Session 42 summary
An insight into India’s first Academy for Tribals; story of its formation, activities and intervention
The Adivasi Academy has an important relation with languages, as majority of the languages that have yet to be recognized are the tribal languages and only 780 languages have been documented. To work on Adivasi languages, the program was initially started from a Panchayat Bhawanwhere the youths were trained who later became experts who gave lectures to the future generation. The first batch of youth was trained by Dr. Ganesh Devyto run the academy and these youths are now coordinators of different departments.
The Adivasi Academy has a unique museum called ‘Vaacha’- Museum of Voice, which is a Museum of open walls and laid out in a way which is open to approach, open to light and also open at night. The museum works as an active space for learning. There is a Bhasha Van in the academy which was started by Dr. Devy, where each tree represents a language and earlier they used to have an audio guide but now augmented reality is in use. The Adivasi Academy has a library with 50,000 titles of books, journals, newspapers and pre-independence publications. The Vasantshala School created as a bridge school for the children of migrant Adivasi families which provides the mother tongue education to the children. The academy has organized activities for the tribals and government officials to interact and understand each other better. They have also organized local theaters for nearby areas and documented 30 different kinds of chutneys.
The academy aims to revive forgotten crafts so that the new generation of the tribal people can make them again, like reviving traditional weaving. They have installed the looms for weaving in the academy, in the beginning there was only one weaver but more weavers started joining in. So in the later years few changes were made from chemically dyed yarns to natural dyed yarns and new explorations were done on it to improve the weaving. They have also cultivated indigo as they were exploring natural dyes. With the use and exploration of natural dyes they have started workshops on natural dyes and spinning yarns. They have been exploring the possibilities of non-stick terracotta utensils in the urban kitchens. They have also been making papers out of crop harvest waste and during the process of making natural dyes.
About the Speaker
Madan Meena
Director
Tribal Academy
Tejgadh, Gujarat
Dr. Madan Meena is the Honorary Director of Adivasi Academy. He is also a painter, researcher and writer. Dr. Madan Meena was born in 1974 in the small village of Narayanpur, District Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. The simplicity of the rural life in which his roots are embedded has influenced all his artistic facets.
