Adivaani (stylised as adivaani, in lower case) is a platform that aims to support indigenous expression and assertion, based in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, India. It is a publishing, archiving and chronicling outfit of and by
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
's
Adivasi
The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...
Tribes.
History
In April 2012, Ruby Hembrom attended a four month publishing course, and on being confronted by the absence, invisibility and erasure of Adivasi representation in the curriculum and discourse, a common feature in many spaces she had been at, the idea began there.
Adivaani was registered as a
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
on 19 July 2012, and became operational, and have produced 19 books thus far, including to anthologies.
Adivaani is the first publishing outfit of and by
indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to publish in the English language,
Hembrom co-opted two others to collaborate with,
one of whom still remains with Adivaani as a
volunteer
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
.
Etymology
Adivaani is a combination of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word '
''adi''
' meaning '
''first''
', '
''original''
', '
''ancient''
' or '
''earliest''
', and '
''vaani''
' meaning '
''voice''
'. Adivaani translates to the first voices''
'.
Work
Adivaani aims to document and disseminate knowledge systems, tangible and intangible cultural facets of Adivasis in English and bi-lingual, creating a database of the authentic Adivasi voice, as recounted by them, using diverse
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
channels, which can be accessible to indigenous people themselves.
Adivaani has made a
documentary film on the making and playing of the Santhal lute and fiddle, the Banam.
Adivaani's first two books were released at the
New Delhi World Book Fair
The New Delhi World Book Fair, hosted at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, is India's second oldest book fair after the Kolkata Book Fair. The first New Delhi World Book Fair was held from March 18 to April 4, 1972 in roughly 6790 m2 area with 20 ...
, 2013:
Gladson Dungdung's 'Whose Country is it anyway?' and, Ruby Hembrom and Boski Jain's 'We Come from the Geese'.
The theme of the book fair was 'Indigenous Voices: Mapping India's
Folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
and Tribal Literature'.
[{{Cite news, last=Kotamraju, first=Priyanka, date=February 8, 2013, title=It's time Adivasis spoke about their anguish, work=The Indian Express, url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/-it-s-time-adivasis-wrote-spoke-about-their-anguish-/1071161, access-date=October 16, 2020]
References
External links
* https://adivaani.org/
* Wessler, Heinz Werner. (June 3, 2020)
From marginalisation to rediscovery of identity: Dalit and Adivasi voices in Hindi literature.Studia Neophilologica. Argington; Routledge,
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...
Group.
* Dungdung, Gladson. (February 5, 2020)
Indian citizenship laws have deep impact on Adivasis. IWGIA.
* Dasgupta, Sangeeta. (September, 2018)
Adivasi studies: From a historian's perspective History Compass. Wiley.
Adivasi