TDF Inquiries

What if one of the oldest bridges between India and Germany runs through Adivasi country? This article follows languages, stories, archives and knowledge that travelled between communities and institutions, asking what might emerge when India and Germany begin remembering together.

When an encyclopaedia carries one scholar’s name, how many other knowledge holders remain behind its pages? This article revisits the Encyclopaedia Mundarica to explore collaboration, translation and intellectual lineage — and asks whose knowledge actually created the archive.

A grammar. A dictionary. A book of stories. But whose knowledge are we reading? This article follows Kurukh knowledge from Oraon communities into books and archives, asking whether the Indigenous writers, storytellers and contributors behind those texts can still be found.

What if the Adivasi archive is not missing, but hidden inside the categories used to describe it? This article explores how historical names, classifications and institutions shape discoverability — and imagines an archive organised around communities rather than collections.

Finding an archive may only be the beginning. This article asks what happens when communities encounter records created about them generations ago — correcting names, restoring context, adding memory and deciding what should remain visible. Can an archive learn to listen?