History from below: A Case study of folklore in Tulunadu

Abstract

This paper attempts to delineate and examine the uses and limitations of folklore and folk literature in the writing of history through the subaltern paradigm. The subaltern or "history from below" approach had originated in the 1980s in Indian historiography due to the efforts of Ranajit Guha and others. In the last two decades, the subaltern scholars have contributed immensely to the enrichment of historical writings on South Asia. Edward Said has said: "Subaltern studies represents a crossing of boundaries, a smuggling of ideas across lines, a stirring up of intellectual and, as always, political complacence". David Cannadine has described it as "Gettysburg history" - of the people, by the people and for the people. It is an attempt to meet the demand for "de-elitisation" of history and write the history of the historyless.