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Abstract 28: Runglwo: Undergoing a much awaited Paradigm Shift
Paper presented for “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (National Conference) – New Delhi
SANDESHA RAYAPA-GARBIYAL
Linguistic Empowerment Cell, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
KEYWORDS: RUNGLWO, ASSIMILATION, LANGUAGE, SCRIPT, TECHNOLOGY
In their quest to learn about their new colonies, Imperialists sent their envoys that included missionaries, anthropologists and sociologists to investigate the languages and cultures of the colonies. It was thus through the need of such colonizers that Runglwo was first recorded. Runglwo has three variants (Byangbalwo, Bhyankolwo and Darmalwo) and UNESCO recognizes it as a severely endangered language. Its speakers are the Rungmung or Shaukas from the remote Himalayan town of Dharchula. The community practices vertical transhumance and moves from its base to other regions that include areas in India, Nepal, Tibet and China. Their demography is less than 8,000 and consists of a generation that has moved on or is moving to other Indian cities in its quest for better education and job opportunities. The Rung still follow their elaborate rituals related to birth, marriage and death but they are finding it difficult to pass their ancestral oral language to their children. Runglwo’s survival is therefore at peril. Realizing this, the present generation is applying technology especially from the cellular/mobile world in assimilating and recording the language from among its elders. They have recently been able to get their state government of Uttarakhand to recognize the need of teaching Runglwo in the schools located in their region. The endangered oral language is now going through a major paradigm shift. Though Runglwo is classified under the Tibeto-Burman language family, the elders of the community are choosing the Devanagri script as education was initially introduced to them through the medium of Hindi. This is understandable as most inhabitants residing in Dharchula prefer Hindi. On the other hand, there are many from the next generation preferring the Roman script. Majority are going with the flow as they understand the need of the hour and would rather have work done in any script if it leads to the preservation and possible language regeneration among the next generation of speakers of Runglwo.
BIONOTE: Sandesha Rayapa-Garbiyal, Assistant Professor at JNU’s Linguistic Empowerment Cell (LEC), specializes in the area of English Language Teaching (ELT). With a Masters in Linguistics and on-going research focusing on Syllabus Design for Communication Skills, she aims to use her experience for running positive, focused and energised classes. For over a decade, she has gained experience in planning and developing curriculum in both ‘English as a Second Language’ (ESL) as well as ‘English as a Foreign Language’ (EFL) scenarios. She has also conducted a Communication Skills workshop at IIT, Delhi and prepared candidates for various examinations such as IELTS, GMAT and CAT. She may be contacted at the email ID: [email protected]
Source: Book of Abstracts for the ICSSR-sponsored Two-Day National Conference Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative organised by The Department of English & Outreach Programme Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi, 27-28 February 2017)
Courtesy Dr. Ivy Hansdak, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia University New Delhi (email 4 October 2017)
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[*] Some clarifications on caste-related issues by reputed scholars
Understanding “caste” in the context of Indian democracy: The “Poona Pact of 1932”
“Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar differed over how to address caste inequities through the electoral system. Their exchanges led to the Poona Pact of 1932, which shaped the reservation system in India’s electoral politics. […]
Two prominent figures who have significantly contributed to this discourse are Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation, and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Father of the Constitution. The two stalwarts of Indian politics, while revered equally by the public, had contrasting views on the caste system. Their subsequent debates have shaped the course of Indian society and politics. While Gandhi denounced untouchability, he did not condemn the varna system, a social hierarchy based on occupation, for most of his life. He believed in reforming the caste system through the abolition of untouchability and by giving equal status to each occupation. On the other hand, BR Ambedkar, a Dalit himself, argued that the caste system disorganised and ‘demoralised Hindu society, reducing it to a collection of castes’. […]
And yet, despite their differences, they developed an understanding to work for the betterment of the marginalised.” – Rishabh Sharma in “How Ambedkar and Gandhi’s contrasting views paved way for caste reservation” (India Today, 6 October 2023)
URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/history-of-it/story/ambedkar-gandhi-caste-system-poona-pact-1932-reservation-2445208-2023-10-06
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“That upper caste groups should declare themselves to be OBCs [Other Backward Castes] and want to avail of the reservation policy is a pandering to caste politics of course, as also are caste vote-banks. It is partially a reflection of the insecurity that the neo-liberal market economy has created among the middle-class. Opportunities are limited, jobs are scarce and so far ‘development’ remains a slogan. There’s a lot that is being done to keep caste going in spite of saying that we are trying to erode caste. We are, of course, dodging the real issue. It’s true that there has been a great deal of exploitation of Dalit groups and OBC’s in past history; making amends or even just claiming that we are a democracy based on social justice demands far more than just reservations. The solution lies in changing the quality of life of half the Indian population by giving them their right to food, water, education, health care, employment, and social justice. This, no government so far has been willing to do, because it means a radical change in governance and its priorities.” – Romila Thapar (Emeritus Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University) interviewed by Nikhil Pandhi (Caravan Magazine, 7 October 2015)
URL: https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/discipline-notion-particular-government-interview-romila-thapar
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“Casteism is the investment in keeping the hierarchy as it is in order to maintain your own ranking, advantage, privilege, or to elevate yourself above others or keep others beneath you …. For this reason, many people—including those we might see as good and kind people—could be casteist, meaning invested in keeping the hierarchy as it is or content to do nothing to change it, but not racist in the classical sense, not active and openly hateful of this or that group.” – Book review by Dilip Mandal for Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (The Print, 23 August 2020)
URL: https://theprint.in/opinion/oprah-winfrey-wilkerson-caste-100-us-ceos-indians-wont-talk-about-it/487143/
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“The theoretical debate on caste among social scientists has receded into the background in recent years. [However] caste is in no sense disappearing: indeed, the present wave of neo-liberal policies in India, with privatisation of enterprises and education, has strengthened the importance of caste ties, as selection to posts and educational institutions is less based on merit through examinations, and increasingly on social contact as also on corruption. There is a tendency to assume that caste is as old as Indian civilization itself, but this assumption does not fit our historical knowledge. To be precise, however, we must distinguish between social stratification in general and caste as a specific form. […]
From the early modern period till today, then, caste has been an intrinsic feature of Indian society. It has been common to refer to this as the ‘caste system’. But it is debatable whether the term ‘system’ is appropriate here, unless we simply take for granted that any society is a ‘social system’. First, and this is quite clear when we look at the history of distinct castes, the ‘system’ and the place various groups occupy within it have been constantly changing. Second, no hierarchical order of castes has ever been universally accepted […] but what is certain is that there is no consensus on a single hierarchical order.” – Harald Tambs-Lyche (Professor Emeritus, Université de Picardie, Amiens) in “Caste: History and the Present” (Academia Letters, Article 1311, 2021), pp. 1-2
URL: https://www.academia.edu/49963457
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“There is a need for intercultural education. We all need to work together to bridge these divides not only between religions and castes but also regions. It is not correct to think that one part is better than the other. Some of the limitations of India as a whole are due to our common heritage, say the one that has restricted women from having a flourishing life for themselves.” – Prof. V. Santhakumar (Azim Premji University) in “On the so called North-South Divide in India” (personal blog post in Economics in Action, 13 April 2024)
URL: https://vsanthakumar.wordpress.com/2024/04/13/on-the-so-called-north-south-divide-in-india/