Women, environment and armed conflicts in Assam: literature as witness

Abstract

ABSTRACT Women, especially in the Indigenous and ethnic communities of Assam and Northeast India, have shared an intricate relationship with nature. This relationship was disrupted by the human-made conflicts that ravaged the region for decades. Not only did these conflicts – ethno-nationalist in nature, for the most part – victimize women directly by subjecting them to violence and taking away their agency, but they also indirectly impacted them by adversely affecting the environment. This article examines the relationship between conflict-induced environmental degradation and its impact on women by analyzing its representation in literary texts like Felanee and Mayabritta. These texts, written by women writers, depict the ecological disasters that have afflicted the state of Assam as a result of armed conflict and situate their women characters at the centre of these disasters. By examining these novels as literature of witness, the article argues for a gender-sensitive approach to conflict management.