Feminist Consciousness in Contemporary Writings of Naga women: An analysis of ‘The Many That I Am’ by Anungla Zoe Longkumer

Name of Author : Shirley Mathew

Abstract: Naga society has always been a patriarchal, patrilocal and patrilineal society even in modern times. Despite considerable progress in the field of education, especially in the urban areas, power positions, both in the home and the community, are held by men. Sons inherit the family land and carry forward family names. The female indigene is located on the farthermost margins of a society fraught with violence and a patriarchal hegemony perpetrated through customary laws. She is conditioned to be docile, passive and submissive to male authority. However, the contemporary Naga woman struggles with the dichotomous roles of being a submissive wife and a breadwinner at the same time; fending for a living as most men succumb to the insidious modern-day effects of violence, drugs and alcoholism. In ‘The Many That I Am’, filmmaker and writer Anungla Zoe Longkumer has compiled a set of stories, poems, first-person narratives and visuals that encompasses the experiences and struggles of the modern-day Naga women; from a peasant to a college going woman. Through this work, this paper intends to study the emergence of a feminist consciousness in women’s writing in Nagaland.

Keywords : Indigenous, Patriarchal, Feminist Consciousness, Female Indigene, Contemporary Naga Women, Anungla Zoe Longkumer

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