Eco-feminist Concerns in Temsula Ao’s Writings

Synopsis submitted to Madurai Kamaraj University for the Award of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH

By C. SARANYA (Reg.No. P4546)

Under the Supervision of Dr. Sheela P. Karthick M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., B.Ed., PGDELT Associate Professor of English The Madura College (Autonomous), Madurai-625011

Madurai Kamaraj University (University with Potential for Excellence) Madurai-625021

December 2018 Eco-feminist Concerns in Temsula Ao’s Writings

- A Synopsis -

Women have vital role in conservation and management of

sustainable eco-system. Since time immemorial women are

traditionally involved in protecting and conserving their

natural resources. If we talk of natural resource management

from a global perspective, whom do we find in the forefront

of the race for protection and preservation of the resources.

The answer comes very naturally, it is the women.

- Mukherjee 4

Nature can be preserved by women effectively. Women have close association with natural resources in day-to-day life. Women’s perspectives about nature are different from men’s perspectives. Women give importance to protect nature by their priority and choice in which men fail. Eco-feminist analysis offers a scope for examining the intricate relationship between women and nature. Hence, the present study focuses on eco-feminist concerns in Temsula Ao’s writings.

Women are the embodiment of human existence who need to be worshipped like Goddess and treated well in the society. Any social construction gives many roles of women such as daughter, , sister

1 and in-law of a family. Apart from performing various roles as a creator of life, a servant maid for her entire family, a care taker for her husband and in-laws, a good teacher for her children within a family they have social responsibilities also.

Nature is the soul of life. It determines the survival of living organisms on earth. It is an inevitable substance for life. This implies the advent of

Ecology in literature. Ecology is defined in such a way that animals, people and other living organisms in the planet are related to each other and with their environment.

Abundance of resources has been existing in nature in the form of rivers, mountains, forests etc. Ecologists feel about nature which has lost its wealth in due course of time. As a result, in order to protect nature ecological writers focus on natural resources in their writings. Hence, the emergence of ecocritical studies in literature.

Eco- is one of the branches of Ecocritical theory. Eco- feminism is a social movement that regards the oppression of women and nature as interconnected with each other. Eco-feminism emerged in 1970s and focus political, ideological and economical issues related to environment and women. In Eco-feminist literature, environmentalism and feminism are interlinked.

2 The term was coined by the French writer, Francoise d’

Eaubonne in her book, Le Feminisme ou la Mort (1974). It was developed by Ynestra King and became a movement in 1980. The first eco-feminist conference--“Women and Life on Earth: Ecofeminism in the 1980’s” was organized at Amherst, Massachusetts, US. Eco-feminist writers argue about the traditional male-centered approaches that involve exploitation and domination and degradation over women which echo in environment.

There are two basic perspectives in eco-feminism. One is, essentialist eco-feminism and another one is, constructionist eco-feminism.

Essentialist eco-feminism believes that there is a connection between women and nature due to the similarities of motherly qualities. The qualities like kindness, caring, affection, wisdom, sympathy and empathy are given only by women and nature. Both are giving birth to life in the earth. Women give birth to child and nature gives birth to trees and plants. Ultimately, both women and nature are considered as creator of life and sources of fertility.

On the other hand, constructionist eco-feminism believes that the connection between women and nature is constructed by society especially the . Women and nature are considered as in ancient times. Later, this image is changed and both of them are

3 degenerated and exploited. The social construction gives power to men to dominate women and nature.

In order to protect women and nature from patriarchal subjugation, eco-feminists organise ecological movements. Ecological movements are led by women in the west as well as in India. The two important western eco-feminist movements are the Love Canal Movement in the U.S and the Greenham Common Movement in Britain. In these two ecological movements women protested against the patriarchy and moved towards the concerns for their children and natural environment. Similarly, in the two Indian ecological movements, the Bishnois and the Chipko

Movement, village women participated and fought for the protection of trees.

Chipko movement is referred to as women’s movement. It shows ecological insight, political and moral strength of women. Vandana

Shiva, an environmental feminist, was a participant of Chipko Movement.

She explains that oppression will continue in the Western worldview because it devalues, what she terms, the feminine principle. In her book,

Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India (1988) Vandana

Shiva writes:

4 The everyday struggles of women for the protection of

nature take place in the cognitive and ethical context of the

categories of the ancient Indian world-view in which nature

is Prakriti, a living and creative process, the feminine

principle from which all life arises. Women’s ecology

movements, as the preservation and recovery of the feminine

principle, arise from a non-gender based ideology of

liberation, different both from the gender-based ideology of

patriarchy which underlies the process of ecological

destruction and women’s subjugation, and the gender-base

responses which have, until recently, been characteristic of

the west. (Introduction xv-xvi)

Temsula Ao (1945- ) is a retired Professor of English in North

Eastern Hill University (NEHU) at Shillong in Meghalaya. She is a winner of Padma Shri (2007) and Governor’s Gold Medal (2009) from the Government of Meghalaya. She has received Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 for her short story collection, Laburnum for My Head (2009).

Ao has so far published five collections, Songs That Tell

(1988), Songs That Try to Say (1922), Songs of Many Moods (1995),

Songs from Here and There (2003) and Songs from the Other Life (2007).

5 These five collections of poems have together been published by Heritage

Publishing House under the title, Book of Songs: Collected Poems 1988-

2007 in the year 2013. Her non-fiction includes a book on Henry James entitled Henry James and the Quest for an Ideal Heroine (1988) and another titled Ao-Naga Oral Tradition (2000). Her first short story collection is These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone (2006) and her next collection is Laburnum for my Head: Stories (2009). She has continued with Once Upon a Life: Burnt Curry and Bloody Rags:

A Memoir (2013), and her recent novel is Aosenla’a Story (2017).

Temsula Ao emphasises the idea that nature and women should be liberated, for they face many failures, disappointments, losses, suppression, and struggle a lot to overcome that through their strong determination. Their determination and longings give strength to fight for their self-identity and recognition.

As a Naga , Temsula Ao has concern for her region and natural circumstances of land, forest, animals, hills, and mountain. She remembers the beauty of nature in the hands of women through her poems. In her short stories, she projects woman as protector of nature safeguarding the whole human habitation by her knowledge. In her writings, Temsula Ao represents women who have the tendencies to

6 protect nature, who encompass with individuality, who are brave enough to fight for their liberation and who have intelligence to secure their men and village by their instinctive knowledge. Thus, Temsula Ao rebuilds the role of women in Ao-Naga society through her writings.

Temsula Ao projects two paradoxical lives of Ao-Naga women in her works that are victors and victims. She also emphasises how ordinary women deal extraordinary situations and how in due course of their life sacrifice and survive among struggle, for the sake of future generation.

The present thesis examines the select works of Temsula Ao’s poetry collection Book of Songs: Collected Poems 1988-2007 and her two short story collections These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone

(2006) and Laburnum for My Head: Stories (2009) from an eco-feminist point of view. Ao’s Book of Songs: Collected Poems 1988-2007 contains

146 poems which deal with the themes of natural elements, human life, old age, loneliness, death, and mythological elements of Ao-Naga community, their culture, tradition and origin and history of Ao-Naga region.

Ao’s These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone (2006) consists of ten short stories namely “The Jungle Major”, “Soaba”, “The

Last Song”, “The Curfew Man”, “The Night”, “The Pot Maker”,

7 “Shadows”, “An Old Man Remembers”, “The Journey”, and “A New

Chapter”. These stories locate Naga territory during the time of Indian

Independence. Naga rebels fought for their liberation from India which has made the place filled with conflicts and insurgency. During these conflicts the major victims are women and children who need to lead their dreadful life. In these ten short stories, Temsula Ao depicts how women emerge though they are being silenced as voiceless, how they tackle their life amidst brutality done by armed forces, how they support financially as a backbone of the family and how they preserve nature and protect environment from the environmental degradation. Most of the women characters in Ao’s stories endure between political and social environment. Consequently, she writes how socio-political circumstances determine the life of Naga women in natural environment as evidenced in her first collection, These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone

(2006).

Ao’s second collection of short stories Laburnum for my Head: Stories

(2009) contains eight beautiful short stories namely, “Laburnum for my

Head”, “Death of a Hunter”, “The Boy who sold an Airfield”, “The

Letter”, “Three Women”, “A Simple Question”, “Sonny” and “Flight”.

With simple descriptions, most of the stories from this collection give a psychological insight of women with the association of nature.

8 “Introduction”, the first of the five chapters in this thesis Eco-feminist

Concerns in Temsula Ao’s Writings gives a glimpse of Indian women writers in general and North-East women writers in particular. It also gives an outline of North-East region which is represented by these regional writers. Then, the chapter focuses on eco-feminist theories and theorists. Later, this chapter introduces the author and the works that are taken for research. It also provides the review of literature on Temsula Ao with thesis chapterisation being briefed.

The second chapter “Ecological and Eco-feminist Rhythms” highlights

Temsula Ao’s select poems from Book of Songs: Collected Poems 1988-

2007, in two aspects, that which are ecological poems and eco-feminist poems. In ecological point of view, there is a rapid ecological disturbance as a result of the destruction of the forest and mountains in North-East region. On the other hand, women who are the primary users of the natural resources should be given recognition, liberation and respect.

These are the main concerns of Temsula Ao in her poems.

Temsula Ao, being an ecological writer represents nature in her poems in two aspects: the power or superiority of nature and the destruction of nature. Whereas the poems like “Garden”, “Lesson of the Mountain” and

“Bonsai” represent the power of nature, the poems “My Hills”, “An Old

9 Tree”, “Distance”, “The Bald Giant” and “History” represent the devastation of nature.

As an eco-feminist writer, Temsula Ao stands for her fellowship with nature and women in the following poems: “Women”, “Requiem”,

“Lament for an Earth”, “Earthquake”, “The Creator”, “Bat-Cloud”, “A

Tiger Women’s Prayer” and “When a Stone Wept”. Besides, she reveals her staunch belief in her ancestry and is proud of her own Ao-Naga community. The ethnic identity of their community is pictured in the following poems: “Stone-People from Lungterok”, “An Old-Story

Teller”, “Man to Woman”, “Woman to Man”, “Soul-Bird”, “The Last

Hunt”, “Nowhere Boatman”, “The Last Hunt” and “Blood of Other

Days”.

The third chapter is titled “Liberation of Women vs Preservation of

Nature”. The nature-women relationship can be explored to a great extent through these stories of Laburnum for my Head: Stories (2009). In the first story, “Laburnum for my Head” Lentina is presented not as parts of nature, but as nature itself. Temsula Ao beautifully writes how Lentina becomes one with nature in the form of laburnum flowers at the end of the story. Through this, Lentina attains liberation from conventional patriarchal society. In, “Death of a Hunter” Temsula Ao projects different

10 kinds of nature-women relationship. This story focuses on ecological degradation which can be controlled by women. Here, Tangchetla gives moral support to her husband and at the same time protects natural resources. “Three Women” narrates the story of a three liberated women,

Martha, Medemla and Lipoktula from the patriarchal convictions. “A

Single Question” shows how a woman rises against the society with her bravery in order to safeguard her husband and the villagers. “Flight” depicts the freedom of women who fight for independence form patriarchy. With these points of view discussed, the stories of Temsula

Ao have strong claims to be studied from an eco-feminist standpoint of liberation of nature and women.

The fourth chapter is “Naga Women as Survivors and Supporters”.

The first story from the collection, These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone (2006) is “The Jungle Major”. This story portrays a typical patriarchal family setup and represents woman’s life through the character Khatila. Khatila is a central character of this story who saves her husband’s life from the government officers. The next story “Soaba” represents Imtila, the wife of an Army officer who remains as a symbol of love, protection and care even though she is affected due to new social environment created by government that indirectly affects the environment at home. The third story, “The Last Song” depicts the

11 protagonist Apenyo, a little , and her mother Libeni as victims of brutality while retaining their cultural identity. The next story, “The

Curfew Man” describes the life of Satemba and Jemtila. As a wife,

Jemtila gives support to her husband in his psychological dilemma. Thus,

Jemtila is identified as a brave woman in this story. “The Night” is the story of an unwed mother’s inner conflict and her position in society.

This story focuses the issues of man-woman relationship and the individuality of women in Ao-Naga society.

The sixth story “The Pot Maker” reflects the life of Ao-Naga people by the depiction of mother-daughter relationship. As a little girl, Sentila’s desire to become a pot maker like her parents comes true after many conflicts and struggles which are described in this story in detail.

“Shadow” is the story which discusses the underground rebels who fight against Indian government for their freedom. This story describes the resources that exist in the forest which helps for the survival of human beings. “An Old Man Remembers” is a story of an old man, named Sashi, who remembers his past life with the company of his friend and wife amidst natural circumstances. “The Journey” is a story of a little girl

Tinula and her experience of journey. This story gives a picture of the journey of human life from innocence to maturity. “A New Chapter” is the last story in this collection which analyses the life of Merenla, a poor

12 widow who suffers a lot to take care of her children by being a single parent. She fights for livelihood though she is affected mentally and economically by new socio-political climate in Nagaland.

The final chapter, “Summing Up” discusses all the findings in the previous chapters in total. The problems and limitations of the study are also analyzed with a statement of the scope for further studies of Temsula

Ao’s writings.

Works Cited

Mukherjee, Ranjeeta. “Eco-feminism: Role of Women in Environmental

Governance and Management.” Galgotias Journal of Legal Studies,

vol.1, no.2, 2014, pp.1-7.

Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India.

Kali for Women, 1988.

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