International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences

Vol-7, Issue-4; Jul-Aug, 2022

Journal Home Page Available: https://ijels.com/

Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijels

The Aborigines and The Adivasis: Sharing a Common

Voice; Analyzing Judith Wright’s Bora Ring and
Shanmugam Chettiar’s We are the Adivasis
S Anas Ahmad

Research Scholar, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, India

Email: [email protected]

Received: 25 Jun 2022; Received in revised form: 15 Jul 2022; Accepted: 22 Jul 2022; Available online: 27 Jul 2022
©2022 The Author(s). Published by Infogain Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Abstract— In this paper, we analyze Judith Wright’s poem, “Bora Ring”, and Shanmugam Chettiar’s
poem, “We are the Adivasis”, under the light of postcolonial theory. By using Homi K. Bhabha’s concept
of “mimicry,” we showcase the plight of indigenous communities like the Aborigines of Australia and the
Adivasis of India, communities that fail to identify with the neo-colonial ‘mimic-identity’ and culture have
been thereby relegated as the ‘other’. The plight of both communities shows stark similarities, as is evident
in the analysis of the poems.
Keywords— Aborigines, Adivasi, Mimicry, Mimic-colonization, Mimic-identity, Postcolonialism.

I. INTRODUCTION the population living in rural areas, India is a third-world

The debate between the modern and the traditional has country, and the US, with its 80% urban population, is
been ongoing ever since man started moving into the realm considered a developed one.
of the industrial age. Being modern is considered to be When countries start developing, they exploit the land and
pro-development. Modernity is supposed to simplify the other resources to fuel the engine of development. The
complex and make people's lives easy and comfortable. It development wheel side-lines the interests of the
seeps into everyday practices, beliefs and technology. traditional landholding patterns, including those who live
Traditional as a word is not seen in a very positive sense; if on these lands for survival, the ‘uncivilized and orthodox’
you are traditional or follow the traditional way, you are communities. e.g., the Adivasi in India and Aborigines in
sometimes not considered pro-development. However, Australia.
some communities and cultures still try to preserve their Development is a massive part of a growing nation, but it
traditional sense of being but more often; it’s to showcase is pertinent that the interests of all stakeholders must align
that they have some traditional history and have a sense of with the idea of the said development. The tribal and poor
belonging to the land from which they come. villagers should have shared interests if they are to be
The modern world now lives in metropolises, in included in the mainstream notion of progress. Their
shimmering cities away from the dust of villages. A livelihoods cannot be sacrificed for others. Our
country's index of development is gauged from the governments have, however, profusely refused to help and
percentage of its rural and urban population. “Following provide refuge to these resilient communities, buckling
industrial development, the process of urban-ization is under the pressures of neo-capitalism that conveniently
accelerating at a much faster rate. Urbanization brings relegates the native-traditional as ‘uncivilized’ and
about social and cultural changes in community life, which ‘barbaric’.
also correspond to modernization. (Mondal). With 70% of

IJELS-2022, 7(4), (ISSN: 2456-7620)

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Ahmad The Aborigines and The Adivasis: Sharing a Common Voice; Analyzing Judith Wright’s Bora Ring and
Shanmugam Chettiar’s We are the Adivasis

The Aborigines of Australia and Adivasis of India have mere “slavish imitation” where “the colonized [is]
been exploited since the colonial machinery set their adopting and adapting to the colonizer’s culture”; it is
camps on the shores of the two countries. The British “exaggerated copying of language, culture, manners, and
colonial enterprise has directly or indirectly been ideas. This exaggeration means that mimicry is repetition
instrumental in their displacement. with a difference, and so it is not evidence of the
In the case of Australia, it was the English who, in search colonized’s servitude. (Huddart 39)”. The creation of this
of riches, set up settlements, but as the land was not found mimic-identity was a result of the colonialists’ aspirations
conducive, the continent was used as a penal colony where that find an echo in words of Macaulay’s famous Minutes
convicts were sent as a form of punishment. The of 1835, in which he wanted to create a pool of Indians
indigenous Aboriginal population of Australia was who would be able to serve British interests and be loyal to
displaced to make space for the penal colonies. Since them. This class would be “Indian in blood and colour, but
colonization, Aboriginal people have been internally English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.
displaced from their country. (27).” The engendering of a mimic-self has, however,
created enormous problems. It has been a cause of
The Adivasis of India are tribal groups endemic to
numerous atrocities for those who don’t identify with the
mainland South Asia. They were displaced to clear spaces
culture of “mimicry” that has become mainstream. Neo-
for the colonial industrial expansion. They have suffered
colonial nation-states have tried to ‘reform’ these non-
what the researcher terms mimic – colonization because it
mimic indigenous groups where “We find in multi-ethnic
was the native Indian population that worked as an agent
states a variety of assimilative, integrative and indigenist
for the British imperial system to clear out lands and drive
policies, and instances of ethnocide and even genocide, all
the Adivasis out of their traditional spaces. Critics have
justified in the name of ‘progress’” (Devalle 73). These
long questioned the bracketing of people under labels like
communities suffer from what the researcher terms mimic-
‘tribal’ and ‘Adivasi’, Sussana B.C. Devalle examines the
colonization within their own countries; it can be defined
origins of terms like “adivasi” and “tribal” and calls them a
as second-hand colonization brought about by those who
“construct” and “a colonial category and that it [the
have developed mimic identities. Although “mimicry” is a
category] formed part of the colonial legitimizing
form of resistance, according to Bhabha, and the colonized
ideology. (71)”
use it as a medium to ridicule the colonizers' narrative, in
The literature of both the countries has questioned the doing so, they imbibe certain traits and features of the
conscience of the nation-states and championed the cause alleged superior culture of the colonizer, developing a
of Adivasis and Aborigines. The poems of Judith Wright mimic-identity. When the first order colonized mimic-
from Australia and Shanmugam Chettiar from India identity bearers come across a native-traditional within
provide a glimpse into the problems faced by the their lands, they see them as ‘inferior’ and ‘uncivilized’,
indigenous populations. and they try to push the practice of “mimicry” as their
In this paper, we analyze Bora Ring of Wright and We are form of a civilizing mission. The traditional native resists
the Adivasis of Chettiar to show how these indigenous this kind of forced mimicry and is therefore seen as a
groups separated by culture, language, and continents threat. The mimic-identity ultimately becomes a source for
share a common voice. this second-hand colonization of the traditional-native,
defined as mimic-colonization.

II. “MIMICRY” and MIMIC-COLONIZATION

III. JUDITH WRIGHT & SHANMUGAM
Today, when both India and Australia are sovereign
CHETTIAR
countries with their constitution, rights for people and
ideals of democracy, the Aborigines and the Adivasis still Judith Arundell Wright was an Australian poet,
face a multitude of problems and issues. The Adivasis of environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land
India and the Aborigines of Australia bear the brunt of rights. Her poems deal with the relationship between
being considered the ‘other’, the ‘traditional’ and are settlers and Indigenous Australians and their correlations
relegated as outcasts. The colonial experience has with the ecology of the land.
significantly impacted the minds of the people who now Wright responded to her knowledge of her ancestors being
find themselves attached to the perceived refined culture of responsible for the destruction of the indigenous
the English. They imitate the lifestyle of their colonizers in population, their resources and disturbances in the overall
a practice that Homi K. Bhabha refers to as “mimicry”. ecological balances that the settlers had created. She felt
Bhabha’s conception of “mimicry” is, however, not only responsible in part for the atrocities that had been

IJELS-2022, 7(4), (ISSN: 2456-7620)

https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.74.15 101
Ahmad The Aborigines and The Adivasis: Sharing a Common Voice; Analyzing Judith Wright’s Bora Ring and
Shanmugam Chettiar’s We are the Adivasis

committed. “[She] acknowledged that her ancestors had In the poem Bora Ring, Judith Wright shows the condition
not entered simply as pioneers settling on uninhabited of the land of Australia after its native inhabitant
wilderness but as conquerors invading a lived-in territory. aboriginal population has been wiped out:
(Walia 92)” Her poems showcase empathy toward the The song is gone; the dance
original inhabitants, repentance and guilt for the wrongs
is secret with the dancers in the earth,
her ancestors inflicted on the population, and a sense of
hope that one day there might come about a reconciliation the ritual useless, and the tribal story
between the two communities. In one of her poems, she lost in an alien tale. (“Bora Ring,” 1-4)
writes:
The lines ‘the song is gone’ and ‘the hunter is gone’
Our people who gnawed at the fringe symbolize a sense of loss. There is a lamentation over the
---------- loss of cultural identity. A parallel rhythm of ideas runs in
both poems pursuing the impact of the loss of tribal culture
Left you a margin of action, a rural security,
from the perspective of nature. Wright contrasts the
and left to me artificial "spear" and "painted bodies" in Bora Ring with
what serves as a base for poetry, the "grass" and "apple-gums" that are found in nature. The
a doubtful song that has a dying fall. (“For the "song" and "dance" of line one, as works of art that aim to
Pastoral Family,” 17-22) represent nature, also take on a natural quality in contrast
to the human labels of "hunter" and "nomad feet." In
Her poems can be read as one of the fertile grounds from
Wright's work, the Aborigines depicted by nature lament
which eco-criticism in Australia germinated. They can also
the extinction of their way of life and religion. Being "lost
be read in a postcolonial sense because the subjects of her
in an alien narrative" alludes to how Western society
poems are not only questions of ecology but also of
struggles to comprehend the Aboriginal culture and
identity and subjugation.
distorts it into a source of fear and evil. The caricature of
In the poem, Bora Ring, first published in 1946 in the primitive people with "painted bodies" and "nomadic feet"
collection with the same title, Judith Wright shows highlights the preconceptions of Western civilization.
Australia's land's condition after its native inhabitant Other than its own Christian notion of civilization, it is
aboriginal population has been wiped out. unable to comprehend another culture.
The plight of the loss of land of the natives has also been The poem We are the Adivasis discusses a similar situation
taken up in poems of regional literature of India. where the Adivasis lament their land being taken over by
Shanmugam Chettiar, a resident of Tamil Nadu, is a the ‘aryans’. Shanmugam Chettiar also depicts how
prolific writer. He has taken up a multitude of issues in his “Hindu Aryans” and “Christian intruders”, or the British
poems. Almost all his poems are short, sharp and who considered the Adivasis uncivilized, came intending
telegraphic. In his poem We are the Adivasis; he explores to civilize them. It diluted their values and cultures.
the issue of Adivasi rights. The poem is narrated from the Chettiar writes,
point of view of an Adivasi who laments the loss of land,
We are the adivasis
identity and his culture; the questions of who are the
original inhabitants of the land and who are the invaders Who by Hindu Aryans
are central to the understanding of the poem. Were polluted
And by Christian intruders
IV. ANALYSIS Were diluted in our values and principle (“We are
The plight of the loss of land of the natives has been taken the Adivasis,” 35 - 40)
up in literature both in India and Australia. Many poems Chettiar clearly outlines the colonization of the original
voice the horrors, concerns, and future outlooks of these inhabitants at the hands of the “Hindu Aryans” and
marginalized communities, which have borne the brunt of “Christian intruders”. The Aryans came much before the
development and modernism. An analysis of two particular imperial machinery started working in India; they
poems brings forth a search for identity amongst the displaced the land's original inhabitants. Thereafter, the
natives who feel lost in their own land amidst the mad race British East India Company colonized the land, and the
of development. The question of who were the colonized Adivasis, already bearing the brunt of being considered the
and who were the colonizers become indefinite as the lines ‘other’, came under second-order colonization.
between the ‘traditional-other’ and the ‘modern-self’
become vague and blurry.

IJELS-2022, 7(4), (ISSN: 2456-7620)

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Ahmad The Aborigines and The Adivasis: Sharing a Common Voice; Analyzing Judith Wright’s Bora Ring and
Shanmugam Chettiar’s We are the Adivasis

Wright in Bora Ring also tries to showcase the condition V. CONCLUSION

of the land when the original dwellers are wiped out. What In both poems, the poets succinctly showcase the plight of
remains are remanent of their culture and life, symbolic of the indigenous inhabitants who are being exploited at the
loss and mourning, hands of the colonizers who, to civilize the colonized, have
The hunter is gone; the spear wiped out their cultural and individual identity. The
is splintered underground; the painted bodies colonized, however, want to restore their cultural beliefs
and values from the mimic culture established by the
a dream the world breathed sleeping and forgot.
colonizers. There is also a fine line between who was the
The nomad feet are still. (“Bora Ring,” 9 - 12) first colonizer and who was the colonized on a temporal
The use of the words “gone”, “splintered”, “sleeping”, scale. The poem We are the Adivasis treats the Aryans as
“forgot”, and “still”, etc., remind us time and again that the original colonizer. In contrast, the poem Bora Ring
there used to be a self-sustaining civilization. This depicts the arrival of the Europeans on the Australian
civilization was progressive, albeit not in the eyes of the shorelines as the start of colonialism in their respective
invaders, but they had their own values and belief system lands. Thus, the concept of a postcolonial era is also called
that was conveniently destroyed. into question as it is evident that colonialism is still an
ongoing process. It changes forms, nature, and names into
In contrast to Western civilization, Wright values nature
etymological categories such as neo-colonialism. Bhabha’s
and the perspectives of the Aboriginal people. She
concept of “mimicry” also helps understand how the
questions the Christian invaders because she perceives a
colonized resist the colonizer’s attempts to assimilate them
meaningful religious harmony in the spirit of the
by mocking the alleged superior culture. Still, when the
Aboriginal people. Wright pays homage to a long-gone
colonized come across a non-mimic indigenous
culture by revealing the sin of Western civilization while
population, they try to colonize that particular group
also making the reader reevaluate their ideas about human
through what the researcher has termed mimic-
nature.
colonization. The similarities in both these poems portray
Chettiar, on the other hand, discusses the plight of the lament over the loss of identity of the inhabitants and their
Adivasis. They were devoid of their individual and cultural determination to bring back their lost culture by reflecting
identity but are determined now to overthrow the ‘Aryan on the past in both India and Australia.
chauvinism’ and ‘undo the wrongs’ that these intruders
have done to them. They want their ‘thrones’ which were
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