Tribal Identity, Displacement and Resistance in Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s Adivasi Will Not Dance

Abstract

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s Adivasi Will Not Dance can be read as a powerful literary representation of the struggles, aspirations, cultural identity, and resistance of India’s Adivasi communities. The text foregrounds the painful realities of marginalization, dispossession, poverty, exploitation, and the systematic denial of dignity experienced by indigenous and tribal people. The image of the Adivasi who “will not dance” becomes a significant metaphor of resistance. Dance, traditionally tied to tribal celebration, community, cultural continuity, and collective identity, becomes a political symbol. The refusal to dance signifies the refusal to entertain those who exploit, displace, and silence Adivasi communities. This article examines the text through subaltern studies, postcolonialism, cultural identity, ecological criticism, and resistance literature. It argues that Adivasi Will Not Dance challenges romanticized representations of tribal life and instead presents Adivasis as political subjects possessing agency, dignity, memory, and the power to resist oppression.