On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Sch of Arts and Humanities
Abstract
The Network 'Writing, Translating, Analysing Dalit Literature' was created in 2014 by Dr Nicole Thiara, Centre for Postcolonial Studies at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK, and Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak, research centre EMMA at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (UPVM), France, following the award of an AHRC grant. The research conducted during the 2014-16 grant period explored and analysed Dalit literature in international, multi-disciplinary contexts for the first time since Dalit literature, produced by artists formerly labelled 'Untouchables', emerged as the most significant, prolific and controversial literary movement in India in the last 30 years. Despite the quality, vibrancy and experimental nature of this burgeoning literary tradition, it had received scant attention from the general public or in academia. To raise its profile, in Europe and globally, and to stimulate academic research and public interest, Thiara and Misrahi-Barak organised six academic and public-facing events in the UK (at Nottingham Trent University, University of Leicester, University of East Anglia), France (at UPVM) and India (at Savitribai Phule Pune University and Delhi University). They were a resounding success (450 participants in total) and the network produced a website, a digital communications channel and several publications.
Follow-on funding will allow a series of festival events to be organised that focus on Dalit and Adivasi literatures and the performing arts in India, France and the UK. During the period of network funding, it became apparent that further collaboration is needed to ensure that work by socially precarious, economically challenged, and culturally marginalized artists becomes visible and is valued in both national and global contexts. It emerged that drama and poetry were among the most marginalised of genres, and received the least attention from scholars, even though these genres are among the most significant in Dalit and Adivasi activist circles and the most prominent in voicing resistance to continued caste discrimination and social exclusion. Even more significant was the insight we gained into the widespread perception amongst Dalit and Adivasi writers and performing artists that their literary and artistic output requires larger and more varied audiences in order to sustain its creative and experimental development. Dalit and Adivasi folk art forms are in danger of disappearing if they do not receive more support from a pan-Indian Dalit and Adivasi audience, and from cultural and state organisations, and can be both supported and enriched by new 'mainstream' audiences and international recognition.
Follow-on funding will allow a series of festival events to be organised that focus on Dalit and Adivasi literatures and the performing arts in India, France and the UK. During the period of network funding, it became apparent that further collaboration is needed to ensure that work by socially precarious, economically challenged, and culturally marginalized artists becomes visible and is valued in both national and global contexts. It emerged that drama and poetry were among the most marginalised of genres, and received the least attention from scholars, even though these genres are among the most significant in Dalit and Adivasi activist circles and the most prominent in voicing resistance to continued caste discrimination and social exclusion. Even more significant was the insight we gained into the widespread perception amongst Dalit and Adivasi writers and performing artists that their literary and artistic output requires larger and more varied audiences in order to sustain its creative and experimental development. Dalit and Adivasi folk art forms are in danger of disappearing if they do not receive more support from a pan-Indian Dalit and Adivasi audience, and from cultural and state organisations, and can be both supported and enriched by new 'mainstream' audiences and international recognition.
Planned Impact
The festivals will enable the sustainable development of marginalised Dalit and Adivasi arts by raising their prestige and international profile through performances in well-connected venues in India where, in the spheres of politics and culture, the continued existence of caste discrimination is still largely denied and Dalit and Adivasi artistic production is sometimes appropriated but nurtured or funded only rarely. The festivals will create new audiences for neglected genres of Dalit and Adivasi artistic production, notably poetry and drama, by hosting performances in a range of prestigious international venues, to stimulate the commercial viability of Dalit and Adivasi performance arts, both in India and internationally. A manifesto based on our research will be created collaboratively with participating artists, cultural and Indian government organisations to include cultural policy guidelines on how these cultural practices should be supported in the future.
One of the principal outcomes of this project will be the creation of a readership for Dalit and Adivasi literatures and more diverse audiences for their performance arts to ensure that these establishing and emergent art forms do not continue to suffer neglect as the result of discrimination and repression. The project intervenes in this situation to co-create change with artists and to support endangered artistic forms that could otherwise sustain communities that remain marginalised, not only in India but also internationally.
Festivals in Nottingham, Pune, Bangalore and Paris, co-hosted with high-profile cultural organisations, will create a positive and transformative impact on Dalit and Adivasi folk art and theatre troupes, writers and performers.
This project supports the wider Dalit and Adivasi activist movements in their fight against caste discrimination and for equality and dignity by enhancing recognition of their cultures more widely by providing spaces where creative and critical responses to caste discrimination can be shared and artistic responses seen to be valued in India and Europe. It will demonstrate to Dalit and Adivasi artists and audiences that their cultural heritage is widely respected to enhance self-esteem and support social agency.
Third and cultural sector organisations, including IAPAR, NAE, the state-funded theatre Ravindra Kalakshetra and the Alliance Française will benefit from hosting important international festival events, developing activities with societal impact and forging new networks of cultural practitioners and researchers.
A key objective is to maximise community engagement and interrogate social exclusion by reaching four specific audience groups: an ethnically diverse European audience to include South Asian communities at NAE and the Paris libraries; a majority non-Dalit Indian audience at IAPAR; and a majority Dalit and Adivasi audience in Bangalore. Changes in audience attitudes will be measured by questionnaires and qualitative interviews following performances.
In the UK, South Asian communities, in particular Dalit communities, will develop a better understanding of the practice of caste discrimination in India in order to address its continuation in the wider diaspora, through specifically designed workshops, becoming better equipped to challenge it.
The wider public will benefit from engaging with this rich and revolutionary body of literature. The extensive marketing expertise of our external partners will draw in a range of communities who will experience and learn from art inspired by the battle against caste discrimination and designed to foster solidarity across communities. As impact-focused workshops held in Nottingham in April 2018 demonstrated, audience members from all walks of life are empowered by tapping into affirmative, activist-oriented literatures and artistic practices, when they are supported by workshop activities and informative supplementary materials which we intend to provide.
One of the principal outcomes of this project will be the creation of a readership for Dalit and Adivasi literatures and more diverse audiences for their performance arts to ensure that these establishing and emergent art forms do not continue to suffer neglect as the result of discrimination and repression. The project intervenes in this situation to co-create change with artists and to support endangered artistic forms that could otherwise sustain communities that remain marginalised, not only in India but also internationally.
Festivals in Nottingham, Pune, Bangalore and Paris, co-hosted with high-profile cultural organisations, will create a positive and transformative impact on Dalit and Adivasi folk art and theatre troupes, writers and performers.
This project supports the wider Dalit and Adivasi activist movements in their fight against caste discrimination and for equality and dignity by enhancing recognition of their cultures more widely by providing spaces where creative and critical responses to caste discrimination can be shared and artistic responses seen to be valued in India and Europe. It will demonstrate to Dalit and Adivasi artists and audiences that their cultural heritage is widely respected to enhance self-esteem and support social agency.
Third and cultural sector organisations, including IAPAR, NAE, the state-funded theatre Ravindra Kalakshetra and the Alliance Française will benefit from hosting important international festival events, developing activities with societal impact and forging new networks of cultural practitioners and researchers.
A key objective is to maximise community engagement and interrogate social exclusion by reaching four specific audience groups: an ethnically diverse European audience to include South Asian communities at NAE and the Paris libraries; a majority non-Dalit Indian audience at IAPAR; and a majority Dalit and Adivasi audience in Bangalore. Changes in audience attitudes will be measured by questionnaires and qualitative interviews following performances.
In the UK, South Asian communities, in particular Dalit communities, will develop a better understanding of the practice of caste discrimination in India in order to address its continuation in the wider diaspora, through specifically designed workshops, becoming better equipped to challenge it.
The wider public will benefit from engaging with this rich and revolutionary body of literature. The extensive marketing expertise of our external partners will draw in a range of communities who will experience and learn from art inspired by the battle against caste discrimination and designed to foster solidarity across communities. As impact-focused workshops held in Nottingham in April 2018 demonstrated, audience members from all walks of life are empowered by tapping into affirmative, activist-oriented literatures and artistic practices, when they are supported by workshop activities and informative supplementary materials which we intend to provide.
Organisations
- Nottingham Trent University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Collaboration)
- New Art Exchange, Nottingham (Collaboration)
- Government of Karnataka (Project Partner)
- Marguerite Audoux Library (Project Partner)
- National School of Drama (Project Partner)
- Nottingham City of Literature Ltd (Project Partner)
- Department of Kannada and Culture (Project Partner)
- Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier (Project Partner)
- New Art Exchange (Project Partner)
- Alliance Francaise (Project Partner)
- Int Assoc for Performing Arts & Research (Project Partner)
| Description | Due to the pandemic, we were able to host only one series of planned events before we had to postpone the remaining festival events by 12 months in the first instance and then by another 12 months. The series of events on Dalit and Adivasi poetry in three Paris libraries in March 2020 was the first event of this kind that provided a platform for Indian poets from low-caste and marginalised backgrounds and discussed their work in relation to their marginalisation in these prestigious venues in Europe. Two of the poets, Jacinta Kerketta and Jameela Nishat, elaborated on the intersectionality of marginalisation that they experienced as women as well as their activist and literary strategies to resist this marginalisation. These events were well attended and warmly received by a varied audience and created new audiences and widened dissemination of Dalit and Adivasi literature in France. A key finding of this series was the importance and significance of providing platforms for writers and performers from diverse backgrounds (regional, cultural, caste, Adivasi and gender) that also enabled a productive engagement and exchange among the performers themselves as they shared a stage and stories of oppression and resistance. While we had to postpone the planned in-person events by 24 months, we managed to organise online events as part of the Nottingham Mela, the Hyderabad Literary Festival and our Open Borders webinar series; in other words, we strengthened existing partnerships and established new partnerships while we kept planning the delivery of in-person events from September 2022 onwards. Over the course of the funding period, we kept refining the practice of creating platforms which enabled marginalised writers and cultural practitioners from diverse backgrounds to participate in a dialogue among themselves as well as with the audience in order to create a more democratic and inclusive way of showcasing Dalit and Adivasi literature and performing arts with our partner organisations. The CADALFEST (Celebrating Adivasi and Dalit Arts and Literature Festival) series that took place in Nottingham and India (at five locations) between October 2022 and February 2023 exemplified this practice. |
| Exploitation Route | This practice to provide platforms on which marginalised writers from diverse backgrounds can engage in a dialogue among themselves as well as with the audience is designed to create a new trend of showcasing Dalit and Adivasi literature and performing arts together for our cultural partners and others. The scope and reach of this international series on Dalit and Adivasi literature and performance art is unprecedented; its great success shows that there is a demand for more international festival series of this kind in future. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | The writers showcased in the first series of events in Paris libraries in March 2020 have benefitted from performing their work and discussing their literary activism in such prestigious venues and by gaining new audiences for their translated, bilingual and trilingual publications. The close exchange and dialogue among the Dalit and Adivasi poets also enabled both the writers and the audience to develop a new understanding of the different experiences of marginalised communities in India but also their common goals of justice and equality for all. The writers and the Paris libraries expressed a commitment to participate in and host further events of this kind. A recording of one of the events is available on the YouTube channel created for this grant. This festival events were also conceived and developed with the view of providing opportunities for female Dalit and Adivasi poets as two of the three showcased writers were women. One of the aims of this project is to reduce gender inequality and provide equal opportunities for all genders in the area of Dalit and Adivasi literatures and performing arts. One of the poets, Jameela Nishat, was subsequently invited to perform her work at the prestigious Hyderabad Literary Festival in January 2021. As a result of our ongoing collaboration with Nottingham's New Art Exchange, this organisation is now much more sensitised to questions of caste in relation to inclusion and equity. As a result, they have increased their support for our co-delivered events and have drawn on our expertise in the field of caste on a number of occasions. The established Hyderabad Literary Festival is a new partner and, after we started collaborating, they have committed to supporting Dalit and Adivasi writers and performers to a greater extent in the future. The CADALFEST (Celebrating Adivasi and Dalit Arts and Literature Festival) series that took place in Nottingham and India (at five locations) between October 2022 and February 2023 has connected many Adivasi and Dalit cultural practitioners in an international series of events that was unprecedented in its reach and scope. The fact that we were able to deliver so many different events (significantly more than we had initially proposed in our grant application) demonstrates the depth and range of connections that we had managed to establish over the entire course of the grant period. All CADALFEST events were co-organised by local cultural organisations and local cultural practitioners, so key aims of the grant - enabling local partners to gain new audiences, creating new opportunities for individual practitioners, enabling knowledge exchange, providing the possibility to signpost the activist potential of these art forms - have been met with astounding success. New collaborative ventures are in the planning stages across the whole range of events and locations covered in the CADALFEST series. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Creative Economy |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic |
| Description | Collaborating on the Nottingham MELA with New Art Exchange |
| Organisation | New Art Exchange, Nottingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We approached a writer, film-maker and a cultural organisation in India and planned and organised online events for the Nottingham Mela's online programme at New Art Exchange. |
| Collaborator Contribution | New Art Exchange was responsible for marketing, streaming and recording the events as well well as managing all technical aspects. New Art Exchange also facilitated the delivery of the online, live programmes and contributed to the payment of the artists. |
| Impact | We co-organised three events: a conversation between the Dalit writer Anjali Kajal from Punjab with Kavita Bhanot who recently translated some of Anjali Kajal's Hindi short stories into English; the Shaheeen Women's Resource and Welfare Association's musical ensemble performed Qawwali with a feminist message; and a film screening of the work of Seral Murmu, an Adivasi filmmaker from Jharkhand in India, followed by an interview with the film-maker. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Webinar series: Open Borders for Adivasi and Dalit Literature and Performing Arts |
| Organisation | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Country | Israel |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The webinar series, 'Open Borders for Adivasi and Dalit Literature and Performing Arts', was launched in October 2020. This online workshop series is organised by the Network 'Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature', hosted by the Postcolonial Studies Centre, UK, and the research centre EMMA at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (UPVM), France with Marina Rimscha from the India-Indonesia Program at the Hebrew University Jerusalem. The PI and Co-I from the On Page On Stage Follow-on award initiated this partnership as a means of keeping up the momentum of the festival events started in Paris 2020 after the pandemic forced us to postpone the following events by several months. This series of webinars is designed to maintain and increase the interest in the AHRC-funded festival events until we can continue with the in-person events from September 2022 onwards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Marina Rimscha from the India-Indonesia Program at the Hebrew University Jerusalem co-hosts and co-organises the webinar series and its publication on our YouTube channel. She also edits videos and curates links between the network's YouTube channel, the On Page On Stage YouTube channel and our partners' channels. |
| Impact | Events included a talk and performance by the Dalit Bengali playwrights and actors Raju Das and Namita Das, a poetry reading and by the Dalit poet Satish Chandar and talks by the ECR Malarvizhi Jayanth (independent scholar) and J. Balasubramaniam (Madurai Kamaraj University, India). In 2021/22, we organised research seminars for early-career researchers and a seminar dedicated to the work of the Adivasi film-maker Seral Murmu. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Webinar series: Open Borders for Adivasi and Dalit Literature and Performing Arts |
| Organisation | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Country | Israel |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The webinar series, 'Open Borders for Adivasi and Dalit Literature and Performing Arts', was launched in October 2020. This online workshop series is organised by the Network 'Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature', hosted by the Postcolonial Studies Centre, UK, and the research centre EMMA at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (UPVM), France with Marina Rimscha from the India-Indonesia Program at the Hebrew University Jerusalem. The PI and Co-I from the On Page On Stage Follow-on award initiated this partnership as a means of keeping up the momentum of the festival events started in Paris 2020 after the pandemic forced us to postpone the following events by several months. This series of webinars is designed to maintain and increase the interest in the AHRC-funded festival events until we can continue with the in-person events from September 2022 onwards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Marina Rimscha from the India-Indonesia Program at the Hebrew University Jerusalem co-hosts and co-organises the webinar series and its publication on our YouTube channel. She also edits videos and curates links between the network's YouTube channel, the On Page On Stage YouTube channel and our partners' channels. |
| Impact | Events included a talk and performance by the Dalit Bengali playwrights and actors Raju Das and Namita Das, a poetry reading and by the Dalit poet Satish Chandar and talks by the ECR Malarvizhi Jayanth (independent scholar) and J. Balasubramaniam (Madurai Kamaraj University, India). In 2021/22, we organised research seminars for early-career researchers and a seminar dedicated to the work of the Adivasi film-maker Seral Murmu. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | CADALFEST - IMAGINING NEW WORLDS: A WORKSHOP WITH OSHEEN SIVA in Goa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | On 12th November 2022, Osheen Siva hosted a workshop, co-organised with Priteegandha Naik and K.A. Geetha, in BITS Pilani, Goa. The aim of the innovative and experimental Imagining New Worlds workshop was to identify a significant anti-caste event in Dalit history to celebrate and create new mythologies through speculative fiction and futurism. A list of historical moments significant in the Dalit movement were selected that the participants could choose from. Reading materials on futurism and anti-caste perspectives will also be provided (as well as the video link of the conversation between Subash Thebe Limbu and Osheen Siva) so that attendees could start thinking about their idea or concept in advance of the workshop. Fifteen spaces were available, and this workshop attracted mainly PG students from marginalised background who provided excellent feedback: they felt empowered and expressed a desire for further creative workshops of this kind to engage with their heritage in celebratory way. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/goa/ |
| Description | CADALFEST AT LAAMAKAN IN HYDERABAD |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 27th November, CADALFEST hosted a festival at Laamakan, Hyderabad, South India. This festival showcased Dalit and Adivasi music, poetry and drama and attracted wide attention by local media. Madhoo with his theater group Meet Kudali performed a play; the music composer and pianist Nirvan performed a song, conceptualised and co-created with the singers from Shaheen; and the Telugu poet Joopaka Subhadra and Jameela Nishat read their poetry. This innovative format was designed to bring together performers from various marginalised background to foster solidarity and celebrate cultural creativity. It was a wonderful event that also strengthened to collaboration of several local cultural organisations such as Laamakan, Shaheen Women's Resource & Welfare Association, Yakshi Resource and Creative Centre, and Jai Jangubai Adivasi Mahila Sangham. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/hyderabad/ |
| Description | CADALFEST at ADISHAKTI in AUROVILLE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Between 16th-20th December 2022, a five-day festival was held at Adishakti in Auroville, Tamil Nadu. This was most ambitious event of the festival series and it included poetry reading, musical performances, drama performances and films, along with workshops, masterclasses and public discussions with practitioners of both folk and contemporary performative art forms with the contribution of academic researchers introduced performances, conducted interviews, and contribute to the discussions. This festival was a great success and very well attended. Participants were invited to stay over the course of the festival to share ideas, make plans for further collaborations and strengthen bonds of solidarity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/adishakti/ |
| Description | CADALFEST at AKHRA IN RANCHI |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | On 6th November 2022, the Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti Akhra (JBSS AKHRA) organised a ground-breaking CADALFEST event that showcased Adivasi poetic storytelling as an expression of the lyrical and cultural ancestral world woven from history, wisdom and the natural environment. This event on Adivasi-Indigenous Poetic Storytelling was dedicated to creative work produced in Adivasi languages, and 17 young and senior poets of 11 Adivasi and indigenous languages of Jharkhand shared their poetry and participated in open discussions. This event marked the beginning of co-operation of our network on Dalit and Adivasi languages with this influential Adivasi organisation. Several members of this organisation were subsequently invited to CADALFEST at Adishakti. The Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti Akhra is a non-registered community organization that works for conservation and development of traditional knowledge, oral languages, literature, wisdom of the native and Adivasis of Jharkhand state. This organization advocates Adivasidom for self-determination and self-governance of the various languages and communities of Jharkhand and the restoration of rights on natural resources. This event provided the first major opportunity for this grassroots organisation to participate in an international festival series. They mentioned that this was particularly significant for them since Adivasi culture and literature are among the most marginalised and neglected in India. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/ranchi/ |
| Description | CADALFEST at Adima Cultural Centre, Karnataka, India |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On the 1st November 2022, Adima Cultural Centre, which is 60 kilometres from Bengaluru in Karnataka, South India, hosted five Dalit and Adivasi poets and five Dalit and Adivasi theatre performers for the first event of its kind. This event was meant to provide a platform for young and emerging creative practitioners from marginalised backgrounds and their feedback to the team of local and international organisers was overwhelmingly positive. This festival event was organised by the cultural organisation Adima with CADALFEST and Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy and Saraswathi D. The motif and the ideology of Adima is to believe in the strength of the lowest of the society, to overcome the hatred that is embedded in the present social structures. This event provided the first major opportunity for this grassroots organisation to participate in an international festival series. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/bangalore/ |
| Description | CADALFEST at New Art Exchange 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On Thursday 16 February 2023, CADALFEST concluded with an evening with Kalyani Thakur at New Art Exchange in Nottingham. Kalyani discussed her journey as a writer, her inspiration as well we her activist and editorial work. She read from her brand new publications in English translation, which constitute major achievements. Her poetry collection I BELONG TO NOWHERE, is published by Tilted Axis press, a UK publisher who started focusing on Dalit and Adivasi work since we introduced them to Kalyani in 2016. We also organised a reading by Kalyani Thakur in London in collaboration with SOAS on 17 February. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/new-art-exchange/ |
| Description | CADALFEST at New Art Exchange October 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Three events on Dalit and Adivasi poetry and drama were held at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham. The events were attended by approx. 80 people and the recorded events have had approx. 200 views on our YouTube channel so far. Members of the audience were very enthusiastic to learn more about the participants and their work as well as future CADALFEST events. On the evening of Friday 14th October, the playwright and actor Saraswathi D performed her one-woman play Suntimmi Ramayna, which was a re-telling of the Indian epic from a Dalit feminist perspective that is sympathetic to the female characters. On Saturday 15th October, poets Jacinta Kerketta, Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jameela Nishat and Saraswathi D read from their work in their mother tongues and in English translation and discussed their journeys as writers from marginalised and oppressed backgrounds. The final event was the panel discussion 'Changing the World through Literature and Activism'; Saraswathi D, Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jacinta Kerketta, Jameela Nishat discussed their writing and activism. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CoaFbTEkIw&list=PLwJ_ySIYEw1QI-AsOawvQeyel1BFh0_PC&ab_channel=ONPAG... |
| Description | CADALFEST online Formations events 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Formations is a series of events run by Nottingham Trent University's Postcolonial Studies Centre and Bonington Gallery. Three online events were organised as part of CADALFEST to reach a wider international audience and by March 2023, the three events had been viewed over 800 times On 20 October, the artists Subash Thebe Limbu and Osheen Siva, who have conceptualised Adivasi Futurism and Tamil Dalit Futures, discussed how they utilise the anti-caste philosophy that guides their multimodal artwork. The conversation was moderated by Prof. K.A. Geetha and Priteegandha Naik will discuss. Following on from this event, on 24 November, the artist film Ningwasum by Subash Thebe Limbu was screened online, followed by a conversation with Subash, Nicole Thiara and Joshua Lockwood-Moran. The conversation remained online after the live film screening. As a direct result, Bonington Gallery has plans for further events with, and exhibitions of the works of both artists. Another online event was dedicated to the Dalit feminist writer Dr Gogu Shyamala to mark the republication of her short story collection Father May be an Elephant, and Mother Only a Small Basket, But, by Tilted Axis Press in March 2022. Gogu Shyamala discussed her choice of, and experimentation with, the short story form, and how she sees her role as writer, academic and activist. Gogu Shyamala was in conversation with Sowjanya Tamalapakula, Bethan Evans, Judith Misrahi-Barak and Nicole Thiara. Gogu Shyamala was subsequently invited to speak at the CADALFEST event at Adishakti as well. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/nottingham-online/ |
| Description | Collaboration with the Hyderabad Literary Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | CADALFEST collaborated with HLF in November 2022 and January 2023. In November, we supported the inclusion of Dalit and Adivasi writers for the event Kaavya Dhaara, the one-day poetry festival, which celebrated creativity and linguistic diversity. In January, we supported the invitation of Dalit writer Kalyani Thakur and other marginalised writers. This is the second year that we were able to work with HLF and we hope that we can build on this partnership in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://dalitadivasitext.wordpress.com/hlf/ |
| Description | Hyderabad Literary Festival: Dalit writer Desraj Kali in conversation with Rajkumar Hans |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Hyderabad Literary Festival We supported the well-established Hyderabad Literary Festival 2022 (28-30 January), which took place online due to COVID restrictions. We specifically sponsored the event 'Shanti Parav: Des Raj Kali in conversation with Rajkumar Hans', which took place on Saturday 29 January 2022. In this online conversation in Hindi, the well-known Dalit writer Kali and the Dalit scholar Hans discussed the novel Shanti Parav, which was published in English translation with Orient Blackswan, and is the only text available in English from Kali's substantial oeuvre in Punjabi. This event was meant to raise the profile of this exceptional experimental regional writer nationally and internationally. This event was the only one that specifically focused on Dalit writing at the festival but we have been in conversation with the festival organisers to include more Dalit and Adivasi writers and performers in future festivals. We are already planning a more substantial collaboration with the Festival in January 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfrWGcE1l1o&t=4069s&ab_channel=HLF |
| Description | Nottingham Mela: Feminist Qawwali performance and conversation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | SONG OF THE CAGED BIRDS: QAWWALI PERFORMANCE AND Q&A (Saturday 11 September) The Shaheeen Women's Resource and Welfare Association's musical ensemble recorded two songs in advance (with our financial contribution) and discussed their revolutionary Dalit feminist practice in this session to raise awareness among the Mela audience. Qawwali is a musical ensemble associated with Sufi culture. Originally performed by groups of men, the themes of the songs are generally linked to spirituality or love. The Shaheen organisation has successfully adopted Qawwali genre to break the stereotype of the Qawwals (singers) to be only men and to create social awareness in the patriarchal community, through its gender-sensitising lyrics. It is an exclusive effort on the part of the organisation to promote women's empowerment in society. We part-sponsored the recording of two songs, which were premiered at the MELA and which continue to be accessible via the NAE website. The online discussion with the Shaheen founder Jameela Nishat and the lead singer Puja was facilitated by the translator and scholar Uma Damodar Sridhar. At the end of the sessions, Jameela and Puja answered questions from the audience that came in via the YouTube chat function. The Shaheeen Women's Resource and Welfare Association subsequently won the 5th Martha Farrell Awards 2021 (under the category of Best Organisation for Gender Equality) from the Martha Farrell Foundation and was felicitated at the 5th Martha Farrell Award Ceremony on 20th November 2021 in India. I incorporated this session in my teaching to demonstrate that feminist practices need not be western-oriented. The students' response was very enthusiastic. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f-_-c59mOU&t=1547s&ab_channel=NewArtExchange |
| Description | Nottingham Mela: Film screening of Seral Murmu's short films and interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | ADIVASI LIFE AND FOLKLORE: SHORT FILMS BY SERAL MURMU (Sunday 12 September) The PI and Co-I together with two NTU Doctoral Candidates interviewed Seral Murmu online to provide an international platform for this exciting emerging talent for the first time. He is one of only very few Adivasi film-makers and set to be a trailblazer in his field. Seral Murmu is an Adivasi filmmaker from Jharkhand in India whose films draw on oral Adivasi narratives, magical realism and experimental cinematography. His film Sondhayni (2019), for example, is a modern folktale that critiques the exploitation and destruction of the forest. Dissatisfied with the way Adivasi or 'Tribals' are depicted in Indian film, Seral Murmu makes a powerful statement about the urgent necessity to shift our perspectives and embrace creatively the diversity of the world we live in, here and there, beyond discriminatory and oppressive discourses. We screened three of Seral Murmu's short films, namely Sondhayni, Rawaah and Remains and the last two films are still available to be watched on NAE's website. At the end of the sessions, he answered questions from the audience that were submitted via the YouTube chat function. The response from established director Jayan Cherian, who watched the event, was very positive and we are planning to organise a dialogue with both film-makers in the in-person event in India in December 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_MQxVSFrck&t=1887s&ab_channel=NewArtExchange |
| Description | Nottingham Mela: a conversation with the Dalit writer Anjali Kajal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | THE POLITICS OF READING AND WRITING: A CONVERSATION WITH ANJALI KAJAL AND KAVITA BHANOT (Friday 10 September) Anjali Kajal is a short story writer from Punjab, and Kavita Bhanot recently translated some of Anjali Kajal's Hindi short stories into English. Kajal's feminist and anti-caste stories explore desire, abuse, silence, love and oppression. Kajal was honoured by Punjab Hindi Sahitya Academy, Jallandhar for her contribution to Hindi literature in 2003. Birmingham-based Kavita Bhanot, edited the anthology Too Asian, Not Asian Enough and Book of Birmingham and is currently editing an anthology on decolonising translation with Jeremy Tiang (Tilted Axis). She is a research fellow at Leicester University and a founder of the Literature Must Fall Collective. Anjali and Kavita talked about Kajal's feminist Dalit writing and the politics, aesthetics and activism of Dalit writing more widely to raise awareness among the Mela audience. At the end of the sessions, both answered questions from the audience that came in via the YouTube chat function. I had a lot of positive feedback and the event resulted in an invitation by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where Kajal's short stories will now be taught in Hindi. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFSBo3pRZ24&t=3480s&ab_channel=NewArtExchange |
| Description | Open Borders webinar with Seral Murmu |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Open Borders webinar with Seral Murmu on 7 March 2022 The second webinar series of 'Open Borders for Adivasi and Dalit Literature and Performing Arts', organised by our network, Nottingham Trent University's Postcolonial Studies Centre and the research centre EMMA at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 (UPVM), France, with the India-Indonesia Program at the Hebrew University Jerusalem, was launched in December 2021. Beside showcasing the research of early-career researchers, we also provide a platform for Adivasi and Dalit writers and performers such as Seral Murmu on 7 March 2022. The PI, Co-I and Marina Rimscha were delighted to to be able to continue the conversation with Seral Murmu as part of the Open Borders webinar series that was started during the Nottingham MELA event at New Art Exchange in September 2021 to raise awareness of this exceptional talent among our network and the general public. This session was uploaded to our YouTube channel 'On Page On Stage'. Seral Murmu is a filmmaker who graduated from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. His films focus on tribal issues, identity and struggle for equality and against injustice. He sees his films as a means to give strength to the tribal resistance happening in different parts of India. Belonging to the Santhal tribe, Seral Murmu was born and brought up in Ghatshila, a small town near the bank of the river Subarnarekha. He started his journey assisting documentary filmmakers while studying as an undergraduate in Mass Communications at St Xavier's college Ranchi in Jharkhand. During his work as an assistant, he was able to observe closely how powerful the film medium is. He thus decided to be a filmmaker telling his own stories to the world. Ranchi was the epicentre for tribal activists fighting for tribal rights and justice. He became closely associated with the activists, joining hands with them and making documentaries to give voices to those who are often unheard. He has collaborated as a cameraman and an editor and made eight documentaries and short fiction films. His short films Rawaah and Sondhayni have been screened at national and international film festivals and received numerous awards. He is currently working on a feature length documentary on the history of Santhali cinema. He is assigned to make two documentaries for Ramdayal Munda Tribal Research Institute in Ranchi and works on an ongoing project on Megaliths of Jharkhand and Tribal Resistance. He is deeply interested in tribal folklore, myths, arts and folk songs, all of which form the basis of his storytelling. He is the most promising emerging Adivasi filmmakers and we are delighted to be able to support his work and provide a platform for his films and message. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHdcRhOzFE&t=1758s&ab_channel=ONPAGEONSTAGE |
| Description | Poetry events in Paris 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Paris events (12-14 March) were designed to precede the Paris Book Fair and benefit from the publicity generated by India being the guest of honour that year but the Book Fair was cancelled at short notice due to the pandemic. The three evenings at different Paris libraries and multimedia libraries were nevertheless well-attended despite the fact that these were the final events before the libraries closed due to the pandemic; in other words, our cultural partners were so passionate about the importance of our events that they kept the libraries open just for us. The three events showcased different facets of Indian Dalit and Adivasi poetry and the importance of translation. The Dalit and Adivasi poets Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jacinta Kerketta and Jameela Nishat read from their work and were in dialogue with each other and with their translators Annie Montaut, Uma Damodar Sridhar and Johannes Laping. We also planned to show Nicolas Jaoul's documentary on Dalit Panthers, Sangharsh (2018) but this proved unfeasible due to pandemic restrictions. The schedule was as follows: The event 'Les littératures dalit et adivasi: des littératures indiennes à la marge de l'Inde? / Dalit and Adivasi Literatures: Indian Literatures at the margin?' took place at the Médiathèque Hélène Berr on 12 March and was designed to introduce a general audience to the poets and their work and its contexts of caste and marginalisation. The second event 'La poésie dalit et adivasi au croisement des langues / Dalit and Adivasi literatures at the crossroads of languages' at the Médiathèque Françoise Sagan on 13 March focused on the dialogue between the poets and their translators. The third event 'Les voix de la poésie: à l'écoute de la littérature dalit et adivasi / Indian Literatures: the Poet's Voice' at the Bibliothèque Marguerite Audoux on 14 March was designed to focus on the literary and activist work of the poets more specifically. All three events sparked a lively discussion in the Q&A sessions at the end, which continued beyond the allocated time. Members of the audience from diverse backgrounds included members of the Indian diaspora in France, translators, publishers and writers; all of them were keenly interested in the work and context of the poets, bought their publications or inquired after them, and reported a new and deeper understanding of inequalities in India but also a greater appreciation of the wealth and diversity of marginalised Indian literary traditions and practices. This was the first series of events that showcased Dalit and Adivasi writing at the Paris libraries and the libraries had both stocked relevant material in advance of the events and also expressed a firm commitment to include further Dalit and Adivasi writing in their libraries, a commitment that is necessary to stimulate the production of further translations into French. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrMryNWLDn9H7EJTk7PWbpQ/playlists |