Mapping Ethnic Conflict and the Fluidity of Indigenous Identity in Arupa Patangia Kalita’s The Story of Felanee

Abstract

Questions of indigeneity, identity, and ethnic conflict are essential to the socio-political history of Northeast India, where cultural plurality often overlaps with disputes regarding land, language, and cultural identity. Arupa Patangia Kalita’s The Story of Felanee (2011) provides a compelling literary depiction of this turmoil through the experiences of a woman born amidst the violent upheavals of the Assamese language movement. The paper explores how Kalita’s novel presents ethnic identity as unstable, layered, and shaped by historical realities rather than a static cultural core. This research study utilises theoretical perspectives from Stuart Hall, Frantz Fanon, and other postcolonial theorists to analyse how insider-outsider discourse, linguistic politics, and cultural symbols delineate and regulate ethnic boundaries in Assam. The research illustrates through meticulous textual analysis that Felanee’s mixed heritage—Assamese, Bodo, and Bengali—subverts the concept of racial purity that drives political unrest. The narrative illustrates the human toll of ethnic mobilisation through displacement, dehumanisation, and disrupted communal relations. Simultaneously, Kalita’s work provides a profound humanistic critique of exclusionary nationalism by highlighting common human connections that transcend rigid ethnic divisions. The present study locates the text in the context of the Assam Movement. It demonstrates how literature serves as a valuable tool for understanding the lived experiences underlying identity-based conflicts in Northeast India.