An Intersectional Approach to Gender in the Select Short Stories of Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone

Ms. L. Priyadharshini; Dr. B. Padmanabhan

Ms. L. Priyadharshini
Dr. B. Padmanabhan

Abstract

The conceptualisation of examining the layers of multiple societal identities, behaviors and social meanings associated with men, women, or transgender binds to construct the entity “gender”. Gendered stereotypes are socialized across cultures thus, inducing subjugations and oppressions at various levels of the society. The primary objective of the paper is to investigate the chosen literary text with different aspects of intersectionality, under the perspective of gendered subalternity, experienced by the female characters of Naga tribes portrayed in the work. Further, the article interprets the horrendous turmoil of gendered marginalisation and discrimination imposed by the authoritative bureaucrats of the nation state through physical abuses and social customary laws against tribal women. The ways that the patriarchal view and the prevalence of unbalanced power relations in the society shatter the intersectional identities of tribal women are discussed in detail. Temsula Ao’s short stories “The Last Song” and “The Night” from the collection These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone are chosen to construe with the thematic notions of intersectionality.

Keywords: Gender, intersectionality, Naga tribal women, gendered subalternity, power relations.

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Author Biographies

Ms. L. Priyadharshini

Ms. L. Priyadharshini is a doctoral scholar in the Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu. Her area of specialization is Indian Indigenous Studies (Northeast Literature). Also cleared the Nation Eligibility Test conducted by UGC on December 2018 and June 2019.

Dr. B. Padmanabhan

Dr. B. Padmanabhan is currently serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Foreign Languages, Bharathiar University from 2011, teaching post graduate students and doing research in cognitive literary studies. His other research interests are ethnic and area studies, theatre of absurd, post-colonial and subaltern studies and digital humanities.

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