Carving a Niche: An Interview with Temsula Ao

Abstract

Temsula Ao is an important literary voice and one among the first few contemporary women writers from Nagaland. Her works have made a significant impact on the young emerging Naga writers by allowing them to recognize, identify and acknowledge writing about one’s own place and people. This is important given the long history of stereotypical representation of the region and its people by mainstream popular media. In this interview, Ao discusses the social, political milieu of Nagaland, the oral storytelling tradition and the unique writing style that the writers from the region deploy in their works. The conversation primarily centers on her debut collection of short fiction These Hills Called Home which is a seminal text that chronicles the political history of the state of Nagaland. By writing about one of the most tumultuous periods of Naga political history of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Ao underscores the reductive representation of Naga history and debunks the disproportionate focus on the tropes of conflict and violence that overshadows the Indigenous aesthetics that are an integral part of the Naga people lives. The interview includes an extensive introduction to Ao’s literary contribution and a discussion on scholarships from the North-East.