LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:7 July 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2015
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Gender Politics & Discrimination in Post-Colonial
Nagaland with Special Reference to Easterine Kire’s
A Terrible Matriarchy

Ms. Subhra Roy, M.A., B.Ed, NET, SET

A Terrible Matriarchy

Abstract

Easterine Kire’s A Terrible Matriarchy, a girl’s coming of age story , revolves around three generations of Naga women : Grandmother, Mother and Dielieno the protagonist. Grandmother Vibano has gained a respectable status of a matriarch by serving the menfolk of her clan. She takes charge of her five-year old granddaughter Dielieno to prune her confident and inquisitive nature into a hardworking and docile one , so that she can be a dutiful wife in future. Grandmother continues to shower extra perks on her grandsons while Dielieno continues to remain the “little errand girl” who has to toil long hours doing household chores to impress the Granddame. In the course of the novel it gets revealed that the males-only inheritance system is the only reason behind Grandmother’s biased behaviour. However , economic insecurity is one of the factors and causes behind the suppression of the Naga women. There are other subtle socio-political factors as well.

In this article I would try to fathom the mechanism of patriarchy which gets an impetus during the colonial and postcolonial era . The Battle of Kohima and the Indo-Naga conflict left the women of Nagaland more vulnerable than before. Naga women live in double jeopardy - they belong to the male-dominated Naga society which is trying hard to fit in the garb of Indian nationhood; post-colonial identity crisis is gnawing away its entire being. This article would highlight the socio-political conditions that strengthen the matrix of patriarchy and increase the sufferings of Naga women who, as the patriarchal matriarchs of the society, unwittingly contribute to their own exploitation.

Keywords: Matriarch, Matrix of patriarchy, Battle of Kohima, Indo-Naga conflict, Double jeopardy.

Easterine Kire Iralu

Easterine Kire
Courtesy: http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Easterine_Kire_Angami

Easterine Kire Iralu is a prolific writer from Nagaland who has tried her hands in poetry and novels, and in children’s books as well. Her works have been translated into various languages including German, Croatian , Uzbek, Norwegian and Nepali. She has to her credit four English novels in which the vibrant Naga culture with its fascinating folklores and traditions has been brought forth. Along with the rich culture of Nagaland there exist the unpleasant realities of Naga life and its complexities around the colonial atrocities and discrimination.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Subhra Roy

Ms. Subhra Roy. M.A., B.Ed., NET, SET
Research Scholar
Department of English
Tripura University (A Central University)
Suryamaninagar 799022
Tripura
India
suvizimu@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.