RHETORIC OF LOSS: NECROPOLITICS AND POETIC WITNESS IN THE POETRY OF ROBIN NGANGOM

Abstract

This article examines the poetics of Robin S. Ngangom through the lens of necropolitics, engaging with Achille Mbembe’s theory to explore how death, marginalization, and state-sanctioned violence are rendered into poetic testimony. Situating Northeast India as a necropolitical frontier where sovereignty is exercised not through rights but through abandonment, the study foregrounds how poetry becomes a vehicle for resistance, memory, and ethical witnessing. The article argues that these poets develop a “rhetoric of loss” that subverts nationalist myths, implicates both the centre and the periphery in cycles of violence, and constructs an alternative archive of suffering. Through close readings of key poems, this paper reveals how poetic language offers a counter-narrative to the silences imposed by militarization and postcolonial statecraft. Ultimately, the work situates Northeastern poetry not as marginal but as central to understanding the affective and political landscapes of contemporary India