Peripheral Voices in Easterine Kire’s A Terrible Matriarchy and Bitter Wormwood

Abstract

The Northeast of India has hardly received any attention till recent times due to administrative and political negligence by the centre, which has led to the marginalization of the various groups of people residing in the region. Northeast has become one of India’s post-independent others like many other subaltern groups within the nation. Given the history of violence and insurgency from different pockets of the region, the people from mainland India have grossly misunderstood the tribal people of Northeast and have not made any attempt to comprehend their lives and culture. The literature from this region, with a rich history of oral tradition among many diverse communities inhabiting the Northeast, is attempting to become an instrument to depict the experiences of the people and at the same time provide a platform to the dissenting voices from the region. This paper proposes to explore the peripheral voices of the Naga people protesting against the social ills administered by the Centre that have affected their harmonious living in the society. Easterine Kire in her novels A Terrible Matriarchy and Bitter Wormwood exhibits how the Naga people living in the periphery are discriminated by the centre and what impact it has on their lives.