Temsula Ao
Encyclopedia
Temsula Ao is a poet, short story writer and ethnographer. She is a retired Professor of English in North Eastern Hill University
(NEHU), where she has taught since 1975.
, Assam
. She matriculated from Ridgeway Girls' High School, Golaghat
, Assam
. She received her B.A with Distinction from Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung
, Nagaland
. She received her M.A in English from Gauhati University
, Assam
. From Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (presently English and Foreign Languages University
,) Hyderabad she received her Post Graduate Diploma in the Teaching of English and Ph.D from NEHU. From 1992-97 she served as Director, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur
on Deputation from NEHU, and was Fulbright Fellow to University of Minnesota
1985-86.
She received the honorary Padma Shri
Award in 2007. She is the recipient of the Governor’s Gold Medal 2009 from the government of Meghalaya
. She is widely respected as one of the major literary voices in English to emerge from Northeast India along with Mitra Phukan
and Mamang Dai
.
Her works have been translated into German
, French
, Assamese
, Bengali
and Hindi
.
Her first two poetry collections were published from Writers Workshop
, Kolkata
. The third poetry collection was published by Kohima Sahitya Sabha and the fourth was published by North Eastern Hill University
and the last one was by Grasswork Books, Pune
.
as a Fulbright fellow, she came in contact with the Native Americans
. She learned about their culture, heritage and especially their Oral tradition
. This exposure inspired her to record the Oral tradition of her own community, Ao Naga. After returning from the University of Minnesota, she worked on the Oral tradition for about twelve years. She collected the myths, folktales, folklore
, rituals, law, custom, belief system
. This ethnographic work was published in 1999 as the Ao-Naga Oral tradition from Bhasha Publications, Baroda. This book is the most authentic document about the Ao-Naga community.
The former short story collection consists of ten short stories and deals with insurgency in [Nagaland]] fired by right to self determination of the Naga people.
The later consists of eight short stories which have mythical as well as modern overtones. The stories are sensitive, evocative and also powerful.
North Eastern Hill University
North Eastern Hill University is a Central University established on 19 July 1973 by an Act of Indian Parliament. The University is located in the suburb of Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya within the union of India...
(NEHU), where she has taught since 1975.
Biography
Temsula Ao was born in October 1945 at JorhatJorhat
Jorhat is a city of Assam in India. Jorhat was established as a new capital in the closing years of the 18th century by the declining Tunkhungia Ahom Dynasty. Jorhat, as the name signifies, was just a couple of markets . Two parallel markets namely, Chowkihat and Macharhat, lay on the eastern...
, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. She matriculated from Ridgeway Girls' High School, Golaghat
Golaghat
Golaghat , which was one of the largest subdivisions of Assam later, elevated to the position of a full-fledged district of Assam on 15 August 1987, is the headquarters of Golaghat district and is a sister town to Jorhat which is about 55 km away....
, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. She received her B.A with Distinction from Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung
Mokokchung
Mokokchung is a town and a municipality in Mokokchung district in the Indian state of Nagaland. It is the district headquarter as well as the main urban hub of Mokokchung district. Mokokchung is the cultural center of the Ao people and is economically and politically the most important urban...
, Nagaland
Nagaland
Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur...
. She received her M.A in English from Gauhati University
Gauhati University
Gauhati University, the first university of North East India, is in the Jalukbari area in the western part Guwahati city, Assam, India. It was established in 1948. It is a four-star rated university by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. It has 183 affiliated colleges.- Campus :The...
, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
. From Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (presently English and Foreign Languages University
English and Foreign Languages University
The English and Foreign Languages University , formerly the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages , is a Central University in India. Its main campus is located in Hyderabad...
,) Hyderabad she received her Post Graduate Diploma in the Teaching of English and Ph.D from NEHU. From 1992-97 she served as Director, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur
Dimapur
Dimapur in Nagaland is bounded by Kohima district on the south and east, Karbi Anglong district of Assam on the West, the Karbi Anglong and stretch of Golaghat District of Assam, in the west and the north...
on Deputation from NEHU, and was Fulbright Fellow to University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
1985-86.
She received the honorary Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
Award in 2007. She is the recipient of the Governor’s Gold Medal 2009 from the government of Meghalaya
Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The...
. She is widely respected as one of the major literary voices in English to emerge from Northeast India along with Mitra Phukan
Mitra Phukan
Mitra Phukan is an Indian author who writes in English. She is also a translator and columnist. She is the author of The Collector's Wife , a novel set against the Assam Agitation of the 1970s and 80s. The Collector's Wife was the one of the first generation novels in English written by an...
and Mamang Dai
Mamang Dai
Mamang Dai is an Indian journalist, author, poet, and former civil servant based in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.-Literary career:Mamang Dai's first collection of poetry, River Poems, introduced by Keki Daruwalla established her as a major voice in Indian English Literature and Literature from...
.
Her works have been translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Assamese
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
.
Poetry
She has published five poetic works.- Songs that Tell (1988),
- Songs that Try to Say (1992),
- Songs of Many Moods (1995),
- Songs from Here and There (2003),
- Songs From The Other Life (2007).
Her first two poetry collections were published from Writers Workshop
Writers Workshop
Writers Workshop is a Calcutta-based literary publisher founded by the poet-professor P. Lal in 1958. Over the next few decades it published many new authors in urban literature of the post-independence period. These authors later became big names.-History:...
, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. The third poetry collection was published by Kohima Sahitya Sabha and the fourth was published by North Eastern Hill University
North Eastern Hill University
North Eastern Hill University is a Central University established on 19 July 1973 by an Act of Indian Parliament. The University is located in the suburb of Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya within the union of India...
and the last one was by Grasswork Books, Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
.
Ethnography
When she was in the University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
as a Fulbright fellow, she came in contact with the Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. She learned about their culture, heritage and especially their Oral tradition
Oral tradition
Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
. This exposure inspired her to record the Oral tradition of her own community, Ao Naga. After returning from the University of Minnesota, she worked on the Oral tradition for about twelve years. She collected the myths, folktales, folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, rituals, law, custom, belief system
Belief system
A belief system is a set of mutually supportive beliefs. The beliefs may be religious, philosophical, ideological or a combination of these.The British philosopher Stephen Law has described some belief systems as "claptrap" and said that they "draw people in and hold them captive so they become...
. This ethnographic work was published in 1999 as the Ao-Naga Oral tradition from Bhasha Publications, Baroda. This book is the most authentic document about the Ao-Naga community.
Short Story
Temsula Ao has published two short story collections. These Hills Called Home: Stories from the War Zone and Laburnum for my Head (2009). Both the books are published by Penguin Publications.The former short story collection consists of ten short stories and deals with insurgency in [Nagaland]] fired by right to self determination of the Naga people.
The later consists of eight short stories which have mythical as well as modern overtones. The stories are sensitive, evocative and also powerful.