Media, Indigeneity and Nation in South Asia

298 Pages·2019·5.72 MB·English

by  Markus Schleiter (editor), Erik de Maaker (editor)

Media, Indigeneity and Nation in
South Asia
How do videos, movies and documentaries dedicated to indigenous communities
transform the media landscape of South Asia? Based on extensive original research,
this book examines how in South Asia popular music videos, activist political
clips, movies and documentaries about, by and for indigenous communities take
on radically new signifi cances. M edia, Indigeneity and Nation in South Asia shows
how in the portrayal of indigenous groups by both ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’
imaginations of indigeneity and nation become increasingly interlinked. Indigenous
groups, typically marginal to the nation, are at the same time part of mainstream
polities and cultures. Drawing on perspectives from media studies and visual
anthropology, this book compares and contrasts the situation in South Asia with
indigeneity globally.
Markus Schleiter is Lecturer in the Institute of Ethnology at Münster University,
Germany.
Erik de Maaker is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural Anthropology
and Development Sociology at Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia
Series Editor: Stephanie Hemelryk Donald
Editorial Board:
Gregory N. Evon, University of New South Wales
Devleena Ghosh, University of Technology, Sydney
Peter Horsfi eld, RMIT University, Melbourne
Chris Hudson, RMIT University, Melbourne
Michael Keane, Curtin University
Tania Lewis, RMIT University, Melbourne
Vera Mackie, University of Wollongong
Kama Maclean, University of New South Wales
Laikwan Pang, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Gary Rawnsley, Aberystwyth University
Ming-yeh Rawnsley, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Jo Tacchi, Lancaster University
Adrian Vickers, University of Sydney
Jing Wang, MIT
Ying Zhu, City University of New York
The aim of this series is to publish original, high-quality work by both new and
established scholars in the West and the East, on all aspects of media, culture and
social change in Asia.
Digital China’s Informal Circuits
Platforms, Labour and Governance
Elaine Jing Zhao
The Early Transnational Chinese Film Industry, 1897–1937
Yongchun Fu
Urban Culture in Pre-war Japan
Adam Thorin Croft
Media, Indigeneity and Nation in South Asia
Edited by Markus Schleiter and Erik de Maaker
Love Stories in China
The Politics of Intimacy in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Wanning Sun and Ling Yang
F or a full list of available titles please visit: www.routledge.com/Media-Culture-
and-Social-Change-in-Asia-Series/book-series/SE0797
Media, Indigeneity and
Nation in South Asia
Edited by Markus Schleiter and
Erik de Maaker
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Markus Schleiter and Erik de
Maaker; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Markus Schleiter and Erik de Maaker to be identifi ed as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
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recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
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ISBN: 978-1-138-35467-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-42464-9 (ebk)
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Contents
List of fi gures viii
Notes on contributors x
Acknowledgements xv
1 Introduction: screening indigeneity and nation 1
ERIK DE MAAKER AND MARKUS SCHLEITER
PART I
Vernacular popular culture: movies and music videos 27
2 Himachali indigeneity: Gaddi music VCDs and expressions
of belonging 29
ANJA WAGNER
3 ‘Manbhum’ videos and their many contours: contexts,
contents, and the comic mode as a subversive form 46
MADHUJA MUKHERJEE
4 Films, fl irts, and no dances: a village video night and
the circulation of popular Santali VCDs among Birhor
people in India 66
MARKUS SCHLEITER
5 The diffused substance of Bhojpuri indigeneity 90
AKSHAYA KUMAR
vi Contents
PART II
Politicising indigeneity: video clips and movies 105
6 Primitive accumulation and “primitive” subjects in
postcolonial India: tracing the myriad real and virtual lives
of mediatised indigeneity activism 107
UDAY CHANDRA
7 Giving voice? Experiences of collaboration on indigenous
video-making projects 122
RADHIKA BORDE
8 From clanships to cyber communities: India’s Northeast
in the digital age 132
DAISY HASAN
9 Projecting and rejecting indigeneity: ‘From Bangladesh
with Love’ 150
CARMEN BRANDT
PART III
Documenting and fi ctionalising indigeneity 171
10 Made in India: ethnographic fi lms beyond visual
anthropology 173
GIULIA BATTAGLIA
11 Critiquing stereotypes? Documentary as dialogue
with the Garo 196
ERIK DE MAAKER
12 YouTube and the rising trend of indigenous folk dance:
the case of the sakela dance of the Rai in Nepal and
their diaspora 213
MARION WETTSTEIN
13 Identity, indigeneity, and cultural props: portraying the
Tai-Ahoms in two Assamese fi lms based on the legend
of Joymati 229
ARZUMAN ARA
Contents vii
14 Polyandry, sexuality and the (mis)representation of
indigenous women on Indian screens. The fi lm Sonam:
The Fortunate One 246
MARA MATTA
15 Afterword: meditations on media in digital times 266
ROBIN JEFFREY
Index 274
Figures
1.1 Munna Bhai, Santali music video and fi lm producer at Sur
Sangeet Films, in his VCD shop 2
1.2 On stage at the regional fi lm festival Jharkhand Cine Award,
organised by the All India Santali Film Association (AISFA),
in Jamshedpur in May 2013 11
2.1 VCDs produced in Kangra District, Himachal Pradesh,
featuring images of Gaddi people on the cover 30
3.1 Le samla sadher tomato: Taste, Taboo and Tomato 56
3.2 ‘Huchke niye puchke dili re’ : Between folk humour and
grotesque realism 59
4.1 Birhor tola (subvillage) of Durdura, Mayurbhanj, Odisha in 2007 67
4.2 Video night at a family’s courtyard in a t ola with predominantly
Santal residents, near to the Birhor t ola , Durdura, 2007 68
4.3 Chandra Tudu during the interview conducted in 2011 69
4.4 VCD cover of Santali fi lm C horok Chikan (2005) 74
4.5 VCD cover of Santali fi lm A chchha Thik Geya (2008) 75
4.6 Birhor and Santal people dancing together at a village
dance in Durdura, 2007 77
8.1 An image of Nido Taniam that was used to mobilise
a call for justice 142
8.2 A still from the Shillong Chamber Choir’s ‘Just One’
Music Video 145
9.1 Carmen Brandt and Shibly Sadik 152
9.2 Joy and Lisa in Cox’s Bazar 154
9.3 Lisa on Bengali New Year’s Day dressed in a traditional sari 156
10.1 2008 Delhi International Ethnographic Film Festival
(DIEFF) banner 174
10.2 Audience listening to the seminar ‘Practicing the Craft,
Crafting the Practice’ hosted by Delhi University during
the 2008 DIEFF – among the audience, Saba Dewan and
David MacDougall 174
10.3 Invited participants at the seminar ‘Practicing the Craft,
Crafting the Practice’ hosted by Delhi University during
Figures ix
the 2008 DIEFF. Speakers include (left to right) Sanjay Kak,
Rahul Roy, Judith MacDougall, Nandini Bedi and Reena Mohan. 175
10.4 Cover of the book: A Portrayal of People: Essays on
Visual Anthropology in India (Singh and DasGupta 1987) 183
10.5 Cover of the book: V isual Anthropology and India:
Proceeding of a Seminar (Singh 1992) 184
10.6 Cover of the book: V isual Anthropology in India and
Its Development (Sahay 1993) 185
13.1 Xorai in Agarwala’s J oymoti used for offering to gods 231
13.2 Xorai in Borah’s Joymati used for offering paan-tamul 232
13.3 Jaapis as background decoration in Agarwala’s J oymoti 233
13.4 Jaapis as headwear in Borah’s J oymati 233
13.5 Dragons as background decoration in Borah’s J oymati 234
13.6 Gamosa offered before the priests in Borah’s J oymati 235
13.7 Clothing worn by members of the Tai-Ahom community
during a cultural event in Sonari, Chraideo, Upper Assam 235
13.8 Clothing worn by members of the Tai-Ahom community
at a religious event in Patsako, upper Assam region 236
13.9 Video still from a video posted on YouTube showing a
Tai-Ahom demonstration to demand ST status; demonstrators
wear traditional clothing as a marker of identity 236
13.10 Costumes in Borah’s J oymati 237