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This study investigates the entanglement of regionalism‚ identity politics, and social justice in Nilanjan P․ Choudhary’s Shillong Times: A Story of Friendship and Fear by tracking the processes of cultural exclusion and marginalisation in the novel․ The study provides the socio-political context of the novel in Meghalaya and the lived experience of the marginalised characters affected by regional and ethnic politics․ Based on qualitative textual analysis and drawing on the work of B․ R․ Ambedkar‚ the study shows how the inequities depicted in the novel are consistent with the lived experience of ethnic marginalisation and social exclusion and relates depictions of hegemony‚ discrimination and politics of belonging to the problem of political alienation and ethnic conflict and cultural identity‚ particularly in the context of regionalism․ This work situates the novel within broader discussions of regional and ethnic identities thereby, contributing to studies on regional and ethnic identity in Indian literature as well as contemporary debates on democracy and social․
Mr. Mongolsing Rongphar, Dr. Thejani-i Pohena. “Contours of Regionalism and Cultural Exclusion in Shillong Times: A Story of Friendship and Fear.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 4, August 2026, pp. 762-784. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n4.47.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
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