Volume III Special Issue III March 2023

Name of Author : Thansingla Mungkung

Title of the paper : Oral Narratives in an Ever-Evolving Globalised world: A Critical Study of Memoir in Water: Speaks the Wah Umkhrah

Abstract: The written word was introduced to major indigenous tribal communities of northeast region of India, who thrive solely on oral tradition, during the Colonial period. This has incurred an epistemic violence thereby initiating diverse ramifications, including assaulting unwritten tribal realities or worldviews. Contemporary times, have, however, seen the empire writing back. The imminent nostalgia amongst the indigenous tribal writers felt the need to document and perpetuate oral narratives through the written medium to reclaim, re-present and preserve oral lore. Thus, a new genre of writing has emerged amongst these writers who synthesize oral themes in their fictional works. As Temsula Ao puts it, these writers have blended the elements of oral tradition with their creative imagination and synthesizing the past with the present, these writers are exploring an exciting and derivative literature which is both written and oral at the same time. 107 The aim of this paper is to trace the oral narratives embedded in Esther Syiems debut novel Memoir in Water Speaks the Wah Umkhrah. Further, the significance of its re-presentation will be analyzed.

Keywords : Oral, Written, Indigenous, Epistemic Violence, Re-Presentation

DOI :

Page Number : 90-92