NARRATIVE DOUBLE-CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE RE-SCRIPTING OF INDIGENOUS MEMORY IN MAMANG DAIS THE LEGENDS OF PENSAM
International Journal of Advanced Research February 28, 2026 Akanksha Rai, Shiv Govind Puri
Mamang Dai's literary work 'The Legends of Pensam' navigates the space between tradition and modernity in indigenous Adi communities of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. Rather than choosing between Western historiography and indigenous orality, the narrator operates in a state of Narrative Double Consciousness. Dai employs three tactics to re-script indigenous memory: language oscillation, narrative double-consciousness, and temporal hybridity. Her work moves between the sincerity of ancestors and the broken reality of a globalized world, differing from postmodern irony and modernist totalization. Through recurring natural imagery, she captures the spiritual connection between land and people, highlighting storytelling's role in preserving culture amid changing times.