Preservation is better than nostalgia

Prevention is better than nostalgia seems to be the theme behind the work of Ganesh Devy profiled in this piece by Anand Giridhardas.

He is trying to make the adivasis living in hills and forests of India to appreciate and hence preserve their own dying culture instead of waiting for the government and other agencies to erect museum after they are dead.

There are certain inevitabilities to the arc of development: Villagers emigrate. Life's pace quickens. Languages sputter and die. Years later, a foundation raises money, curators are retained and visitors explore a museum wondering what life then was like.

But what, Devy wondered, if there were a pre-emption doctrine for cultural preservation? His Adivasi Academy, where the dictionary-making was unfolding on a recent afternoon, is based on such a doctrine.

Its a simple but radical idea and also seems to have the potential of making the adivasi life better and removing the unnecessary pressure to adopt to the 'modern' lifestyle to survive.

In the academy's museum, adivasi culture is depicted as if it no longer existed. The exhibits feature kitchen implements, jars of adivasi foods, hand-tossed pottery, jugs for homemade liquor. If the idea were to explain adivasis to outsiders, New Delhi would be a better place. The goal is, instead, to impress upon adivasis that their culture is worthy of a museum, worthy of protection.

"If a community has a strong sense of identity and a sense of pride in that identity, it wants to survive and thrive," Devy said. "The new economy is important. The old culture is equally important. We should not throw the baby with the bath water."

Seems like a jolly good work!

Another interesting work from the same author: modernity Indian style

Modernity Indian Ishtyle

Anand Giridharadas is becoming one of my must read writer for his choice of subjects to report from India to the west. His latest post is about how feminism is being adopted and modified to suit Indian society. 

The following lines, towards the end, stand out for perhaps helping one understand modernity (and possibly feminism) 

Modernity involves more than sin. It demands irreverence. How many urban young women chop off their hair, or choose not to procreate, or dine out alone? How many, despite their modern garnishes, believe in prospering alongside, and not through, a man?  

He also mentions that India did not have a visible firebrand feminist movement. He is right and the most popular feminists that I remember in recent times is Arundhati Roy. But perhaps they have decided that it is better to focus on social work and broader social problems in India than feminism of the western variety.

Update: For an alternate/diametrically opposite view of this article, go to young feminists

h/t Realm of manjusri

Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow, Right!

It was indeed an interesting and entertaining hour when Bill Cosby came to my school to promote his new book, Come on People!. The book is an attempt to extort the black community to give up on their passive acceptance of their present pitiable conditions and work towards improving themselves. Cosby is provocative inspite of using lot of good natured humour.

Cosby, who has a doctorate in education, repeatedly stressed the importance of education and it resonated with my view that education is the biggest transformative tool available to any underpreviliged section of the society.

During the Q&A session, he was asked a couple of questions about him not showing the positive stories and efforts coming from within the society. These were asked by people who clarified that they were actually working on these problems at the grassroots level. There was a touch of desperation and hopelesness in their voices. But Cosby was not moved and he defended his position. He was clear that unless the black population take on these issues by their horn, nothing significant would occur. I felt that while the questioners were probably working hard on their own but it was important for the greater message ( a kind of shock therapy) to be delivered by someone like Cosby who has the public image to get the attention that this issue deserves.

The other India

I read about this gruesome incident just now. Four members of a dalit family in interior Maharashtra were barbarically tortured and murdered by their neighbours over land dispute. While the story itself is too barbaric, but it is also one which has to be extensively publicised to raise the social awareness about this issue.

While there was great protests all over the big cities about the reservation issue, there should also be some outrage expressed and registered for this incident. People have to know that life in rural India still is a struggle and old prejudices still hold with a frightening strength.