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Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

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Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

Silence Is Not My Mother Tongue

Casey McGlasson
Casey McGlasson
Casey McGlasson
Casey McGlasson
1 Campaign |
Kolkata, India
$1,273 USD 7 backers
12% of $10,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
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Started in 2012, Adivaani is the first indigenous press in English in India.

 

India is home to more than 84 million ‘indigenous’ or Adivasi people; and yet, little is known about our socio-political and cultural identities and ways of being. Adivasi music, songs, and dance are featured in the opening and closing ceremonies of government and civil functions, but the history of our struggles and joys is largely erased by these same institutions.

 

Are we content with what has been written about us by others? Many of us are new writers and new readers. We don’t come from literate cultures. But we know the importance of countering the dominant narrative. This is the purpose of Adivaani. 

 

Adivaani is a response to the ongoing erasure, misrepresentation, and suppression of Adivasi peoples in India. Through documenting our narratives, our stories, our sagas, we hope to challenge the dominant record of ‘progress’ in this country and around the world.

 

The stories we tell aren’t only about struggle, misery, and exploitation; this is the dominant culture’s idea of us. Our stories represent the rich and varied legacy of our intellectual and creative traditions – imaginative, romantic, thrilling, and poetic. Our stories keep us rooted, and remind us daily that the dominant way of being is not the only way of being, nor should it be.

 

In 3 years, we’ve published 13 books by and about Adivasis, created 1 documentary film on the Santal lute, held 10 workshops and talks on Adivasi issues, and started an annual contest for indigenous writing.

 

In the year ahead, we hope to print and bind many more books, update our basic infrastructure (storeroom and computer), continue to support our authors, and begin documenting songs of resistance and resurgence and the role of Adivasi protagonists in people’s movements in India.

 

With this campaign, Silence is Not My Mother Tongue, we’ve set the bar high at 10,000 dollars. But even 10 dollars can go a long way in West Bengal. All of our funding comes from friends and friends of friends.

 

This is neither anthropological research nor the ‘preservation’ of a soon-to-be-extant culture. These are the expressions of living, breathing, dynamic people and the ways they navigate being human. This is a refusal to be silent and let others write us out of existence.

 

We thank you for standing in solidarity with us.

 

Please spread the word!

 

If you’d like to know more, please see our website at adivaani.org or email Ruby Hembrom at rubyhembrom@adivaani.org. Ruby is the founder/director of Adivaani and a third generation educated person from the largest homogenous tribe in India – the Santals.

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