Tribal Ecologies of Wayanad: A Parallel reading of C.K. Janu’s Mother Forest and Adimamakka with Sheela Tomy’s Valli

“Tribal Ecologies” is one of the emerging fields of study in India, in tandem with, and as a part of subaltern studies and ecocriticism. Tribal Ecologies refers to the unique ecological knowledge, practices, and relationships that tribal communities have developed with their environments over time. This concept encompasses several key aspects like cultural knowledge, sustainable practices, political and social dimensions. Due to the intrinsic relationship the Adivasis share with nature in their association of tribal ecological knowledge and livelihood practices, ‘Tribal Ecologies’ argue that nature constitutes the tribal identity formation. Although nature constitutes the core identity of Adivasis, the American environmentalism, and, to an extent, the ecological criticism with its focus on deep ecology, largely ignore the material needs of Adivasis. Through a tribal ecological reading of the autobiographical works, Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C K Janu (2003) and Adimamakka (Children of Slaves) ( 2023) by the Adivasi leader and activist C K Janu, and the ecofictional work, Valli by Sheela Tomy this work focuses on the representation of tribal ecology and indigenous voices at the intersection of fiction and life narratives, and establishes the materialistic aspects of tribal ecology as against the postmaterialist grounding of deep ecology and American environmentalism.