Understanding Resistance Through the Writings of Popular Folklore

This chapter analyses how literature can be perceived as a brushstroke for reflecting resistance. In any form of narrative, we can see the face of resistance embedded in its choice of words, and the emotions that are subsequently evoked through it. This highlights the fact that the study of folklore, which is an oral narrative form, is picking up pace with the whole new trend of writing, and transcribing, to reconstruct history. In the present-day scenario, people from various disciplines of the Humanities stream are consciously putting in efforts to collect local and global folklore, to preserve them as a form of written literature. This chapter deals with the question of how someone can read the folklores as an articulation of writing resistance. The writing of folklores is relevant since they stand as a testament to history; they portray the long-standing traditions, cultures, beliefs, and understandings of any community. Preserving folklores in written form can be treated as a tool to map the cultural fabric of indigenous natives, to express their resistance-action, and opposition to the hegemonic and oppressive mainstream culture. The chapter reads folktales of different places, with a special focus on the spirit of resistance which is a pivotal part of any cultural folklore. It discusses how these tales are documented in contemporary society to show representation versus reality, and “how these tales were written” can be seen as resistant and resilient. It attempts to study the oral narratives in written form and include them in mainstream history and discourses.