Decolonizing and Worlding through Folklore Retold in Easterine Kire’s Literature
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Abstract
This article aims to understand the ecological wisdom of Nagas through Easterine Kire’s literature. Her literatures retell the stories of the Naga oral traditions. Kire's literature focuses on counteracting colonial legacy, including finding alternatives to the nationalist concept that came with Christianity. Kire brings to life the myths of Naga to retell the social connections and worlds of Nagas and the interconnected nature of human and non-human beings. The article argues that Kire's literature returns to the question of the Naga world, the state of existence that the Nagas share, which includes both human and non-human beings. Kire’s narrative rejects the view that the "world" exists as a fixed and immutable existence. But the world is a process that is constantly worldling in the interrelationships of things. In this sense, the Naga's ecological wisdom is not only the arrangement between oneself and the world, but it can also be a political force as a manifestation of opposition to the limit of the Western concept of personhood. Thus, these new narratives did not merely serve to liberate the Naga people from Indian nationalism and British colonialism but also opened up spaces to think and imagine liberating India from its colonial legacy. Accordingly, Kire's literature is a process of decolonial investigations to highlight the constraints and dominance of colonialism and nationalism, along with offering a solution that returns to the Naga's ecological wisdom.
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References
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