Centring the Adivasi Literature: Becoming and Being

Abstract

This article looks at four instances of Adivasi (indigenous) writing in India. The texts have been selected to centre the various social and political expressions of the Adivasi subjectivity. What is of significance for this article is the complex modes of negotiation between the Adivasi subject and the elements that constitute modernity and development. It would appear that on the one hand, modernity widens the gap between the Adivasi and their social and cultural terrain. On the other hand, the structural discrimination internal to modernity makes it ever evasive towards the Adivasi. This article looks at the specific ways in which each text narrates the composite relationship with the modern. At the same time, this research shapes a conversation between the four writings, often complementing as well as challenging how each makes sense of their place in contemporary society and culture, and defines the unifying elements of the Adivasi experience in India.