Roots and Routes: The Novels of Su Tamilselvi and Kanmani Gunasekaran

Abstract

“Roots” suggests origins and permanence, though it can connote change, as in “grassroots.” While these meanings are present in Tamil discourses, a close reading of contemporary literary works “rooted” in regional language and practice demonstrates an active, mobile, and diverse engagement with literal and figurative roots and routes, revealing the gendered entanglements of plants, people, and practices in local, regional, and planetary spheres of movement. In the work of living Tamil writers Su. Tamilselvi and Kanmani Gunasekaran, local language and practice are integral to approaching global discourses of feminism, social justice, and natural resources. They offer ways of listening to the stories of marginalized people, acknowledging their resilience, creativity, and the precarious intimacy with the landscape that puts them at the forefront of environmental change.