Transnational Recognition of the Indigenous Culture and Literature in a Global Society (South Asia and Beyond)

Abstract

Transnational, though often been associated with border – crossing, either through Diasporic literature or through translation, can also be looked upon as a set of issues which cross the political borders of the nation and is significant in the Indigenous Culture and Literature in a global society. 

The rights of indigenous peoples have, over the past three decades, become an important component of international law and policy, as a result of a movement driven by indigenous peoples, civil society, international mechanisms and States at the domestic, regional and international levels. It was the result of decades of negotiation between States and indigenous peoples, coming together in a spirit of partnership to endorse the Indigenous Declaration. It applies human rights to indigenous peoples and their specific situations, thereby helping to reverse their historical exclusion from the international legal system. (UN Human Rights)

This paper considers few such issues reflected in the indigenous culture and literature of the communities spread over in global society which includeTribals in India, First Nations in Canada, Indigenous in the United States, Aborigines in Australia, Maori in New Zealand and indigenous people in the discourse of Human rights and Adivasis in the terminology of Asian activists . Now, in political context they are being described as belonging to “the Fourth World category of literature”. It will be argued that it would be simplistic to perceive them as divergent victim groups of any shared epochal phenomenon such as colonialism, imperialism, modernity or globalisation. This paper will analyse the Indigenous Culture and Literature of the South Asia in the context of related countries with a view to engage in an interesting exploration of the current socio – political, ecological and economic situation faced by them.