Myths That Remember: Gendered Resistance and Indigenous Knowledge in Khasi Poetic Memory

This paper explores the intersection of gendered resistance and indigenous knowledge in Khasi poetic memory, with a focus on Esther Syiem’s poems “Noh Ka Likai”, “Pahsyntiew”, and “The Hill of Woman’s Death”. These poems explicate upon the rich cultural heritage of the Khasis, weaving together narratives of resistance and survival through a gendered lens. Through the lens of Khasi mythology, the paper examines how women’s voices resist both cultural erasure and historical violence, challenging patriarchal structures and asserting a reclaiming of indigenous wisdom. The work of Esther Syiem, a prominent Khasi poet, represents the reclaiming of mythic memory, where female figures endure and actively reshape their environments, offering a counternarrative to dominant colonial histories. The study investigates how these myths, transmitted through poetic forms, act as repositories of Indigenous knowledge, which assist in a continued dialogue between the past and the present. By focusing on the poetic renderings of female agency, the paper depicts the role of oral traditions and myth-making in preserving a collective Indigenous identity that resists the forces of colonialism, especially modernity. The analysis is rooted in feminist and postcolonial theories, which examine how these myths preserve and propagate a worldview that upholds indigenous sovereignty, environmental sustainability, and gender justice.