Dr. Theyiesinuo Keditsu (PhD) is an indigenous feminist, poet, academic, educator.
She advocates for the revival of Indigenous Naga textiles and women's narratives through her popular Instagram avatar @mekhalamama. Over the past six years, she has revolutionized the way Naga textiles are perceived through her unique storytelling approach bringing out the cultural and personal narratives associated with mekhalas and other cloths. She is widely credited with influencing women in Nagaland, the North-East and beyond to wear mekhalas as fashionable garments that can be used as special and daily work wear. Her advocacy has inspired other initiatives promoting the wearing, research, design and sales of textiles, renewing interest in a neglected tradition. She campaigns for sustainable fashion practices and is known for promoting locally produced indigenous textiles & crafts as well as local businesses with a focus on those run by women entrepreneurs.
The impact of her textile and fashion activism has been recognised and featured in Roots & Leisure, Verve, Voice of Fashion, Indian Express, The Sunday Standard Magazine, Huffington Post, Times of India, National News UAE and most recently, Vogue India.
She writes creatively under the pen name T. Keditsu and has published two books of poetry, Sopfünuo and Wake as well as Ukepenuopfü, an illustrated children’s storybook. She has contributed to a number of anthologies, journals and books in her creative & academic capacities, such as Yaari: An Anthology on Friendship by Women and Queer Folx, YodaPress (2023), The Many That I Am: Writings from Nagaland, Zubaan (2019), the Journal of Big History, South Asia Review, FemAsia and The Yugen Quest Review and The Little Journal to name a few.
Two of her poems ‘Shame’& ‘Survival’ have been made into poetry films by TakeOne Films. Her poems have been translated into Marathi, Hindi and most notedly into Gujarati by emininet poet, Sitanshu Yashaschandra.
She is widely sought after as a public speaker and educator within her Naga community and in North East India.
With a PhD in Cultural Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, she has over 16 years of teaching experience and is currently an assistant professor in Kohima College, Kohima, Nagaland.