Session 20 summary
Publishing Voices from the Tribes
Ruby had been pursuing law but after some time she realized that she may not really have a career in law field. She had finished her 5 years of studies in law, but then she was confronted with problems where she couldn’t get hired without any recommendations. She very soon adjusted to the new reality and the next good thing was to find work where she found out that very few Adivasi’s were there. Which made her realize that a certain kind of education allows one’s entry in certain places.
She had grown up with people who had made fun of her and her features. But the moment one acknowledged themselves as a tribal more jibes were thrown at them, similar thing happened with her. Then, the phase of Unbecoming of herself started, where her parents were quite supportive. Her sibling was not teased for being tribal as her complexion was fairer but she too faced the discrimination only when her surname was brought up. Her mother handled these situations quite well with interesting stories to counter the bulling remarks and jibes she faced in schools.
In the professional space, she was quite bothered by the fact that why she was there in that position and not her cousins. Would speaking the foreign language bring them there? So an ambition was created in her to bring English to her people. But she did not know how to do it. She soon found a publishing course in Calcutta. As she had never grown up in a reading house so she thought that when she would teach her people English, the material would be something they could relate to, something immersed in our own realities and culture. In her publishing life, she found that was not one tribal person there, it seemed as though tribals do not exist in the publishing panorama. But in reality they do exist but are not recognized. From here the idea of Adivaani was born. She feels that as others don’t care what Adivasi’s write, she’ll do it in English. For her initiatives a lot of people love to call her an entrepreneur. She has also been called an Indi publisher (independent) but she prefers to be called Dependi publisher. She believes that our formal education does not give us dignity, one must learn how to build their defenses.
Adivaani works differently from the normal publishing houses. The Adivasi authors do not receive royalties, instead they are paid on books (to share/ distribute etc.). This is surprisingly something which the authors accept as they realise the value and hence there is no monetary transactions with them. When starting Adivaani, Ruby just had the name, but no materials, books, authors, etc. Everything started with exploring the things around her. The first book published was in Roman Santali. During its printing process a publisher advised to change the black cover of the book to a brighter colour as it was too sophisticated for a backward class. It was an act which greatly angered her as by whose standards can one judge us. It is up to who we are and how we want to showcase ourselves, and we would remain as ourselves. In the span of 12 years, 19 books have been produced of various genres. In these books everything mentioned is a lived experience. When criticised for using English in the books for tribal content, Ruby defended by stating that English won’t take away what one is saying. She also wishes to build English language among the tribal communities as it is the widely and commonly used language in the present era both in the private life and professional life. Ruby states that her life is entwined with Adivaani and when often commented as being similar to someone’s domestic help, the chai wala, etc. she replies that yes she’s going to remind others of them but it doesn’t mean that Adivasis are people without histories, we do have ancestors and a rich history. She has also been often asked whose idea was Adivaani, or look for a man in the organization, rejecting the idea of the organisation being a product of a woman’s idea, or a woman being an incharge of the organization. In the end Ruby considers herself as a ‘fellowship person’, because people fund her as she has been able to do so much but there are no institutional funding. People don’t look or understand what these books are. They are the struggles and challenges of our ancestors and a collection of the ancestral knowledge. Ruby states that it is the reason work like hers are called alternatives but it is a mainstream work for the tribal community. She inspires others by saying that one should not look for conviction or approval of others, but determination will be carrying on to their desired destination.
Books
– A series of books have been published by Adivaani; ‘Santal, Sirjonbintiarbhed-bhangao’, ‘We come from the Geese’, ‘Whose country is it anyways?’, ‘ Earth rests on a Tortoise’, ‘The Santal and the Biblical Creation Traditions Anthropological & Theological Reflections’, ‘Dancing on our turtles back’, ‘Crossfire’, ‘DisaibonHul’, ‘Sosobonga’, ‘Identities and their struggles in North East’, etc. ‘Santal, Sirjonbintiarbhed-bhangao’ was the first book to be published by Adivaani, which is in Roman Santali, it walks us through the entity of the Santals as an indigenous people, their being, their lifestyle and their belief system. ‘We come from the Geese’ talks about how we are one of the original peoples; the adivasis of this land. Our ancestors said that Santals were born from a pair of geese—Hãs and Hãsil—and used to tell the story of our creation. When this book was displayed in a fair the people took interest in it and retold the stories which were written inside and relive those memories of hearing them. ‘DisaibonHul’ is a winner of Printed Children’s Book of the Year 2015, which talks about how year after year towards the end of June, Santal men, women and children make the long walk to the spot where the Santal Rebellion started in 1855. Tracing the route of the uprising, this long walk is to remember and celebrate one defining moment in Adivasi history. The fact that Saheb used tea in the illustrations saying that we haven’t forgotten the rebellion and it is still going on.
About the Speaker
Ruby Hembrom
Social entrepreneur / Researcher / Scholar Founder and Executive
Director, Adivaani
Kolkata
Ruby Hembrom is an Adivasi cultural documentarian and practitioner based in Kolkata. She is the founder of Adivaani (first voices), an archiving and publishing outfit of and by Adivasis (the indigenous peoples of India) started in July 2012 as a non-profit organization. She is the writer of Adivaani’s Santal Creation Stories for children, a recast of the Santal Creation myths in English and the prize-winning DisaibonHul, on the Santal Rebellion of 1855–57. Her documentation initiative grew out of a need to claim Adivasi stake in historical and contemporary social, cultural and literary spaces and as peoples.
