Can The Indigenous Speak? – A Critical Enquiry on the Emergence of Indigenous Self/I in Indian and Bangladeshi Narratives

The article endeavours to discover whether the indigenous self/I can speak with authority, encountering limited access to the mainstream and national narratives/literatures of India and Bangladesh. The mainstream narrative dominates the national narrative. Both mainstream and indigenous writers/novelists are struggling to construct the indigenous hero as self/I and the indigenous story against the mainstream narrative’s stereotyped portrayal of the indigenous subject with a voiceless existence. They are fighting against the hierarchical structure of the mainstream/national narrative’s meaning-producing process to construct the specific discourse, multifaceted ideological domain, and hegemonic culture. The attempt to reposition the indigenous subject from other/otherness/periphery to the self/I/centre instigates a debate over the possibility and procedure of raising the indigenous voice. Initially, this article will search for the indigenous position in the mainstream novels by examining the mainstream Indian English novels – Kamala Markandaya’s The Copper Dams, Arun Joshi’s The Strange Case of Billy Biswas, and Gita Mehta’s The River Sutra, and the mainstream Bengali novels – Salina Hossain’s Parttavumir Pothe Prantare and Rokeya Lita’s Dumurer Phul. After that, it will then scrutinize the success range and obstacles of emerging the indigenous self/I by exploring Indian mainstream Bengali novels Mahasweta Devi’s Arannar Adhikar and Chotti Munda Ebong Tar Tir, Prafulla Roy’s Purbaparbati and Indian Malayarayar novel Narayan’s Kocharethi, and Bangladeshi Chakma novels K. V. Debashis Chakma’s Mui Mottei and Bipom Chakma’s Grahon Laga Vor. Finally, it will examine the measures by which both Indian and Bangladeshi novelists can construct an indigenous voice through a powerful indigenous self/I and authority.