Ecologies of Memory and Identity: Reading Mamang Dai’s The Legends of Pensam

Abstract

Mamang Dai’s The Legends of Pensam emerges as one of the most potent literary meditations on indigenous identity, memory, ecology, and the interface between myth and lived reality in contemporary Indian literature. Set in Arunachal Pradesh, the novel intricately weaves together stories across generations, blending folklore and oral tradition with urgent modern concerns. This paper examines Dai’s narrative strategies and thematic preoccupations—especially her explorations of cultural continuity, the in-betweenness of “pensam,” ecological consciousness, and the politics of indigenous representation. Through the lens of postcolonial and ecocritical theory, and with reference to comparable global indigenous texts, the paper illuminates how Dai’s work both preserves and reinvents Adi cultural legacies for the contemporary world.