[1368] in peace2
S. Asian Tribal Literature Discussion and Film Screening
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Payal Parekh)
Thu Jan 10 09:45:41 2002
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:44:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Payal Parekh <parekh@pimms.mit.edu>
Reply-To: Payal Parekh <parekh@pimms.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@mit.edu, Arindam Dutta <adutta@mit.edu>, phrj@mit.edu
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Association for India's Development (AID-Boston)
&
Asha for Education
Present
Social Justice in the South Asian Imagination
Tribal Literature and Film
Date: Saturday, Jan 12th, 2002
Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Room 4-237, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge:02139
Program:
" Documentary Film Premiere about the renowned writer, Mahasweta Devi
" Question and Answer session with the Director, Shashwati Talukdar
" Information Session with award-winning literary critic, Dr. Ganesh Devy
Video Presentation
-------------------
"Mahashweta Devi: Witness, Advocate, Writer": Director: Shashwati Talukdar
(2001) This video brings us face-to-face with one of the most celebrated
writers in India. It gives us an intimate view of the author's daily life
and her tireless pursuit of justice for India's tribal poor. She reads
from her highly acclaimed writing and discusses its relevance for social
change. Mahasweta comes to life as an ordinary person in extraordinary
settings, fighting back through literature against nationalist,
patriarchal, and capitalist violence. She illustrates the grim tale that
led to her founding of the Denotified and Nomadic Tribes Rights Action
Group - an organization fighting for the rights of India's poor and
oppressed indigenous population. The director, Shashwati Talukdar, has
been producing short films and videos since 1994. Primarily a maker of
experimental and narrative works, this video marks her entrance into the
documentary genre. She tackles the theme with a critical approach that
matches European avant-garde with Third World radical filmmaking.
Discussion
-----------
Dr.Ganesh Devy The founder of Bhasha, Dr. Ganesh Devy is devoting his life
to protecting the cultures of tribal people in India. His background in
literature and his commitment to preserving languages has enabled him to
document the endangered languages of tribal people. Most importantly,
tribal language protection is seen as a key to economic subsistence and
self-development. Devy is the author of After Amnesia: Tradition and
Change in Indian Literary Criticism, for which he won the Sahitya Akademi
(National Book) award. He has also authored Of Many Heroes, Critical
Thought, and Tradition and Modernity. In 1996, Dr.Devy won three
prestigious fellowships but found he needed to close the gap between his
academic pursuit and his hands-on work with the denotified tribes of
Gujarat. Dr. Devy handed over his property to Bhasha and has been
developing the organization ever since.
Find out more about denotified tribes, Bhasha Centre and Mahasweta Devi at
www.georgetown.edu/departments/pjp/dnt-rag. More information about the
event is available at
http://www.indiatogether.org/events/jan02/justice.htm
About Association for India's Development
------------------------------------------
The Association for India's Development (AID) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit
charitable organization. Started in 1991 by graduate
students at the University of Maryland, AID has been raising awareness on
development issues and supporting community
development efforts in India. Find out more about AID at
<www.aidindia.org> or by phone at 1-888-TALK-2-AID.
About Asha for Education
-------------------------
Asha for Education is an organization dedicated to socio-economic change
in India. In pursuit of this goal, Asha focuses on basic education in the
belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change.
For more information, please see www.ashanet.org
For further questions, reply to this mail or call (617) 491 4573.
