Hegemony, Power Structure and Tribal Resistance: A Subaltern Geopolitics View on Mahasweta Devi’s Chotti Munda and His Arrow (2018)

Abstract

Subaltern studies address postcolonial notions, binary oppositions, and power structures, enabling us to perceive history from an oppressed perspective. Similarly, subaltern geopolitics challenges the traditional narratives that often present the interest of the dominant community and omit the marginalised history. It provides perspectives of the dominant group with geographical imaginaries. This article aims to trace hegemony and power structures with geographical imaginaries through the theoretical framework of subaltern geopolitics in Mahaswetha Devi’s Chotti Munda and his Arrow (2018), translated by Gayatri Chakravarti Spivak. Munda tribes are connected to the land, and the acquisition of land played a pivotal role in the domination and subjugation of the natives. With the subaltern geopolitics, the process of imperialism against the Tribal community during and after the colonisation is studied. Through the lens of hegemony, the cultural exploitation of tribal communities is analysed. It also focuses on the power structure in terms of political and economic structures and elucidates the resistance of the Munda tribal community. The paper identifies three hegemonic power structures that existed during the colonial period, after the colonial period, and in the contemporary period. The article investigates the power structures imposed on Munda tribes through the ownership of the lands and the tribes’ resistance, irrespective of government. The paper brings out the significance of resistance and the importance of land in the lives of tribal people. It concludes that resistance against the authorities is the only means of their survival.

Keywords

• Power Structures
• Hegemony
• Subaltern Geopolitics
• Tribes
• Munda
• Resistance