Adivasi communities have been spoken of using the language of policy, anthropology and development, often by those who do not share their realities. Now, however, young Adivasi writers are reclaiming the right to narrate their own histories, philosophies and futures. Among the most influential voices in this movement is Jacinta Kerketta, whose poetry, journalism and essays bear witness to the intimate relationship between memory, land, language and resistance. Her work challenges dominant narratives while affirming Adivasi ways of knowing as living and evolving traditions.
In a conversation with Scroll, Kerketta reflected on memory as an indigenous archive, the ethics of writing from within the community, the politics of language and translation, women’s role in sustaining collective memory, and more. Excerpts from the interview:
Across your poetry collections, from Angor to Jadon Ki Zameen and Ishwar Aur Bazaar to Prem Mein Ped Hona, memory often appears not as an individual possession but as something held collectively by land, rivers, forests and communities. As an Adivasi writer, how do you understand memory? Is memory itself an indigenous archive?
For a long time, Adivasis preserved their memories solely through oral traditions, in the form of songs and folktales. When books were written later, it was these orally expressed memories that were recorded in them. Viewed in this...