Chapter 10 - Indigenous Naturecultures

Summary

In “Indigenous Naturecultures,” Rayson K. Alex utilizes Ursula K. Heise’s notion of ecocosmopolitanism as a nexus of the local and global to analyze specific place-based understandings of the fluid relationship between nature and culture in the works of Indigenous poets from Northeast India. The chapter includes detailed interpretations of the work of Temsula Ao, Robin Singh Ngangom, Anupama Basumatary, and Mamang Dai in order to explore how Indigenous identity in Northeast India is often forged through the conflict between local and global forces. Drawing on the work of Karen Barad, the chapter suggests that Northeast Indian Indigenous ideas of culture are sacromorphic and rooted in local engagement with nature.