Storytelling

“Having grown up within the largely oral Khasi community in Meghalaya, whose creative expressions mainly comprised song and “iathoh khana” (storytelling), it puzzled me that, in none of the canonical creative writing textbooks, had I come across a discussion on the influences of oral storytelling on craft.” – Janice Pariat in “Decolonising creative writing: It’s about not conforming to techniques of the western canon” (Scroll.in, 4 July 2021)
https://scroll.in/article/999215/decolonising-creative-writing-its-about-not-conforming-to-techniques-of-the-western-canon
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=3382

“Is tribal identity relevant in today’s world?” Inaugural Speech for “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (National Conference) – New Delhi

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Source: Report 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) On the need for rethinking the tribal question: “It is widely acknowledged that a large section of the Indian population, especially the … Read more

South Asia’s largest biennial gathering of Tribals: Conferring sacredness upon their ancestors during the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara – Telangana

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ARRIVING IN DUSTY, sun-scorched Medaram in Telangana at the end of a six- hour ride on a special state bus service from Hyderabad, you are acutely aware of entering a vast non-dimensional space. As you walk the raucous grounds hosting the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara, woodsmoke, dirt and warbled music swirling all around you, the broad strokes of … Read more

Ethnomedicine: Discoveries through follow-up research of folk or ethnomedical amounting to 74 per currently in use worldwide – Jharkhand & Kerala

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How Adivasis of one Jharkhand village are trying to preserve ethnomedicine With ‘civilisation’ and ‘modernity’ having made inroads into India’s tribal areas, its heritage of traditional tribal systems of medicine is increasingly under threat […] “‘Ethnomedicine’, as defined by George Foster and Barbara Anderson in their 1978 essay Medical Anthropology, is the totality of health, … Read more

Recovering tribal culture from the misrepresentation of mainstream media: Papers presented for “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (National Conference)

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Parallel session 1: Tribal Identity and Resistance Narratives (28th February 2017)Chaired by: Prof. Shreya Bhattacharji, CUJ, RanchiPaper Presenters: Violina Borah (JNU, New Delhi), Moumita Roy (Delhi University, New Delhi), Juhi R.V. Minz (JNU, New Delhi), Shabeena Kuttay (Govt. Degree College, Bemina-Srinagar).Violina Borah presented a paper titled “R/establishing Identity: Reading Violence through Mahasweta Devi’s The Hunt.” The paper explored … Read more

The nomadic Romany (“gypsy”) tribe: Credited with amazing contributions to the music and dance of many countries from antiquity to the present – Sind & Punjab

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Many of the modern day gypsies can be traced back to the nomadic tribe called Roma. In Europe, they were referred to as the goddess-worshippers. This goddess was none other than Kali. They were later referred to as gypsy, as they believed that they came from Egypt before spreading to European countries. The tribe Roma … Read more