post-colonial theory: disjunctured identities and the subaltern voice. Counterpoints, 417, 41-60. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42981699
- Chaudhury, B. (2017). Arranging the contradictions: the question of modernity and morality in colonial Assam. International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Literature, 5(11), 229-240. https://doi.org/ssrn.com/abstract=3090267
- Das, G. (2012). Identity and underdevelopment: on conflict and peace in developing societies-a case study of Assam in India. Humanities and Social Sciences Review, 1(1), 1-18.
- Deka, B. (2020). Assam as a new economic space: colonial annexation in the region and its implications. Space and Culture, India, 8(1), 208-217. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.748 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.748
- Dizayi, S. A. H. (2015). The crisis of Identity in post-colonial novel. In INTCESS15-2nd Internation Conference on Education and Social Sciences (pp. 999-1007).
- Fishman, J. (1996). Ethnicity as being, doing and knowing. In J. Smith (Eds.) Ethnicity (pp. 63-69). OUP.
- Go, J. (2018). Post-colonial possibilities for the sociology of race. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(4), 439-451. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218793982 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218793982
- Goswami, U. (2014). Conflict and Reconciliation: The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315734101
- Kakoti, B. (1953). Aspects of Early Assamese Literature. Gauhati University.
- Kalita, K. (2019, Mar 06). Government not serious of granting ST status to six communities. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/gov-not-serious-of-granting-st-status-to-six-communities/articleshow/68275975.cms
- Karmakar, R. (2019, Jan 09). Mixed responses to 6 Assam groups. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/mixed-respose-to-st-status-to-6-assam-groups/article25944596.ece
- Konwar, R. (2020, February 02). Himanta Biswa Sarma-led ST panel to hold more meetings. The Telegraph. https://www.thetelegraphindia.com/north-east/himanta-biswa-sarma-led-st-panel-to-hold-more-meetings/cid/1750405
- Mahmudah, S., & Munawwar, M. F. (2020). The retention of Arabic language as a national identity in two of Gadah As-samman’s Novels: post-colonial perspective. Humanities and Social Sciences Reviews, 8(3), 955-964. https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8399 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8399
- Gandhi, L. (2019). Post-colonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. Columbia University Press.
- Mack-Canty, C. (2004). Third-wave feminism and the need to reweave the nature/culture duality. NWSA Journal, 16(3), 154-179. https://doi.10.1353/nwsa.2004.0077 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2004.16.3.154
- Medhi, H. (2016). Gender and identity politics: Arupa Patangia Kalita’s Felanee (The Story of Felanee) and Rita Chowdhury’s Ei Samay Sei Samay (Times Now and Then). Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 10(1) (pp. 43-53). https://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/ajell/article/view/773
- Medhi, H. (2008). Missionary writing and the self-fashioning of Assamese cultural Identity in colonial India: revisiting the past, understanding the present. In Fraser R. & Hammond M. (Eds.) Books Without Boarders, Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230289130_5
- Mishra, T. (2002). Early asamiya novels: new genre, traditional mindset and changing perspectives. In M. Mukherjee (Ed.) Early Novels in India (pp. 6-26). Sahitya Akademi.
- Misra, U. (2016). Victory for identity politics, not Hindutva in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly, 55(22). https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/22/2016-state-assembly-elections/victory-identity-politics-not-hindutva-assam.html
- Mitra, N. (2016, September 26). Tribal body opposes ST status to six communities of Assam. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/tribal-body-opposes-st-status-to-six-communities-of-assam/articleshow/54526685.cms
- Mtairi, N. (2019). Edward Said: post-colonial discourse and its impact on literature. Education and Linguistic Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5296/elr.v5il.14287 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/elr.v5i1.14287
- Nishiyama, H. (2019). Geopolitics of disregard: living a colonial life in Okinawa. Political Geography, 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102042 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102042
- Roy, S. K. (2005). Conflicting nations in Northeast India. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(21), 2176-2182. https://www.jstor.org.stable/4416674
- Saikia, Y. (2006). Religion, nostalgia, and memory: making an ancient and recent Tai Ahom identity in Assam and Thailand. The Journal of Asian Studies, 65(1), 33-60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00219118060000-52 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911806000052
- Sarkowsky, K. & Schulze-Engler, F. (2012). Postcolonial studies. In Middeke, M. and others (Eds.) English and American Studies. J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-00406-2-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-00406-2_22
- Sarma, P. M., & Goswami, N. (2011). Ethnicity, gender and nationalism in Birendrakumar Bhattacharya’s Yauringam. In S.C. Aikant (Ed.) Summerhill (pp. 56-67). IIAS Shimla.
- Sarma, S. (2004). Asomiya Sahityar Samikhatmak Itibitta. Orunodai.
- Sengupta, M. (2006). Historiography of the formation of Assamese Identity: a review. Peace and Democracy in South Asia, 2(1/2), 121-134.
- Sharma, C. (2019). Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016: continuities and contestations with special reference to politics in Assam, India. Asian Ethnicity, 20(4), 522-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2019.1601993 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2019.1601993
- Sharma, J. (2011). Empire’s Garden: Assam and the Making of India. Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394396
- Sharma, P. (2016). Identity consciousness and students’ movement: the role of AASU. In Unheeded Hinterland (pp. 147-157). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315657820-19
- Singha, K. (2018). Ethnicity-based movements and state’s response in Assam. Asian Ethnicity, 19(3), (pp. 365-382). https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2017.1418288 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2017.1418288
- Talukdar, S. (2020, January 31). CAA protests: winds of change in Assam. The Hindu. https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30544563.ece
- Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760797
- Upstone, S. (2016). Spatial Politics in Post-colonial Novel. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315610283
- Walder, D. (2011). Post-colonial Nostalgias: Writing, Representation and Memory. Routledge.
- Young, R. J. (2016). Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119316817
References
Ashcroft, B. & Ahluwalia, P. (2008). Edward Said. Routledge. http://actv.am/wp-content/uploads/2016/ 09/edwardsaidbio.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203888070
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2013). Post-colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/978023777855
Bardhan, N. & Zhang, B. (2017). A post/decolonial view of race and Identity through the narratives of U.S. international students from the global south. Communication Quarterly, 65 (3), 285-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2016.1237981 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2016.1237981
Barua, S. (2012). Miri Jiyori. Guwahati.
Baruah, S. (2008). Clash of resource use regimes in colonial Assam: a nineteenth century puzzle revisited. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 28(3), (pp. 109-124). https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150108438777 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150108438777
Baruah, S. (2005). Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India. Oxford, New Delhi.
Basu, D. & Das, D. (2020). Assam politics and NRC. Economic and Political Weekly, 2020, 55(5), 61.
Bhaba, H. K. (2012). The Location of Culture. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820551
Bora, M. (2020). Colonial intervention to a new equation of politics in India’s Northeast. Space and Culture, India, 8(1), 198-207. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.799 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.799
Borah, J. (2015). Representation of tribal life of Assam in the Assamese novels: A study with special reference to four novels (Doctoral dissertation, Tezpur University). http://hdl.handle.net/10603/134922
Borah, P. (2012). Reconstructing Identity and ethnic movements in North East India: an analysis on the Mising community. Asian Journal of research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(11), 242-248.
Borah, P. P., Deka, R., & Bhuyan, A. J. (2020). Ethnicity and fragmented identity: diverse forms of identity formation among the Misings of Assam. Asian Ethnicity, 1-24. https://doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1757403 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2020.1757403
Bordoloi, M. (2014). Impact of colonial anthropology on identity politics and conflicts in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly, 49(20), 47-54.
Retrieved July 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stabe/24479707
Burney, S. (2012). Edward Said and post-colonial theory: disjunctured identities and the subaltern voice. Counterpoints, 417, 41-60. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42981699
Chaudhury, B. (2017). Arranging the contradictions: the question of modernity and morality in colonial Assam. International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Literature, 5(11), 229-240. https://doi.org/ssrn.com/abstract=3090267
Das, G. (2012). Identity and underdevelopment: on conflict and peace in developing societies-a case study of Assam in India. Humanities and Social Sciences Review, 1(1), 1-18.
Deka, B. (2020). Assam as a new economic space: colonial annexation in the region and its implications. Space and Culture, India, 8(1), 208-217. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.748 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.748
Dizayi, S. A. H. (2015). The crisis of Identity in post-colonial novel. In INTCESS15-2nd Internation Conference on Education and Social Sciences (pp. 999-1007).
Fishman, J. (1996). Ethnicity as being, doing and knowing. In J. Smith (Eds.) Ethnicity (pp. 63-69). OUP.
Go, J. (2018). Post-colonial possibilities for the sociology of race. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(4), 439-451. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218793982 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218793982
Goswami, U. (2014). Conflict and Reconciliation: The Politics of Ethnicity in Assam. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315734101
Kakoti, B. (1953). Aspects of Early Assamese Literature. Gauhati University.
Kalita, K. (2019, Mar 06). Government not serious of granting ST status to six communities. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/gov-not-serious-of-granting-st-status-to-six-communities/articleshow/68275975.cms
Karmakar, R. (2019, Jan 09). Mixed responses to 6 Assam groups. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/mixed-respose-to-st-status-to-6-assam-groups/article25944596.ece
Konwar, R. (2020, February 02). Himanta Biswa Sarma-led ST panel to hold more meetings. The Telegraph. https://www.thetelegraphindia.com/north-east/himanta-biswa-sarma-led-st-panel-to-hold-more-meetings/cid/1750405
Mahmudah, S., & Munawwar, M. F. (2020). The retention of Arabic language as a national identity in two of Gadah As-samman’s Novels: post-colonial perspective. Humanities and Social Sciences Reviews, 8(3), 955-964. https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8399 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8399
Gandhi, L. (2019). Post-colonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. Columbia University Press.
Mack-Canty, C. (2004). Third-wave feminism and the need to reweave the nature/culture duality. NWSA Journal, 16(3), 154-179. https://doi.10.1353/nwsa.2004.0077 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2004.16.3.154
Medhi, H. (2016). Gender and identity politics: Arupa Patangia Kalita’s Felanee (The Story of Felanee) and Rita Chowdhury’s Ei Samay Sei Samay (Times Now and Then). Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 10(1) (pp. 43-53). https://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/ajell/article/view/773
Medhi, H. (2008). Missionary writing and the self-fashioning of Assamese cultural Identity in colonial India: revisiting the past, understanding the present. In Fraser R. & Hammond M. (Eds.) Books Without Boarders, Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230289130_5
Mishra, T. (2002). Early asamiya novels: new genre, traditional mindset and changing perspectives. In M. Mukherjee (Ed.) Early Novels in India (pp. 6-26). Sahitya Akademi.
Misra, U. (2016). Victory for identity politics, not Hindutva in Assam. Economic and Political Weekly, 55(22). https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/22/2016-state-assembly-elections/victory-identity-politics-not-hindutva-assam.html
Mitra, N. (2016, September 26). Tribal body opposes ST status to six communities of Assam. Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/tribal-body-opposes-st-status-to-six-communities-of-assam/articleshow/54526685.cms
Mtairi, N. (2019). Edward Said: post-colonial discourse and its impact on literature. Education and Linguistic Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5296/elr.v5il.14287 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/elr.v5i1.14287
Nishiyama, H. (2019). Geopolitics of disregard: living a colonial life in Okinawa. Political Geography, 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102042 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2019.102042
Roy, S. K. (2005). Conflicting nations in Northeast India. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(21), 2176-2182. https://www.jstor.org.stable/4416674
Saikia, Y. (2006). Religion, nostalgia, and memory: making an ancient and recent Tai Ahom identity in Assam and Thailand. The Journal of Asian Studies, 65(1), 33-60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00219118060000-52 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911806000052
Sarkowsky, K. & Schulze-Engler, F. (2012). Postcolonial studies. In Middeke, M. and others (Eds.) English and American Studies. J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-00406-2-22 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-00406-2_22
Sarma, P. M., & Goswami, N. (2011). Ethnicity, gender and nationalism in Birendrakumar Bhattacharya’s Yauringam. In S.C. Aikant (Ed.) Summerhill (pp. 56-67). IIAS Shimla.
Sarma, S. (2004). Asomiya Sahityar Samikhatmak Itibitta. Orunodai.
Sengupta, M. (2006). Historiography of the formation of Assamese Identity: a review. Peace and Democracy in South Asia, 2(1/2), 121-134.
Sharma, C. (2019). Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016: continuities and contestations with special reference to politics in Assam, India. Asian Ethnicity, 20(4), 522-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2019.1601993 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2019.1601993
Sharma, J. (2011). Empire’s Garden: Assam and the Making of India. Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394396
Sharma, P. (2016). Identity consciousness and students’ movement: the role of AASU. In Unheeded Hinterland (pp. 147-157). Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315657820-19
Singha, K. (2018). Ethnicity-based movements and state’s response in Assam. Asian Ethnicity, 19(3), (pp. 365-382). https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2017.1418288 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2017.1418288
Talukdar, S. (2020, January 31). CAA protests: winds of change in Assam. The Hindu. https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30544563.ece
Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315760797
Upstone, S. (2016). Spatial Politics in Post-colonial Novel. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315610283
Walder, D. (2011). Post-colonial Nostalgias: Writing, Representation and Memory. Routledge.
Young, R. J. (2016). Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119316817