This study hopes to contribute to a process of storying, listening, and sharing counter-narratives of Adivasi and Denotified Tribal authors at Muskaan in Bhopal, India. Further on, it hopes to highlight the creative and resilient ways in which the authors engage in the process of composing to assert, imagine, and reconstruct their sense of selves in the world. A hegemonic representation marked by narratives of disparagement, hopelessness, and trauma leaves out what composes the complex personhood and wholesomeness of lives led by Adivasi and Denotified Tribal youth in India. However, in my collaborations with the youth, this study provides a witness to the creative and resilient ways in which the youth engage in the process of composing to assert, imagine, and reconstruct their sense of selves in the world. I draw upon sociocultural literacies, critical literacies, and Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies to assert that it is our political commitment as literacies researchers/educators to pursue nuanced narratives of the complex lives of Adivasi and Denotified Tribal youth, narratives which are unfortunately often silenced in school spaces.
AhearnL. M. (2017). Living language: An introduction to linguistic anthropology, second edition. Blackwell.
3.
AnzaldúaG.MoragaC. (Eds.). (1981). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color. SUNY Press.
4.
ArchibaldJ. (2008). Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit. UBC Press.
5.
Baker-BellA. (2020). Linguistic justice: Black language, literacy, identity, and pedagogy. Routledge.
6.
BakhtinM. M. (1981). Discourse in the novel. In HolquistM. (Ed.), The dialogic imagination: Four essays (pp. 259–422). University of Texas Press.
7.
BaviskarA. (2006). The politics of being “indigenous”. In XaxaG. C. (Ed.), Indigeneity in India (pp. 33–49). Routledge.
8.
BishopR. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), ix–xi.https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
9.
BodhiS. R. (2022). Tribal studies in India: Pre and post Xaxa. Journal of Tribal Intellectual Collective India, 6(1), 70–89. https://doi.org/https://www.ticijournals.org/tribal-studies-in-india-pre-and-post-xaxa/
10.
BrayboyB. M. J. (2013). Tribal critical race theory: An origin story and future directions. In Handbook of critical race theory in education (pp. 108–120). Routledge.
BrayboyB. M. J. (2021). Tribal critical race theory: An origin story and future directions. In LynnM.DixsonA. D. (Eds.), Handbook of critical race theory in education (pp. 191–202). Routledge.
CisnerosN. A. (2022). Indigenous girls write, right!? unsettling urban literacies with indigenous writing pedagogies. Urban Education, 57(10), 1757–1783. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859211003933
15.
ColeM.John-SteinerV.ScribnerS.SoubermanE. (1978). Mind in society. Harvard University Press.
16.
CollinsJ. (1995). Literacy and literacies. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), 75–93. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2155930
17.
DelpitL. D. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. The New Press.
18.
DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S.SmithL. T. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of critical and Indigenous methodologies. Sage Publications.
19.
DevyG. N. (2021). Introduction. In XaxaA.DevyG. N. (Eds.), Being Adivasi: Existence, entitlements, exclusion. Penguin Random House India Private Limited.
20.
DutroE. (2009). Children’s testimony and the necessity of critical witness in urban classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 48(3), 231–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840902997519
21.
DutroE. (2013). Towards a pedagogy of the incomprehensible: Trauma and the imperative of critical witness in literacy classrooms. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8(4), 301–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2013.829280
22.
DysonA. H. (1993). Negotiating a permeable curriculum: On literacy, diversity, and the interplay of children’s and teachers’ worlds (Concept Paper No. 9).
23.
DysonA. H. (2003). The Brothers and sisters learn to write: Popular literacies in childhood and school cultures. Teachers College Press.
24.
DysonA. H. (Ed.). (2016). Child cultures, schooling, and literacy: Global perspectives on composing unique lives. Routledge.
25.
DysonA. H.GenishiC. (2005). On the case. Teachers College Press.
26.
FreireP. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). Continuum. (Original work published 1970; 2007 edition).
27.
FreireP.MacedoD. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Routledge.
28.
GarciaJ.ShirleyV. (2013). Performing decolonization: Lessons learned from indigenous youth, teachers and leaders’ engagement with critical indigenous pedagogy. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 28(2), 76–91. https://doi.org/10.63997/jct.v28i2.366
29.
GrandeS. (2008). Red pedagogy: The un-methodology. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S.SmithL. T. (Eds.), Handbook of critical and indigenous methodologies (pp. 233–254). Sage Publications.
30.
HymesD. (1972). Introduction. In CazdenC. B.HymesD.JohnV. P. (Eds.), Functions of language in the classroom (xi–lvii). Teachers College Press.
KinlochV.San PedroT. (2014). The space between listening and storying: Foundations for projects in humanization. In ParisD.WinnM. T. (Eds.), Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities (pp. 21–42). Sage Publications.
37.
LeeT. S.McCartyT. L. (2017). Upholding indigenous education sovereignty through critical culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy. In ParisD.AlimH. S. (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world (pp. 61–82). Teachers College Press.
38.
LomawaimaK. T.McCartyT. L. (2006). To remain an Indian": Lessons in democracy from a century of Native American education. Teachers College Press.
39.
LordeA. (1984). The transformation of silence into language and action. In MoragaC.AnzaldúaG. (Eds.), This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color (pp. 40–44). Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
40.
LoveB. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.
LukensR. J.SmithJ. J.CoffelC. M. (2013). A critical handbook of children’s literature (9th ed.). Pearson.
43.
MasseyD. (2005). For space. Sage Publications.
44.
MattosA. M.deA.FestinoC. G. (2021). Memory, postmemory and the role of narratives among women writers from the adivasi communities of goa. Revista IDeAS, 17(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2021.e78365
45.
McCartyT. L. (2002). A place to be Navajo: Rough Rock and the struggle for self-determination in Indigenous schooling. Routledge.
46.
MenonN. (2012). Seeing like a feminist. Zubaan.
47.
MenonS.SinhaS.DasH. V.PydahA. (Eds.). (2020). Children’s literature.Early Literacy Initiative Resource Book Series. Early Literacy Initiative, Tata Institute of Social Sciences & Eklavya Foundation.
48.
MohantyA. (2019). The multilingual reality: Living with languages. Multilingual Matters.
MuhammadG. E. (2012). Creating spaces for black adolescent girls to “write it out!”. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(3), 203–211. https://doi.org/10.1002/JAAL.00129
53.
Muskaan. (2019). Where is my story? Crossing the margins in children’s literature. Muskaan.
54.
NambissanG. B. (1994). Language and schooling of tribal children: Issues related to medium of instruction. Economic and Political Weekly, 29(42), 2747–2754. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4401912
55.
ParisD. (2011). A friend who understands fully’: Notes on humanizing research in a multiethnic youth community. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 24(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2010.495091
56.
ParisD.WinnM. T. (Eds.). (2014). Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities. Sage Publications.
57.
ParmarT.SonavaneN., & The Third Eye (2025, January 17). Law and (Brahmanical) order: Caste in the criminal justice system. The Third Eye. https://doi.org/https://thethirdeyeportal.in/structure/law-and-brahmanical-order/
58.
PlayerG. D. (2021). “My color of my name”: Composing critical self-celebration with girls of color through a feminist of color writing pedagogy. Research in the Teaching of English, 55(3), 216–240. https://doi.org/10.58680/rte202131184
59.
PortelliA. (2010). The death of Luigi Trastulli and other stories: Form and meaning in oral history. SUNY Press.
60.
PriorP. (2015). Writing, literate activity, semiotic remediation. In CislaruG. (Ed.), Writing(s) at the crossroads (pp. 185–202). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
61.
RadhakrishnaM. (2001). Dishonoured by history: “Criminal tribes” and British colonial policy. Orient Blackswan.
62.
SchwarzH. (2010). Constructing the criminal tribe in colonial India: Acting like a thief. John Wiley & Sons.
63.
ShorI. (1999). What is critical literacy?Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice, 1(4), 1–32. https://doi.org/https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/jppp/vol1/iss4/2
64.
SinhaS. (2023). Lisa delpit: Disrupting cultures of power to foster transformative pedagogies. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 20(1), 120–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/09731849221148525
65.
SmithL. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Zed Books.
66.
StreetB. (1994). Cross-cultural perspectives on literacy. In StreetB. (Ed.), Functional literacy: Theoretical issues and educational implications (pp. 95–111). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
67.
SundarN. (2002). “Indigenise, nationalise and spiritualise”—An agenda for education?International Social Science Journal, 54(173), 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-226-4_9
68.
ThorneB. (2005). Unpacking school lunchtime: Structure, practice, and the negotiation of differences. In CooperC. R.CollC. T. G.BartkoW. T.DavisH.ChatmanC. (Eds.), Developmental pathways through middle childhood: Rethinking contexts and diversity as resources (pp. 63–88). Erlbaum.
69.
ToliverS. R. (2020). Can I get a witness? Speculative fiction as testimony and counterstory. Journal of Literacy Research, 52(4), 507–529. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X20966362
WertschJ. V. (1993). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Harvard University Press.
72.
WinnM.UbilesJ. R. (2011). Worthy witnessing: Collaborative research in urban classrooms. In BallA.TysonC. (Eds.), Studying diversity in teacher education (pp. 295–308). Rowman & Littlefield.
YbarraM. G. (2020). We have a strong way of thinking… and it shows through our words”: Exploring mujerista literacies with chicana/Latina youth in a community ethnic studies course. Research in the Teaching of English, 54(3), 231–253. https://doi.org/10.58680/rte202030520
