2 - Unpacking the discourse on collectivity and subjectivity in Adivasi Hindi literature through the writings of Jacinta Kerketta and Nirmala Putul

In this paper I introduce two Adivasi Hindi writers discussing their intersectional identity as women belonging to the ‘indigenous’ or ‘tribal’ populations of India in contemporary India. Nirmala Putul (born 1972) hails from a family of Santali Adivasis and writes both in her native language and in Hindi. She works as a nurse and had published her first poetic anthology in Hindi in 2004. Her musical poetry, rich in images taken from the forest, questions notions such as “development” and “progress.” Jacinta Kerketta (born 1983) is a poet and journalist from Jharkhand, who published her first poem collection in Hindi in 2016, where she expresses the pain and anger of Adivasi societies, together with a discussion on the status of Adivasi women. I will discuss their poetic production within the framework of the discourse about collectivity and individuality in Adivasi literature.