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Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”

Tattoos are important markers of tribal cultural identity. As embodied texts, they not only reflect a worldview but also become repositories of historical and ontological memory. As carriers of traditions, customs, and beliefs, they manifest the collective identity of the people and guide and bind t...

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Main Authors: Sachdeva, Saru, Rani, Rekha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/1/TT%201.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1618
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spelling my-ukm.journal.227252023-12-26T10:14:32Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/ Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand” Sachdeva, Saru Rani, Rekha Tattoos are important markers of tribal cultural identity. As embodied texts, they not only reflect a worldview but also become repositories of historical and ontological memory. As carriers of traditions, customs, and beliefs, they manifest the collective identity of the people and guide and bind them as a community. As such, tattooing or godna acquires a much wider significance than being a mere bodily art. It turns into an aesthetic-narrative entry point into tribal consciousness, cultural worldview, identity and history. In their engagement with their identity, the tribal writers dig deep into their cultural repository to foreground the truth of their being and becoming. In the present paper, an attempt is made to understand the nature of this tribal negotiation of 'tattooing' as a textual metaphorical tradition through a critical study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “Retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand". The paper uses the insights from Raymond Williams's cultural theory to deconstruct and critically analyse the tribal practice of tattooing and its relational dynamics within the tribal society. Using memory as a trope and the concept of collective theory as a theoretical framework, the paper sets out to see how gender and caste/class notions are upheld during the tattooing process. Looking through the tattoo as a significant cultural practice in the tribal world, the paper also exposes the diverse class and caste hierarchies prevalent among tribals. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023-09 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/1/TT%201.pdf Sachdeva, Saru and Rani, Rekha (2023) Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 29 (3). pp. 1-13. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1618
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description Tattoos are important markers of tribal cultural identity. As embodied texts, they not only reflect a worldview but also become repositories of historical and ontological memory. As carriers of traditions, customs, and beliefs, they manifest the collective identity of the people and guide and bind them as a community. As such, tattooing or godna acquires a much wider significance than being a mere bodily art. It turns into an aesthetic-narrative entry point into tribal consciousness, cultural worldview, identity and history. In their engagement with their identity, the tribal writers dig deep into their cultural repository to foreground the truth of their being and becoming. In the present paper, an attempt is made to understand the nature of this tribal negotiation of 'tattooing' as a textual metaphorical tradition through a critical study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “Retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand". The paper uses the insights from Raymond Williams's cultural theory to deconstruct and critically analyse the tribal practice of tattooing and its relational dynamics within the tribal society. Using memory as a trope and the concept of collective theory as a theoretical framework, the paper sets out to see how gender and caste/class notions are upheld during the tattooing process. Looking through the tattoo as a significant cultural practice in the tribal world, the paper also exposes the diverse class and caste hierarchies prevalent among tribals.
format Article
author Sachdeva, Saru
Rani, Rekha
spellingShingle Sachdeva, Saru
Rani, Rekha
Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
author_facet Sachdeva, Saru
Rani, Rekha
author_sort Sachdeva, Saru
title Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
title_short Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
title_full Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
title_fullStr Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
title_full_unstemmed Tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of Sirawon Tulisen Khating’s “retold by Grandma-Yarla’s Tattoos” and Nidhi Dugar Kundalia’s “The Godna Artists of Jharkhand”
title_sort tattoos as body text and tribal identity: a study of sirawon tulisen khating’s “retold by grandma-yarla’s tattoos” and nidhi dugar kundalia’s “the godna artists of jharkhand”
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2023
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/1/TT%201.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22725/
https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1618
_version_ 1787134658839838720
score 13.211869

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