The Pursuit of Identity:
Ethnolinguistic Echoes in Rashmi Narzary’s His Share of Sky
Dr. Survi Sinha
ABSTRACT
The paper aims to emphasize the significance of
lexical retention of indigenous culture in Rashmi Narzary’s His
Share of Sky and its contribution to children’s literature. An
ethnolinguistic analysis of the narrative accentuates the
representation of marginalized Bodo culture and traditions as
portrayed in the text. The discourse used in the eight short stories
of the book is multi-lingual that breathes life into the portrayal
of ethnic identity of Barsau. Narzary’s use of several Bodo terms
throughout the narrative challenges the traditional writing methods.
Interdiscursivity connotes cultural meaning to the text through an
authentic portrayal of rural Kokrajhar of Assam, India. Visual
semiotics has also been used to analyze the illustrations used in
the narrative that further solidify the bond between the character
and the young readers. The paper focuses on Barsau’s character
development imbibing the wisdom from Indigenous Knowledge System
through socio-cultural paradigms. The symbiotic relationship between
food, fairs, myths, festivals and ecology help in the development of
ecological consciousness of the ten year old Barsau.
Keywords: Ethnolinguistics, Bodo culture, children’s literature,
visual semiotics, ecological consciousness, Indigenous Knowledge
System.
