Category Archives: Tribal elders

“We were there, we are here and we will be there” (Hum the, hum hain aur hum rahenge) – Vandna Tete during the first-ever all-India tribal women writers’ meet (Ranchi, September 2017)

“Literature on adivasis, shaped by perspectives of authors who may or may not have interacted or studied the tribals and their lives, could be romantic flights of the imagination or grim portraits about trials and tribulations of the tribals. Irked by these fanciful and wrong representations of his community, Narayan, a member of the Malaarayar tribal community in Kerala, took up the pen to write the first authentic novel written by an adivasi in South India [who] reminds us, yet again, how these children of the land were marginalised by the state, the establishment and organised religion. From proud farmers, practitioners of traditional medicine and guardians of the land, the tribals became displaced and dispossessed, dependent on the largesse of the State to protect their lands and, most importantly, their cultural identity.” – Kocharethi (a novel based on experiences told by the author’s elders)