Redemption of the Naga Historical Consciousness: An Analysis of Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home – Stories from a War Zone

Entangled in the web of national identity, the Northeast has been struggling for sovereignty and ethnic reformation. The dispute between the centre and the ethnocentric movements in the Northeast during and after the British rule is evident in Nagaland’s historical past. The influence of British colonialism and the advent of Christian missionaries reshaped the Naga cultural identity giving rise to plurality and a state of disorientation. Temsula Ao in her collection of short stories “These Hills Called HomeStories from a War Zone” rises above the stereotypical notion about North-eastern literature and its preoccupation with the ideas of violence, terror, bloodshed and homogeneity. She does it by pining for unanimity amidst disintegration through the Naga historical consciousness vibrating with the essence of myths, storytelling and many more. She wishes to reunite the loss Naga identity through their reliance to their ethnic past. Therefore, the paper would highlight the role of the Naga historical consciousness to redeem them from the ongoing turmoil of terror, violence and identity crisis.