Presenter
Gaind Arpit - Department of World Arts and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, United StatesPanel
105 – Indigeneity and Art: Tracing Indigenous Adivasi empowerment and Resistance in IndiaAbstract
Naachi Se Baanchi (2017) is a biographical documentary about Dr. Ram Dayal Munda, an Adivasi leader and intellectual who played a pivotal role in the Jharkhand movement for independent statehood and the cultural resurgence of Adivasi identity. Directed by Biju Toppo, India’s first Adivasi filmmaker, and produced by Akhra Ranchi—an Indigenous media collective—the film interrogates dominant power structures, offering a counternarrative to the representation of Adivasi culture in India. By foregrounding the Adivasi movement’s inherent decolonial ethos, the film is a critical site for exploring the intersections of media, activism, and cultural identity. The paper illustrates how Adivasi media actively resists colonial epistemologies and challenges entrenched hierarchies of power. Scholars Pamela Wilson and Michelle Stewart (2008) argue that Indigenous media is locally grounded and globally networked. Yet, their work highlights a gap in addressing Indigenous media practices in postcolonial societies like India. The paper examines Adivasi media’s role in advancing discursive practices of representation through intersection with local cultures and regional histories of media production. Drawing from scholarship in documentary studies, visual anthropology, and Indigenous media production, this analysis foregrounds the active role of Adivasi media in fostering counter-hegemonic narratives by reimagining the structures of knowledge production, distribution, and reception.
