A Presentation of the Role of Women through Food in the Select Novels of Kire and Dai

Abstract

This paper will analyse and examine a study of ethnicity and memory in terms of food as reflected in the select fictions of Easterine Kire and Mamang Dai, two well-known writers from North east of India. Food invariably plays an important role in signifying one’s race, ethnicity, gender, identity and culture. The tribal women of the north east have a wide range of knowledge regarding ethnic food habits which is highlighted in this paper. The womenfolk receive more respect in terms of food in the community because being the dwellers of the periphery the menfolk go for hunting to provide nutritious food of the flesh of wild animals.  If we trace back during NEPA days in Arunachal Pradesh, the conflict between tribes was very much common. Thus, the women of the house work as equal as men to run the families and most pathetically women have to give birth during their harvest in the paddy fields. Therefore, food is a marker of existence and ethnicity in the tribal society of the north east India. It also highlights the various conflict between the British and the NEFA tribes and how secluded the tribes were in the post-independence India.