Very good learning experience this. I am revising A Terrible Matriarchy for the second edition. Nagaland University has it on its syllabus for English Major students as a compulsory paper. Yay! I am editing grammatical mistakes and happy to get an opportunity to revise and edit again. I do subscribe to the school that believes in revision. It is a synonym for improvement and why should anyone have anything against that. That last sentence is not a question.:P.
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
Cultural theft vs. the gift of other eyes
Some years ago a plainsman came to the village of Khonoma in Nagaland. He made the acquaintance of an old woman who was a healer and a herbalist. Badgering her for many days and offering her a sum of money that was very large for a simple village dweller he made her part with the secrets of her herbal knowledge.
In a separate incident, a female research scholar from a state in eastern India gleaned a lot of information on Naga women. This took place in the nineties. The focus of her study was the physical and mental problems that Naga women endure in the midst of a political conflict. The scholar sent out questionnaires to several educated people in Nagaland without revealing her intentions. She then used that information to promote herself as an expert on Naga women and was invited to international seminars where she represented the case of women in conflict situations with special reference to the women of Nagaland. By virtue of the knowledge she received from the questionnaires, she made herself an authority on Naga women.
In yet another case, a woman from Vancouver has been regularly traveling to Nagaland to bring back Naga artefacts to sell at a huge Vancouver fair each year. Museums in Europe pay high prices for Naga artefacts sold by non-Naga traders. Cultural theft of Naga lore, that is the treasure of native wisdom, and theft of Naga crafts is happening at many levels.
Cultural theft is a big issue that has not been addressed yet in Nagaland because people are not aware that theft is taking place. Even today, Nagas readily part with their handicrafts and information on their culture because they do not realise that it is being traded for money in an economically global world or for intellectual rewards in the academic world.
It was saddening to see that a writer from another Indian state was used by the department of Art and Culture to write a volume of Naga folktales. The said volume was published by a Delhi-based publishing company funded by the government of Nagaland. I consider that as cultural theft aided by our own government. It is ludicrous to think that a writer from North India could do a better job of writing down the folk tales of the Nagas than the Nagas themselves.
It is equally preposterous to conclude that a non-Naga scholar could represent Naga women and advocate their pain better than Naga women scholars. These are thefts going on without checks. The whole question of cultural theft came to me when I was invited to an exhibition on the Nagas entitled, Jewels and Ashes. It is being held from January to June 2012 in Vienna's Museum for Volkekunde. It is a remarkable collection of Naga jewellery, and material objects of the Nagas by Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Furer Haimendorf. The anthropological collection was done in the late 1930s as well as after the Second World War. Haimendorf was well known to the native population and he paid handsomely for the items he was buying from the villagers. At the exhibition, Haimendorf's collection was supplemented by other museum collections in recent years.
Could the items in the exhibition be considered items of cultural theft? I asked myself. The answer was no. The original collectors had taken immense care to set up an archive for the Naga collection. In the intervening period, the cultural objects have been given legitimacy and new status and identity in Europe. The caretaking of these items by the museum made spiritual repossession possible by its former owners. Added to that, they have increased in value by being imbued with the gift of other eyes. Viewed by other eyes and deemed valuable and artistic by other eyes, they have received new life and become more than just cultural objects.
I observed that the museum's attitude to the objects was completely different from the previously mentioned cases of theft: for the museum, the exhibits are culture-carrying artefacts which should be displayed properly so they can point back to the culture they came from. It elicited deep appreciation in their Naga owners and reinforced the desire to protect the cultural treasures that they still have. It also eliminated the sense of shame that frequently plagues cultures that have been colonised in the past. There are several things that the Vienna exhibition achieves. The foremost is giving visibility to a remote mountain region as Nagaland was referred to at the 2008 basel exhibition. The interest taken in Naga culture by European audiences is becoming contagious. It greatly helps Nagas to try and understand their own cultures and look with new eyes upon their culture. It is an action that participates in a significant way in putting back value into that which was devalued by colonisation.
Cultural theft in the Naga case, has all been about people taking our knowledge and the opportunities that go with it. Beginning with the Naga exhibition at Museum der Kultur in basel, that is being turned around to some degree. The basel and Zurich exhibitions of 2008 gave great visibility to the Nagas. And now, the Austrian media has featured the 2012 Vienna exhibition prominently, with carefully balanced interviews and good reporting. It prioritised the opinions of the owners of the cultural objects and the knowledge that goes with them.
On the items in the museum, some are objects of art carefully wrought by hand. To me it means that people had the time to sit and create things with their hands, that there were long periods of peace where they could exercise the expression of their creative talents. This is such important information because it disproves the stereotypical image of the Naga as the incessantly feuding, bloodthirsty, barbaric head hunter, primarily preoccupied with battlesport. The objects in the museum which have come from a region which is stereotyped even among the Nagas themselves (as the last region of headhunting and barbarism), actually show great artistry and craftsmanship. I love that the exhibition opens up these other levels of Nagahood. It challenges the onlooker to look at the Nagas beyond the confines of stereotypes. There is more to them than the headhunting. There is more to them than a long drawn out political conflict. There is more to them than the festivals that draw in tourists once a year.
This challenging of stereotypes is another point that distinguishes the exhibition from cultural theft. In the cases of cultural theft, the thief perpetuates the stereotypical ways of looking at Naga culture. It allows room only for the thief's representation and makes no room for the voice of its authentic owners. Fifteen years ago, I was acquainted with a group in Meghalaya who were intending to patent both their botanical wealth and their folklore. Nagaland has no such strategy yet, but the threat of theft is more than real. Closing our cultural borders to outsiders is a strategy that will seem strange to us. But there are few alternatives for protecting our knowledge from those who are using it unscrupulously. In a manner of speaking, they are stealing from our children because they are staking claim to knowledge that legally belongs to our children.
Cultural theft is a generational crime. It is not much different from stealing a priceless heirloom that has been in the family for generations. But it is worse than that because it is actually stealing from the future and creating confusion about ownership. It is an insidious crime because it uses the assistance of government machinery to legitimise it. In the name of research, non-Naga scholars are continuing to commit cultural theft. Naga culture needs all the protection it can get so that the next generation is not doomed to having their culture dictated to them by an 'expert' from another state.
Originally published at The North-East Blog and Eastern Mirror Nagaland
In a separate incident, a female research scholar from a state in eastern India gleaned a lot of information on Naga women. This took place in the nineties. The focus of her study was the physical and mental problems that Naga women endure in the midst of a political conflict. The scholar sent out questionnaires to several educated people in Nagaland without revealing her intentions. She then used that information to promote herself as an expert on Naga women and was invited to international seminars where she represented the case of women in conflict situations with special reference to the women of Nagaland. By virtue of the knowledge she received from the questionnaires, she made herself an authority on Naga women.
In yet another case, a woman from Vancouver has been regularly traveling to Nagaland to bring back Naga artefacts to sell at a huge Vancouver fair each year. Museums in Europe pay high prices for Naga artefacts sold by non-Naga traders. Cultural theft of Naga lore, that is the treasure of native wisdom, and theft of Naga crafts is happening at many levels.
Cultural theft is a big issue that has not been addressed yet in Nagaland because people are not aware that theft is taking place. Even today, Nagas readily part with their handicrafts and information on their culture because they do not realise that it is being traded for money in an economically global world or for intellectual rewards in the academic world.
It was saddening to see that a writer from another Indian state was used by the department of Art and Culture to write a volume of Naga folktales. The said volume was published by a Delhi-based publishing company funded by the government of Nagaland. I consider that as cultural theft aided by our own government. It is ludicrous to think that a writer from North India could do a better job of writing down the folk tales of the Nagas than the Nagas themselves.
It is equally preposterous to conclude that a non-Naga scholar could represent Naga women and advocate their pain better than Naga women scholars. These are thefts going on without checks. The whole question of cultural theft came to me when I was invited to an exhibition on the Nagas entitled, Jewels and Ashes. It is being held from January to June 2012 in Vienna's Museum for Volkekunde. It is a remarkable collection of Naga jewellery, and material objects of the Nagas by Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Furer Haimendorf. The anthropological collection was done in the late 1930s as well as after the Second World War. Haimendorf was well known to the native population and he paid handsomely for the items he was buying from the villagers. At the exhibition, Haimendorf's collection was supplemented by other museum collections in recent years.
Could the items in the exhibition be considered items of cultural theft? I asked myself. The answer was no. The original collectors had taken immense care to set up an archive for the Naga collection. In the intervening period, the cultural objects have been given legitimacy and new status and identity in Europe. The caretaking of these items by the museum made spiritual repossession possible by its former owners. Added to that, they have increased in value by being imbued with the gift of other eyes. Viewed by other eyes and deemed valuable and artistic by other eyes, they have received new life and become more than just cultural objects.
I observed that the museum's attitude to the objects was completely different from the previously mentioned cases of theft: for the museum, the exhibits are culture-carrying artefacts which should be displayed properly so they can point back to the culture they came from. It elicited deep appreciation in their Naga owners and reinforced the desire to protect the cultural treasures that they still have. It also eliminated the sense of shame that frequently plagues cultures that have been colonised in the past. There are several things that the Vienna exhibition achieves. The foremost is giving visibility to a remote mountain region as Nagaland was referred to at the 2008 basel exhibition. The interest taken in Naga culture by European audiences is becoming contagious. It greatly helps Nagas to try and understand their own cultures and look with new eyes upon their culture. It is an action that participates in a significant way in putting back value into that which was devalued by colonisation.
Cultural theft in the Naga case, has all been about people taking our knowledge and the opportunities that go with it. Beginning with the Naga exhibition at Museum der Kultur in basel, that is being turned around to some degree. The basel and Zurich exhibitions of 2008 gave great visibility to the Nagas. And now, the Austrian media has featured the 2012 Vienna exhibition prominently, with carefully balanced interviews and good reporting. It prioritised the opinions of the owners of the cultural objects and the knowledge that goes with them.
On the items in the museum, some are objects of art carefully wrought by hand. To me it means that people had the time to sit and create things with their hands, that there were long periods of peace where they could exercise the expression of their creative talents. This is such important information because it disproves the stereotypical image of the Naga as the incessantly feuding, bloodthirsty, barbaric head hunter, primarily preoccupied with battlesport. The objects in the museum which have come from a region which is stereotyped even among the Nagas themselves (as the last region of headhunting and barbarism), actually show great artistry and craftsmanship. I love that the exhibition opens up these other levels of Nagahood. It challenges the onlooker to look at the Nagas beyond the confines of stereotypes. There is more to them than the headhunting. There is more to them than a long drawn out political conflict. There is more to them than the festivals that draw in tourists once a year.
This challenging of stereotypes is another point that distinguishes the exhibition from cultural theft. In the cases of cultural theft, the thief perpetuates the stereotypical ways of looking at Naga culture. It allows room only for the thief's representation and makes no room for the voice of its authentic owners. Fifteen years ago, I was acquainted with a group in Meghalaya who were intending to patent both their botanical wealth and their folklore. Nagaland has no such strategy yet, but the threat of theft is more than real. Closing our cultural borders to outsiders is a strategy that will seem strange to us. But there are few alternatives for protecting our knowledge from those who are using it unscrupulously. In a manner of speaking, they are stealing from our children because they are staking claim to knowledge that legally belongs to our children.
Cultural theft is a generational crime. It is not much different from stealing a priceless heirloom that has been in the family for generations. But it is worse than that because it is actually stealing from the future and creating confusion about ownership. It is an insidious crime because it uses the assistance of government machinery to legitimise it. In the name of research, non-Naga scholars are continuing to commit cultural theft. Naga culture needs all the protection it can get so that the next generation is not doomed to having their culture dictated to them by an 'expert' from another state.
Originally published at The North-East Blog and Eastern Mirror Nagaland
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Bitter Wormwood in Hindustan Times
Yes, Bitter Wormwood got a review in the Hindustan Times, but the reviewer sadly defines the Naga struggle for independence as insurrection. Readers, we shouldn't just rejoice when Bitter Wormwood gets some space in the national dailies.
There was on the whole, negative and incorrect information given between the lines. For instance, there is a general statement that implies the entire Naga population supported the Indian National Army and the Japanese during World War two. But the reviewer doesn't seem to know that if not for Naga help given to the British forces, the Japanese invasion of India would never have been thwarted. True, there was a very small group of Nagas with the INA, but the majority of the Naga population in the villages and beleaguered hamlet of Kohima helped the British government oust the Japanese from the Naga hills, and prevented them from reaching their real target: INDIA. When you get the opportunity, read the writing behind the big memorial at the war cemetery, behind, not in front of the memorial.
So read carefully guys!
There is also unfortunately, a hint of the typically dismissive attitude so common in big city journalists towards the Naga case or towards the Northeast, in this review. I think good reviewers are the ones who do not commence to read a book with already formed opinions about the content.
There was on the whole, negative and incorrect information given between the lines. For instance, there is a general statement that implies the entire Naga population supported the Indian National Army and the Japanese during World War two. But the reviewer doesn't seem to know that if not for Naga help given to the British forces, the Japanese invasion of India would never have been thwarted. True, there was a very small group of Nagas with the INA, but the majority of the Naga population in the villages and beleaguered hamlet of Kohima helped the British government oust the Japanese from the Naga hills, and prevented them from reaching their real target: INDIA. When you get the opportunity, read the writing behind the big memorial at the war cemetery, behind, not in front of the memorial.
So read carefully guys!
There is also unfortunately, a hint of the typically dismissive attitude so common in big city journalists towards the Naga case or towards the Northeast, in this review. I think good reviewers are the ones who do not commence to read a book with already formed opinions about the content.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Masks
Every culture uses masks. I guess it is necessary to social survival. We couldn't possibly face each other again if we had seen each other without our masks, could we? If we allow others to see our secret fears, we would feel vulnerable and opened out and susceptible to attack. Wouldn't we or would we?
There is actually freedom in unmasking oneself. It is a feeling that overwhelms with the great sense of being liberated from the thought that there is no need to hide anything anymore..this is a thought I want to develop more later in a book or a short essay.
There is actually freedom in unmasking oneself. It is a feeling that overwhelms with the great sense of being liberated from the thought that there is no need to hide anything anymore..this is a thought I want to develop more later in a book or a short essay.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Let’s hear it for the postal services
The Nagaland post office is in line for a big kudos. Overseas readers report that parcels sent before Christmas reached them safe and sound before New Year’s and just after the New Year. That is very good progress indeed. A far cry from the days when sending a parcel from India was a matter of uncertain and unintended adventure. Misadventure is the more appropriate term because packages went missing and never reached their appointed destinations. Important documents and also packages of a personal nature containing loving gifts would go missing and never be heard of again. Honestly there was a time when sending a parcel was not very different from dropping it into a big black hole. If the postal gods favored you, it would be delivered. If not, ask not where it went or forever hold your peace.
Parcels sent from Nagaland were dispatched to assigned Indian cities such as Calcutta designed to deal with the troublesome north east. I presume there were a team of trained hardcore professionals with looks on their countenances as unrelenting as a registered seal. (You know the sort: their first cousins used to man Immigrations and customs at Calcutta airport). I imagine they sniffed at every parcel from the North east, performing this duty personally instead of assigning the sniffer dogs to it. Perhaps they were sending out anti national elements in all these badly wrapped, marking cloth covered packages from the northeastern states. For whatever reason there be, only one in a million parcels from Nagaland ever found its way to the target.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, glory halleluia, reports are trickling in from the front line of parcels that have made it to the addresses they were posted to! Those brave little parcel-soldiers running past intermittent gunfire and mortar shelling and perhaps guided missiles whilst whizzing their way over Afghanistan or Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan! Cheer them on, come on give them a loud hurrah when you see them coming through! That’s Turkey that they have crossed now. Well done fellows, it’s not long now, not much longer until you are on the safe shores of Mother Europe. Come on, one last heave and we are home!
The applause of the cheering crowds for the parcel soldiers is stupendous. It almost sounds like it would bring down the house. The chairman stands and holds up his hand for silence.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating the postal services for this amazing feat of successful parcel delivery! Hip hip hurrah!”
The curtain comes down slowly even as the applause continues unabated. Fade out.
Parcels sent from Nagaland were dispatched to assigned Indian cities such as Calcutta designed to deal with the troublesome north east. I presume there were a team of trained hardcore professionals with looks on their countenances as unrelenting as a registered seal. (You know the sort: their first cousins used to man Immigrations and customs at Calcutta airport). I imagine they sniffed at every parcel from the North east, performing this duty personally instead of assigning the sniffer dogs to it. Perhaps they were sending out anti national elements in all these badly wrapped, marking cloth covered packages from the northeastern states. For whatever reason there be, only one in a million parcels from Nagaland ever found its way to the target.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, glory halleluia, reports are trickling in from the front line of parcels that have made it to the addresses they were posted to! Those brave little parcel-soldiers running past intermittent gunfire and mortar shelling and perhaps guided missiles whilst whizzing their way over Afghanistan or Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan! Cheer them on, come on give them a loud hurrah when you see them coming through! That’s Turkey that they have crossed now. Well done fellows, it’s not long now, not much longer until you are on the safe shores of Mother Europe. Come on, one last heave and we are home!
The applause of the cheering crowds for the parcel soldiers is stupendous. It almost sounds like it would bring down the house. The chairman stands and holds up his hand for silence.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating the postal services for this amazing feat of successful parcel delivery! Hip hip hurrah!”
The curtain comes down slowly even as the applause continues unabated. Fade out.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Airport, airport
I think I have been overdoing the traveling this month. Either that or too frequent travels with too little breaks in between. The pilot on the Scandinavian flight seemed oddly familiar the sixth time round and I knew all the articles by heart in the in flight magazine. At least tomorrow is the last flight for a long long time even if its a long haul to Vienna and then to Delhi. I am tired of the in flight food and the unimaginative food at the kiosks in the airport.
Austrian airways have wonderful menus and Austrian bread is white and sweet and just up my alley. Plus, they keep serving you food every hour or so, small meals which leave you just that little bit hungry for the next snack. Hehe.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Governor’s award for excellence in art, literature
State governor Nikhil Kumar on the occasion of Republic Day felicitated five personalities
of the state for their distinctive excellence in the fields of art, music and literature.
The five recipients of the Governor’s Award are Velasuzo Shijoh, Yanger Toshi Pongen,
Senti Toy, Margaret Shishak and Easterine Kire.
Lauding the recipients, Nikhil Kumar said they had each promoted their roots and culture through their own proficiency. He also acknowledged the selection committee headed by chief secretary Lalthara for selecting the right people. While pointing out that India was on the move to becoming an economic super power, the governor asserted that Nagaland would not be left behind in the process but will keep pace with others and move forward with excellence. Chief minister Neiphiu Rio said Nagas have been recognized worldwide in the field of art, music and literature, and urged the recipients to be role models for the younger generation.
He said “Let this governor’s medals, award be a message for talent to grow’.
The governor gave away mementoes along with shawls and cash award of `25000 each and certificates to Yangertoshi Pongen (Art), Velasuzo Shijoh (Art), Margaret Shishak (Music), Senti Toy (Music), Easterine Kire (Literature). The governor also felicitated Divine Connection on winning MTV Kurkure Desi Beats Rock On. A cash award of `10,000 was presented to them.
Earlier, commissioner and secretary, Tourism, Art and Culture gave a brief introduction on the governor’s award. The programme was attended by MLAs, officials from state government, army and other organizations.
Governor’s award for excellence in art, literature - Nagaland Post
Lauding the recipients, Nikhil Kumar said they had each promoted their roots and culture through their own proficiency. He also acknowledged the selection committee headed by chief secretary Lalthara for selecting the right people. While pointing out that India was on the move to becoming an economic super power, the governor asserted that Nagaland would not be left behind in the process but will keep pace with others and move forward with excellence. Chief minister Neiphiu Rio said Nagas have been recognized worldwide in the field of art, music and literature, and urged the recipients to be role models for the younger generation.
He said “Let this governor’s medals, award be a message for talent to grow’.
The governor gave away mementoes along with shawls and cash award of `25000 each and certificates to Yangertoshi Pongen (Art), Velasuzo Shijoh (Art), Margaret Shishak (Music), Senti Toy (Music), Easterine Kire (Literature). The governor also felicitated Divine Connection on winning MTV Kurkure Desi Beats Rock On. A cash award of `10,000 was presented to them.
Earlier, commissioner and secretary, Tourism, Art and Culture gave a brief introduction on the governor’s award. The programme was attended by MLAs, officials from state government, army and other organizations.
Governor’s award for excellence in art, literature - Nagaland Post
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