Teaching Literature through Local Narratives in Assam: Cultural Memory, Linguistic Diversity, and Critical Interpretation in Undergraduate Education
Ramyabrata Chakraborty *
Department of English, Srikishan Sarda College, Hailakandi, Assam, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In linguistically diverse higher-education contexts, locally circulating stories offer opportunities for literary interpretation that connect form, historical memory, and students’ linguistic resources. This conceptual and interpretative article develops a four-stage pedagogical framework using illustrative materials associated with Assam: the Assamese folktale “Tejimola” as collected and retold in Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s Burhi Aair Sadhu, three Barak Valley Bengali short stories examined in Priya Paul’s published criticism, and oral poetic practices associated with the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War as discussed by Sushrita Acharjee. The analysis differentiates a publicly accessible Assamese text from narratives encountered through secondary scholarship rather than treating these sources as equally direct evidence. Culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy, transactional reading, and critical pedagogy guide contextual grounding, close reading, comparative interpretation, and evidence-based reflective argument. A comparison of recurring self-identification in “Tejimola” with the mediated visibility of a vulnerable girl in Paul’s account of “Ettarbanu and Mass Media” illustrates a possible teaching question about narrative voice and public recognition. The proposed sequence specifies source checking, translation practices, learning artefacts, and formative assessment criteria. It is intended as a model for curriculum design, not evidence that these materials improve measured learning outcomes.
Keywords: Assamese literature, Barak valley, culturally sustaining pedagogy, literary education, narrative voice, Sylheti oral poetry, cultural memory