Episode 2: Knowledge Commons and the Adivasis

“If others appreciate enough, the Adivasi communities wouldn’t hesitate to tell their stories.”

Adivasis are the indigenous communities in India. There are 104 million Adivasis that speak a few hundred languages but only a handful of them have access to media of their own. In this episode of O Foundation Conversations, our host Subhashish Panigrahi talks to Ankush Vengurlekar and Ashish Birulee of Adivasi Lives Matter, a platform dedicated to giving a voice to Advisi content producers. Shaped with inspirations from the Black Lives Matter movement, Adivasi Lives Matter provides training to many Adivasi youths on a regular basis who then create stories — text, audio and video. Even the hardship of the COVID-19 lockdown has not stopped these content creators who are on a mission to promote their people, languages and cultures online. This episode is only a glimpse of the myriad of activities that Adivasi Lives Matter has been leading.

Music

https://freesound.org/people/0ktober/sounds/188828/, https://freesound.org/people/16HPanskaBenda_Jonas/sounds/503635/, https://freesound.org/people/mahammed/sounds/444271/, https://freesound.org/people/Tr4ck3r/sounds/132382/, https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/411162/, https://freesound.org/people/pjcohen/sounds/414447, https://freesound.org/people/SamplingSamTheMarylandMan/sounds/468520/, https://freesound.org/people/swapnil_gt/sounds/255115/, https://freesound.org/people/quetzalcontla/sounds/458425/, https://freesound.org/s/173564/

Reading List

1. Oxfam India. “Who Tells Our Stories Matters: Representation of Marginalised Caste Groups in Indian Newsrooms”. https://www.oxfamindia.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Oxfam%20NewsLaundry%20Report_For%20Media%20use.pdf
2. Rao, Aprameya. “The great Indian language trouble”. Asian Age. https://www.asianage.com/age-on-sunday/091119/the-great-indian-language-trouble.html