Navigating Violence and Trauma through Activism and Intervention: A Comparative Study of the Works of Meena Alexander and Monalisa Changkija

This paper examines how violence, trauma, and resistance are portrayed in the literary works of Meena Alexander and Monalisa Changkija through a comparative approach to literature. Both authors address themes of displacement, political conflict, identity, and social marginalisation, using literary forms to manifest individual and collective experiences of suffering. The research draws on trauma theory (Caruth; LaCapra), feminist criticism (Spivak; Mohanty), and postcolonial theory (Boehmer) to interpret the ways their writings depict the psychological and social effects of violence, with attention to resilience and opposition. Alexander's poetry illuminates traumatic experiences of migration and diasporic identity. Her works engage with discontinuous memory, exile, and the challenge of negotiating between cultures. Using abstract and symbolic language, she connects personal trauma to the history of displacement and the colonial past. Changkija's writing, by contrast, is rooted in the political conditions of North-East India — specifically the conflicts and militarisation within Nagaland. Her poems and journalistic writings address state violence, cultural marginalisation, and community survival in conflict zones. Despite their different geopolitical contexts, both authors demonstrate that literature can function as activism and intervention. Their works give voice to marginalised communities and challenge dominant narratives that silence histories of violence. This paper argues that their literary expression constitutes moral witnessing and cultural agitation — instruments of awareness creation and social reflection.