5 - Adivasi Women's Resilience in contemporary Jharkhand: Rewriting History Through Memory

This paper examines how Adivasi women recreate the memory of Adivasi heroines by reconstructing their roles in anti-colonial rebellions in the erstwhile Chota Nagpur Division and the district Santhal Parganas of British India, which today forms the state of Jharkhand. It highlights the narratives of Adivasi women as active agents of resistance and memory preservation. Through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates memory and gender studies, the paper explores the multiple ways in which Adivasi women engage in the politics of memory, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of anti-colonial struggles such as the Santal Rebellion of 1855-56. This research aims to recognise the agency of Adivasi women in rewriting themselves in history, challenging the dominant male historical narrative while affirming indigeneity.  In this sense, I analyse the different forms of memorialisation through visual representations - such as memorials in museums and in the urban spaces of towns like Dumka and Gumla - and textual representations by Adivasi women activists in literature and social media posts.