Nativism is the political policy of favouring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants. Nativism promotes the interests of native-born inhabitants against those of immigrants. There is a significant relation between nativism and migration. Nativism is a product of the West. It originated in America. Nativism has its roots in politics and it emphasizes the importance of native-born and established in habitants of a region. In between the years 1840 to 1850, a certain political party rose to power in America. This party was called- The Know Nothing Party. This party brought attention to the term "native" for the first time. One of the basic aspects of nativism is to highlight the importance of and give preference to native language and literature. Nativism came to India in the 19th century. In India, the influence of nativism can be seen in Marathi literature, Kannada literature etc. Nativist theory was also popular in Assamese literature. Nativism has influenced the literary works of Assamese litterateurs like Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Ambikagiri Raichoudhury, Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Syed Abdul Malik, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya, Bina Baruah, Nalini Bala Devi, Hiren Bhattacharyya etc. In this article, we discuss the significance of nativism in Assamese literature. Nativism can contribute to the literature and culture of a country to a large extent. The reason behind selecting this topic for the article is to show the presence of nativism ideology in Assamese literature. This research paper is prepared by using descriptive method.
Key words: nativism, immigration, literature, native, politics.
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