Lending a voice to the nation’s indigenous population: Adivaani, a trust that publishes books written by Adivasis – Jharkhand and West Bengal

Garima Mishra, Indian Express New Delhi, Sat Apr 27 2013 | Read the full article >>

“Why don’t we have an Adivasi voice?”, “Why don’t we have a ‘for and by’ Adivasi publishing house?”, “Where is the authentic Adivasi narrative?” These questions had haunted Ruby Hembrom when she enrolled for a publishing course in Kolkata last year. “While going through a list of publishers and authors, I could not find any Adivasi. While Adivasis have often been written about by others, they have very rarely been authors themselves,” says 35-year-old Hembrom, an Adivasi hersel [who] established Adivaani, a trust that publishes books written by Adivasis. […]

In less than a year of its existence, the trust has launched three books. The first was Santal Sirjon Binti ar Bhed Bhangao, an academic book about the lifestyle, beliefs and history of Santals, written in Santal language by theologian Timotheas Hembrom; the second was Whose Country is it Anyway?, written by Gladson Dungdung, an activist based in Ranchi, in which he tells the story of his people and their struggle — in 1980, one-year-old Dungdung and his family were displaced from their agricultural land for the construction of Kelaghat dam in Jharkhand. Both books have been bought by research scholars and libraries. The third is a children’s book written by Ruby Hembrom and called We Come From The Geese; it is the first part of the ‘Santal Creations’ series that talk about how the Santal tribe came into existence. It has been bought by schools in Santal Parganas, Jharkhand, says Hembrom. […]
Another challenge is distribution as most distributors are not interested in “these kind of books”. However, after a number of failed attempts, the group is tasting success in small proportions.  […]
The team is working on part 2 and 3 of the Santal Creation stories. While one book in Santali is on Santali folklores, the other book, which is in two parts, is on the history of linguistics of Santali. “We have also discovered a wonderful Santali artist who is storytelling through illustrations. […]

Source: Lending a Voice – Indian Express
Address : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lending-a-voice/1107153/0
Date Visited: Tue Apr 30 2013 10:54:28 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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