YOUTUBE: ON PAGE ON STAGE
Click here to see Open Borders events uploaded to the On Page On Stage YouTube channel.
ON PAGE ON STAGE is a digital publication channel which covers the series of events organised by the AHRC-funded initiative ‘On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts’ (2020-22). This series of events continues the work by Research Network ‘Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature’, coordinated by Dr Nicole Thiara and Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak. The Executive Board consists of Dr. Nicole Thiara, lecturer in English at Nottingham Trent University, UK, and Dr. Judith Misrahi-Barak, Associate Professor in English at Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, France. The Executive Editors are Prof. Vinod Verma, University of Delhi, India, and Marina Rimscha, lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. If you would like to get involved or suggest material for uploading, please contact: nicole.thiara@ntu.ac.uk, vinodkvverma@yahoo.com or marina.rimscha@mail.huji.ac.il.
CADALFEST AT NEW ART EXCHANGE
OCTOBER 2022 – FEBRUARY 2023
The following videos are recordings of the series of events hosted by NAE in Nottingham for CADALFEST.
Hosted by the New Art Exchange in Nottingham in October 2022, the playwright and actor Saraswathi D performed her one-woman play Suntimmi Ramayna. The play is a re-telling of the Indian epic from a Dalit feminist perspective from the world view of Dalit women, and is sympathetic to the female characters. The play spotlights the narrator’s role in deftly undermining more emphatically patriarchal renditions of the epic while also foregrounding women’s labour and women’s oral storytelling traditions: a coconut grater plays a central role! The play is performed in the South Indian language Kannada.
Hosted by the New Art Exchange in Nottingham in October 2022, acclaimed poets Jameela Nishat and Saraswathi D read from their work in both their mother tongues and in English translation and talk to each other about their journeys as writers from marginalised and oppressed backgrounds. Their writing is distinct and unique but they also perform as the voice of many silenced members of their communities.
Hosted by the New Art Exchange in Nottingham in October 2022, acclaimed poets Jacinta Kerketta and Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy read from their work in both their mother tongues and in English translation and talk to each other about their journeys as writers from marginalised and oppressed backgrounds. Their writing is distinct and unique but they also perform as the voice of many silenced members of their communities.
Hosted by the New Art Exchange in Nottingham in October 2022, Saraswathi D, Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jacinta Kerketta and Jameela Nishat talk about their writing and how it relates to and informs their activist work. They create beautiful poetry, plays and novels and are at the same time deeply involved in working for and with their communities.
CADALFEST AT ADISHAKTI DECEMBER 2022
The following videos are recordings of events from the festival at Adishakti in December 2022.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, the Krishnagiri People Art Group performed Songs to Babasaheb, a musical performance by Arumugam and Rajeswari. Krishnagiri Makkal Kalai Kuzhu was founded in 1998. Their motto is creating awareness to common people on the issues of Dalits, freedom for women, and child labourers. They are involved in the Literacy movement all over Tamilnadu. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, Vandna Tete, Ganga Sahay Meena, Seral Murmu, and Ashwini Kumar Pankaj discuss the significance of Adivasi languages and their translation in this roundtable discussion, moderated by Gopika Jadeja. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
TM Krishna is a vocalist, writer, an activist and Perumal Murugan is an author and scholar who writes in Tamil. Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, they explore their history, lore, and lived experience to arrive at a more organic and holistic understanding of the music that Mrdangam makes. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, Perumal Murugan, Gogu Shyamala, Salma, Meenda Kandasamy, and Jitendra Vasava discuss translation in this round table moderated by Ritu Tyagi in collaboration with Jenni Balasubramanian, Gopika Jadeja, and Chandra Sekhar. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, writers Gogu Shyamala, Salma, and Meena Kandasamy read and discuss their work with one another. Moderated by Nicole Thiara, Ritu Tyagi, and Chandra Sekhar. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, Koumarane Valavane and Pankaj Rishi Kumar discuss their involvement in the creation of Janani’s Juliet, moderated by Judith Misrahi-Barak. Recorded by Shantini Senthil. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
Hosted by Adishakti for CADALFEST in December 2022, Lakshman KP and Mohit Kaycee from the Jangama Collective join Jyoti Nisha and Tenma in conversation with Dickens Leonard and Manju Edachira. They discuss the Magizhchi perspective of the first CADALFEST, alongside film clips and trailers. Recorded and edited by Shanthini Senthil Kumar.
In Conversation with the Dalit Feminist Writer,
Gogu Shyamala
Gogu Shyamala discusses her literary and academic work to mark the republication of her short story collection Father May be an Elephant, and Mother Only a Small Basket, But…, by Tilted Axis Press in March 2022. Her focus on the perspective of Dalit women and children as well as her stories’ celebration of Dalit strength and culture is explored. Gogu Shyamala tells us about her choice of, and experimentation with, the short story form, and how she sees her role as writer, academic and activist. We also discuss land relations and the link to caste, sexual violence, inter-caste love and other key concerns of her fiction and academic writing. Gogu Shyamala is in conversation with Sowjanya Tamalapakula, Bethan Evans, Judith Misrahi-Barak and Nicole Thiara, and the session concludes with Q&A with the online audience via YouTube chat.
Adivasi and Dalit Futurism: Artists Subash Thebe Limbu and Osheen Siva in Conversation
In recent times, the rapidly changing socio-political, environmental, and technological changes have centralised focus on reimagining and reconfiguring futures. While the Futurism movement, which began in Italy and spread to other European countries, sought to cleave off from the past and prophesized exciting futures through new technologies, futurisms that emerged from the margins were motivated by different urges – to question Eurocentric ideas of progress, development, scientific rationality, and techno futures. Afrofuturism, Latinx Futurism, and different kinds of Subaltern Futurisms have imagined alternate futures through speculative art and fiction by firmly holding on to the past. In the Indian subcontinent, artists Subash Thebe Limbu and Osheen Siva have conceptualised Adivasi Futurism and Tamil Dalit Futures respectively. This conversation explores how they utilise the anti-caste philosophy that guides their multimodal artwork. It also explores how the artists use speculative art to posit alternate futures that resist caste and privilege their identities. The conversation, moderated by Prof. K.A. Geetha and Priteegandha Naik discusses Dalit and Adivasi futurism and the potential it offers to dream up new and equal futures.
‘Babasaheb Ambedkar’ / Pondicherry 2022
The play ‘Babasaheb Ambedkar’ was directed by Dr P. Arunagiri and performed in Pondicherry. It talks about the pain of Dalit peoples through some of Dr Ambedkar’s life scenarios. A few scenes were recorded and are presented here. The play is dedicated to Dr Kuppusamy and Dalit Subbaiah Sir, a singer and Dalit activist.
Meeting Amudha and Sundaram A conversation about Rajappa puppet show
R. Sundari responded to the invitation of the On Page On Stage AHRC-funded Network and brought the Rajappa puppet show to an audience of children and adults in Auroville (Tamil Nadu). They were gracefully hosted at Tamil Ulagam for the duration of the show, some excerpts of which have been recorded and can be watched on this channel (https://youtu.be/-ywUFHOOw84). This impromptu conversation with Sundaram and Amudha will provide some context to understanding the unique aspects of the disappearing art of those stick puppets made of goatskin.
The Rajappa puppet show in Auroville
Dalit and Adivasi Poetry with Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jacinta Kerketta and Jameela Nishat
Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, Jacinta Kerketta and Jameela Nishat present their poetry at the first AHRC-funded event of “On Page on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts” (Paris, March 2020). This is a multilingual event, with readings in Deccani, Kannada and Hindi, and moderation in French and English.
Dalit Adivasi Text 