Customs

“We have a song for every situation. We feel money takes away from the enjoyment of life. But to earn a livelihood, people have to learn other languages.” – Santal teacher Pada Murmu interviewed by Nandini Nair (OPEN Magazine, 13 January 2017)
https://openthemagazine.com/features/dispatch/santali-talking-time/
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=21581

Celebrating movement in peace and togetherness: Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed – West Bengal

by

The idea of Theatre of the Oppressed was born in South America in the early seventies from the work and practice of Brazilian theatre theoretician and director Augusto Boal. Jana Sanskriti was the first group to bring Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theatre to India. In Forum Theatre members of the theatre team select, … Read more

Audio & eBook | United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Repatriation is an important part of reconciliation

by

Indigenous people across North America are working to return thousands of sacred objects and ancestral remains, belongings that were taken and put in museums, galleries, private collections, and universities. […] “Some of the struggles I think our people have is just the knowing that these things are elsewhere,” she said. “These things need to be made … Read more

Tip | Voices from the Periphery: A multidisciplinary book “reversing the gaze”: Questioning the fringes of India’s mainstream society

by

“It is wrong and does not help the tribal cause either to reduce the image of the Indian tribal society to that of destitute remnants, on the verge of dying out.” – Georg Pfeffer in Voices from the Periphery: Subalternity and Empowerment in India (Routledge India 2012) A rare collection of essays and different from most … Read more

Tribal culture and society characterised by comparatively high levels of autonomy, equality, and social position of tribal women

by

There can be little dispute that the socio-cultural norms, practices, and rituals in the mainstream Hindu tradition subsume a deep ideological repugnance towards gender equality. But this contrasts with the country’s overall tribal culture and society. Indeed, the latter, which has for long been exterior to the patently patriarchal and caste-hierarchical Hindu socio-cultural orbit, is … Read more

Tagore’s call to end the enslavement of India’s peasantry remains relevant today: Modern slavery is still very common – Global Slavery Index & UNICEF

by

Tagore’s alienation and the zamindari system [Rabindranath Tagore] conspicuously distanced himself from the middle class, or the bhadralok, although they constituted the head and front of his audience as an author. Tagore’s alienation from such people can be contrasted with his perception that among the rural peasantry there was a “touch of humanity”. Undeniably, Tagore was … Read more