Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
Lokaratna Vol .VII
An E-Journal of Folklore Foundation, Bhubaneswar
June 2014
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Cover picture :Goti Pua Nacha, a Traditional Dance Form of Odisha
Lokaratna is an e-journal of the Folklore Foundation, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India . The purpose of the
journal is to explore the rich cultural tradition of Odisha for a wider readership. Any scholar across the
globe interested to contribute on any aspect of folklore is welcome.
Folklore Foundation
Managing Trustees
Dr MK Mishra, Director
Trustees
Sri Sukant Mishra , president
Sri Sapan K Prusty ,
Sri Durga Prasanna Layak
Lokaratna Vol-VII, 2014
An e - journal of Folklore
Foundation, Odisha, Bhubaneswar
Editor in Chief: Dr Mahendra K Mishra
Editorial Board
Dr Anand mahanand EFL University, Hyderabad ,Executive Editor
Dr Harekrishna Meher, (Fomerly, G.M. Autonomous College, Sambalpur
(meher.hk@gmail.com)
Dr Kailash Patnaik. Viswa Bharati , Shantiniketan,
W.B.(Kailashpattanaik@gmail.com)
Dr Chitrasen Pasayat, Sociologist, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
(pasayatc@gmail.com)
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
The objectives of the journal are:
-to invite writers and scholars to contribute their valuable research papers on any aspect
of Odishan Folklore either in English or in Oriya. They should be based on the theory and
methodology of folklore research and on empirical studies with substantial field work.
-to publish seminal articles written by senior scholars on Odia Folklore, making them
available from the original sources.
-to present lives of folklorists, outlining their substantial contribution to folklore
-to publish book reviews, field work reports, descriptions of research projects and
announcements for seminars and workshops.
-to present interviews with eminent folklorists in India and abroad.
Any new idea that would enrich this folklore research journal is welcome.
Content in Oriya and English
Request for online/manuscript submissions should be addressed to Mahendra
Kumar Mishra, Editor in Chief, Lokaratna, Folklore Foundation, Bhubaneswar,
and Odisha- 751014
e-mail:<mkmfolk@gmail.com>
<orissafolkloore@gmail.com>
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Our Contributors
Suchismita Barik is a Ph. D Scholar at EFL University, Hyderabad. Her research interests include
English Language Education in Tribal Contexts. She has published papers in national and international
journals.
Joe Christopher works for the U.S. Consulate at Hyderabad. His Ph. D is from EFL University,
Hyderabad. He has presented papers in seminars and conferences and published in national and
international journals.
Dr Panchanan Dalai is a faculty at the Department of English, Benaras Hindu University. He has
published a number of articles and participated in seminars and conferences at the national and
international levels. He is also a creative writer.
Harichandan Kar is a Ph. D Scholar at EFL University, Shillong. He has presented papers at the national
and international conferences and published in national and international journals.
Professor P.C. Kar is a former faculty, M.S. University, Baroda. He is a respected teacher, scholar and
critic. He has authored a number of books. He is the Founder Director of Centre for Contemporary
Theory, Baroda.
Dr Anand Mahanand is a faculty at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He has
translated two collections of tribal folktales and authored articles and books on Folktales and English
Language Education.
Dr C. Uma Maheswari teaches at K.L.University, Guntur. She worked in the area of Bi/multilingual
Education for her Ph.D. She has published numerous articles in national and international journals.
Sadananda Meher is a Ph. D scholar at EFL University, working in the area of English Language
Education in Multilingual Contexts. He has published papers in national and international journals and
participated in national and international conferences.
Dr Mahedra K. Mishra is a renowned folklorist. He has contributed immensely to the study of Indian
Folklore through his field work and writings. His recent book is Oral Epics of Kalahandi.
Dr Ranjan K. Panda is a faculty at the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences IIT, Bombay. His
specialization includes Philosophy of language. His publications include Mind, Language and
Intentionality and several research papers.
Professor B.N. Patnaik is former Professor IIT, Kanpur. He is an eminent linguist, critic and cultural
theorist. His recent interest includes study on Sarala Mahabharat.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Ajit K. Pradhan has taught in Engineering Colleges in Odisha. His research interests include ESP and
Multilingual Education. He has a number of publications including a book titled ELT Materials in
Engineering Colleges in India.
Dr Amit Rauth teaches English in West Bangal. He obtained his Ph.D degree om Methor Folklore from
EFL University, Hyderabad. He has published a number of articles in the area of folklore and presented
papers in international conferences.
Professor D. Venkat Rao is a faculty at the Department of English Literature. He is an eminent scholar
in the area of Oral Traditions. His recent book is Cultures of Memory in South Asia published by
Springer.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
From the Desk of the Editor in Chief …
Culture and Education in the Postcolonial Contexts
As globalization spreads its wings to cover diverse domains of local life and cultures, different
local communities too become assertive in affirming their identities. Tribal education is such a
domain. It is pertinent here to take a look at certain issues related to tribal education and make
some observations for sustaining indigenous educational practices.
The special aspect of tribal culture is the connection between mind and matter. For the
tribal people, space is important than time. That’s the reason why we find land is identified with a
land, caste and language (bhumi, bhasha and jati). According to their belief, human being is part
of the whole eco- system and not superior to others. The geography determines the nature of
economic life of tribal society. Survival of the self is regulated by the community, and concept of
individuality is shaped by the society. Life is a shared understanding, togetherness, freedom and
autonomy of the self-guided by the social rules. The landscape determines nature of cognition.
Tribal thought and creativity are designed by the situated cognition and visual images are drawn
from the every day life and living environment.
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Most tribal communities are oral in nature. An oral society retains the knowledge of
the epistemic world though community sanction. Here, elders are authority of tradition and
youngsters are learners of the cultural knowledge. All forms of knowledge by and large are
connected to work, labour and production of matter and creation of ideas. Learning is possible
through productive activities. Tribal culture is not static, but transitory across the time. So tribal
mind is not confined to the present time only, but past and present inter-play in their everyday
life. Visible and invisible both regulate tribal mind. Past is present in their every day practices.
Eco-spirituality is the basis of looking at the world around them. The rituals and
festivals are results of the sanction of natural or economic products and their use in the
community. Oral society retains the knowledge of the epistemic world though community
sanction. Elders as authority of tradition and youngsters as learners of the cultural
knowledge – all are connected to work , labour and production of matter and creation of
ideas. Learning is possible through productive activities. Tribal culture is not static – but transitory
across the time.
After the cultural assimilation started after independence, a self-hate developed
among the tribal people about their own language and culture. Erosion of livelihood and life
world has created a growing distinction between ecology and social complexes. Their new
knowledge learnt from school and colleges hardly represent their culture.
Language is the signifier of tribal identity, culture and knowledge system. This was
ignored , in spite of many Tribal Commissions’ recommendation.Mainstreaming them eroded
many tribal values and morals.Cosmopolitan tribal changed their cultural habits and
assimilated into the so called mainstream.
Thus tribal culture is at the cross road. Here, one may ask two questions.
1. why has tribal education failed to
access is ensured?
get their intellectual access though physical
2.Why has the education system failed to provide quality education?
Are these
for the contradictory resources that are provided to them for an assimilative
education? Contradictory resources perpetuate inequality even among the tribal society, some
assimilated and some marginalised resulting social division. The Nehruvian protective and
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idealized definition of tribal development needs to be relooked in the in the light of changed
social order of tribal societies. Definition of tribal society is much more complex than 1950s:
There is a need to look at the tribal culture and education in a new perspective that fits to the
future of tribal development. We need to involve tribal thinkers and social leaders to shape the
future education of tribal with equal status and opportunity to take decision for their own.
It is time for us to prepare ourselves to face the greater challenges ahead with local and
indigenous knowledge in order to retain our identities in a globalized context.
Dr Mahendra K. Mishra
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014 Folklore Foundation ISSN2347-6427
Call for Papers
The next volume of Lokaratna will be published in January 2015. The broad theme of the
volume will be Language, Pedagogy and Culture. Research articles are invited from authors and
contributors. Last date of submission is 15th November 2014. Articles should be original i.e.,
should not be published or be under consideration in other books or journals.
• Should contain the author’s institutional address, email id and address
• Should have an abstract of about 500 words with five key words below the abstract
• Should be in Times New Romans, 12 font, and in double space
• Should have followed the recent (7th )edition of MLA style of documentation
Articles, reviews and interviews may be submitted to Dr Mahendra K. Mishra at
mkmfolk@gmail.com
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
About this Volume…
Executive Editor
Language, Culture and Pedagogy in Postcolonial Contexts
Postcolonial societies, in recent years have been engaging themselves in recovering their memories,
language, literature and traditions and putting them in perspectives. We find enormous examples of such
engagement in different domains in India as well as outside. These attempts are reflected in research,
writings, and documentation, translation in the areas of language, literature, culture and pedagogy. Hence
we decided to focus our attention to these areas in this volume.
One of the tenets of postcolonial writings is localizing one’s culture, language and education.
Though this is a challenging enterprise, scholars are fearless and vociferous in their endeavour in this
regard. We are fortunate to receive some of the finest pieces of scholarship in these areas. B.N. Patnaik’s
article “ Arjuna’s Problem” makes a comparison of the treatment of Arjuna in Vyasa Mahabharata and
Sarala Mahabharata. He says that though Arjuna has been depicted in both these texts, he has been
represented differently. In Vyasa Mahabharata he is in a dilemma as to whether to take part in the war but
in Sarala Mahabharata, there is no such dilemma. His dilemma is whether he should start the war by
shooting the first arrow. Patnaik also mentions how Arjuna’s despondency
in Vyasa Mahabharata
gives rise to Krishna’s intervention, and a new text Srimad Bhagavat Gita is born, but it does not happen
in Sarala Mahabharata. Because of the localization and variation, there is also variation at the levels of
values and moral questions. . Anand Mahanand deals with how folklore can be a source of reading local
history. He takes three myths and studies them to prove that folklore can also good resource for reading
history of communities. Amit Rauth talks about how an insider researcher can unearth the resources of
one’s own culture. Panchanan Dalai discovers the Irish writers’ attempt to resurrect their past through
their folk traditions. He explores this by discussing Yeats contributions. Mahendra K. Mishra argues that
the community has more knowledge about our culture and heritage. So it can contribute more than books
and archival records. Hence it should be involved in a bigger way in museum building.
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The second section deals with language and pedagogy. D. Venkat Rao in his article states that
educational programmes and methods followed in rural universities were designed in a particular fashion
prioritizing the elites during the colonial period and continue to follow the same model .Hence there is a
need to re-orient them to promote learning for the margins. He stresses that our research and teaching
have to be localized benefitting the communities instead of producing elite scholars who would be
detached from our social realities. Ranjan K. Panda discusses the problems of tribal education. According
to him, due to lack of inclusion of their mother tongue in learning tribal learners face multiple problems.
Drawing theoretical input from Buber, he asks for mother tongue education for inclusiveness. Uma
Maheshwari’s article deals with perceptions of teachers and learners on translanguaging in a pedagogic
space. She tries to find out how learners transact conversation using more than one language and what are
the views of their teachers. Suchismita Barik’s explores ways of teaching writing through process genre
approach in a multilingual context. Chandan Kar’s article discusses effective ways of evaluating text
books.
The third section consists of review, conversation, and report of activities. Ajit K. Pradhan
reviews a book of riddle titled Riddles for the Classroom authored by Phool Singh Narvaria and translated
by Bhavesh Kumar and Anand Mahanand. In a conversation with Anand Mahanand and Joe Christopher
Professor P.C. Kar shares his experience as to how engaging himself with the study and research on South
South help in bridging the cultural gap. The conversation also acknowledges the acceptance and
recognition of his work. There is a report by Sadananda Meher on a series of lectures and workshops
conducted by Dr Mahendra K. Mishra at EFLU, Hyderabad. Thus this volume is a feast of scholarly
articles, reviews and interviews- all related to language, culture and pedagogy in post colonial contexts.
We are grateful to the contributors for their scholarly contributions. We also thank Subhashis, Sadananda
and Amit Kumar for helping us with formatting the pages. We hope our readers will enjoy reading these
valuable pieces of ratnas by picking them up from the shore of Lokaratna!
Anand Mahanand
Executive Editor,Lokaratna
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Contents
1. Arjuna’s Problem and Its Resolution in two Mahabharatas
01
B.N.Patnaik
2. Folklore as History: A Study of Three Myths
14
Anand Mahanand
3. The Evolution of Humanity in terms of Ritualism
21
Amit Rauth,
4. Folk Tradition and Nationalism: Yeats in Ireland
28
Panchanan Dalai
5. Community Contribution and involvement in Museum Building
37
Mahendra K Mishra
6. Class Margins: Learning to (Un)Learn
44
D. Venkat Rao
7. In the Language of the Other: Education for Tribal Children from Philosophy of Engagement
49
Ranjan K. Panda
8. Diverging Perceptions of Learning in a Critical Episode in a Translanguaging Space
Uma Maheshwari Chimirala
62
9. Using Process Genre Approach to Teach Writing: An Experiment in a Multilingual Classroom
78
Suchismita Barik
10. Evaluating a Textbook and Adapting it: a Model for the Language Teachers
Harichandan Kar
87
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11. Book Review: Learn through riddles with fun: Riddles for the English Classroom
Ajit Kumar Pradhan
104
12. Bridging Cultures through Dialogue:
108
A Conversation1 with Professor P. C. Kar
Anand Mahanand and Joe Christopher
13. A Series of Lectures on Multilingual Education by Dr Mahendra K. Mishra at EFL University,
Hyderabad
Sadananda Meher
120
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Arjuna’s Problem and its Resolution in two Mahabharatas
B.N.Patnaik
bn.patnaik@gmail.com
The two Mahabharatas under reference are Vyasa Mahabharata (VM) and Sarala Mahabharata
(SM). The latter may be said to be a creative retelling, by Sarala Dasa in the fifteenth century, of
the ancient story of the Kuru clan in Odia. Both deal with Arjuna’s problem on the battlefield of
Kurukshetra, but the problem is not the same in these two narratives. In VM, Arjuna is
despondent and refuses to fight in a war in which he would have to kill his cousins and relatives.
In SM, he is not unwilling to fight and kill his cousins, relatives and his guru; he is unwilling to
start the war by shooting the first arrow. Thus the problems are different, as are the moral
questions associated with them. The resolutions of the problems in VM and SM are different too.
As is well known, in VM, Krishna intervenes and explains to Arjuna why he should not hesitate
to kill all those he did not want to kill. Thus Srimad Bhagavad Gita (GITA) is born. In contrast,
in SM, Krishna played no comparable role in resolving Arjuna’s problem. Thus there is no GITA
or any discourse like it in SM.
I
In VM, Arjuna said to Krishna: (a) nothing good would emerge from the killing of the members
of his family and winning the war; in fact, it would be a terrible crime and utterly sinful, (b) he
had no desire for victory that would come with the elimination of his relatives, and for things that
that victory would bring, such as a kingdom and the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, (c)
such a victory would render life itself useless, and so (d) he wouldn’t like to kill them for all the
three worlds, let alone just one world. He wouldn’t do so even if it brought him power over the
gods themselves. No sacrifice in terms of wealth and fame would be too great to avoid such sin.
(e) If his enemies killed him, it would be entirely acceptable to him. Just because his enemies
had lost their sense of reason, it was no reason why he and those on his side should. Wrong
doing on someone’s part would not justify retaliation in the same terms on one’s part. And the
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consequences of his action would go far beyond the personal domain; these would certainly be
long-term, and would hurt the society deeply. He surely knew what social problems the sagewarrior Parsuram had created by killing the kshatriyas many times over, and how many of their
women had to take resort to the niyoga system. This had happened in his own family: Ambika,
Ambalika, Kunti and Madri had children from outside the wedlock. So he told Krishna that if a
family was destroyed, the family laws and values would be destroyed too, and the women of the
family would be polluted, which would eventually lead to chaos at the societal level.
(g) The consequences would not be confined to the mortal world alone. If a family dies, its
ancestors would not receive their due offerings. They will suffer in the other world. And those
who caused this to happen, namely their descendants, would perish in hell. (h) All this was part
of the hallowed tradition and they had been taught that those who undermined family duty went
to hell, Arjuna told Krishna. Arjuna was sensitive and very well educated. He knew the shastras
and had a keen sense of discrimination. This apart, he had also performed tapas successfully. His
purpose was admittedly worldly, such as acquiring the infallible pasupata astra from Shiva. But
tapas meant discipline and self-control, and these contributed to the spiritual growth of the doer
of tapas. In short, Arjuna was was no ignoramus, although he was not as spiritually developed as
some of the venerated sages or sage-like kings - he was no Janaka or Agastya or Sanata Kumara.
He would get peace, if he died in the hands of the enemy unarmed and unresisting, he told his
noble charioteer and dropped his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot. Dying that way
would be a moral act for him, he told Krishna. He made a very powerful statement against using
violence against violence when he said that in certain circumstances, even undeserved and
unjustified violence must be responded to in terms of self-sacrifice, which is the ultimate
sacrifice a person is capable of. He was in no doubt about the correctness of his stand and he was
in no dilemma. He was clear in his mind that killing kinsmen was sinful and that he would not
engage in that heinous act. At this stage he did not ask for Krishna’s advice. Only after Krishna
chided him for his faintness of heart and for his thoughts and action, which he said were
unworthy of a ksatriya of his stature, he, sad, broken and despondent, told Krishna that he was
confused, that he did not understand what his duty was and requested him to tell him, as his
teacher, what he should do. But he, it must be emphasized, was in no dilemma. To be in a
confused state is not the same thing as being in a dilemma; these are non-distinct, if at all, only in
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appearance. What he told Krishna, namely, “I will not fight.” was devoid of ambiguity or of
doubt and indecision that indicate one’s being in a dilemma. One who is aware of the possible
consequences of the alternatives that one can think of and is unable to decide which one to
choose, cannot use these words. Arjuna makes a categorical statement and it shows his
conviction. Krishna till then had told him that what he had decided to do was unworthy of him as
a warrior of great stature but had said nothing that would persuade Arjuna to realize that there
was an alternative perspective in terms of moral action.
As the dialogue with Krishna proceeded, the reluctant warrior brought in another dimension to
the deliberation: (i) among his enemies there were not merely kinsmen, there were his guru,
Drona, venerable elders like Bhishma and the kulaguru (family preceptor), Kripacharya, and he
said that he would not fight such persons who deserved his highest respects, and killing them
would amount to eating food mixed with blood. (j) In short, that war would be a burden; he was
unsure which of the two was worse: their victory or the Kaurava’s, because even if they won,
they would like to kill themselves after the victory. A sensitive and perceptive person that he
was, the great Pandava knew that victory and defeat in that war would be equally calamitous for
him from a mundane point of view. From the higher, ethical point of view, as mentioned above,
non-participation in the war or dying in the hands of the enemy without retaliation would be the
best course of action for him.
These were essentially the points that Arjuna had raised. Most of these occur in the first adhyaya
and rest in the beginning of the second adhyaya of GITA which contains eighteen adhyayas.
Arjuna did ask other questions as the discourse proceeded, but those were rather unconnected
with the issues that had troubled him on the battlefield. The GITA discourse was like a lotus,
which began with the problems of the world and ended with the articulation of a profound vision
that transcended the mundane and the worldly. One is inclined to think that one message of this
remarkable composition is that for the human, the best and perhaps the only meaningful way of
resolving the most complex and profoundly disturbing problems is for him to transcend the
same. The objective reality would not change, so the best an individual can do is deal with it
from a transcendental perspective. Sometimes the objective reality might change as a
consequence, but that is a different matter – in fact, for the individual concerned, it is an
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incidental matter. Not everyone might feel persuaded that this is the best way to decide what to
do in deeply disturbing moral situations.
It is worth noting that Arjuna’s concern was for his kinsmen - those were his own. Whether he
was concerned about the others, who had assembled there to fight for his cousins and for the
Pandavas - “the other” for him – or not, one does not know. He never said anything explicitly
about that. In the present context, one is not referring to the soldiers but to the kings and the
princes many of whom Arjuna would not have even known, at least at the personal level. It is
also worth noting that the thought that any or all of the Pandavas might be killed in the war never
crossed Arjuna’s mind. Whenever the death of the Pandavas came to his mind, it was only his
own death, and it was in terms of a sacrificial killing – dying in the hands of the enemy unarmed
and without resisting.
There is, however, a part of a sloka (II:6) that appears to be a counter example to the above:
“And we do not know which is the heavier burden: whether we should win the fight, or whether
they should win. Dhritarastra’s men stand there, drawn up before us. If we were to kill them, we
ourselves would no longer want to live.”
In the above, “whether they should win” is the relevant part for our present discussion. This may
be interpreted to mean that the great Pandava was not unaware of the possibility that the
Pandavas might be killed in the war, and even after death, they would have to carry the burden of
defeat, which, one knows, is the destiny of the defeated. But one might think that Arjuna’s
mentioning the possible death of the Pandavas rather rhetorical. Since he was making the point
that the results of the war were inconsequential for them, he mentioned both possibilities in that
manner. Almost immediately after, he said what was in his mind, something he had said earlier
too, namely the possibility of the Kauravas getting killed by the Pandavas: “If we were to kill
them”.
Before we turn to Krishna’s discourse, we should like to ask how credible is Arjuna’s
despondency and unwillingness to fight in the battlefield itself in the canonical Mahabharata
narrative. For Arjuna fighting was not a new experience. Besides, it was not the first time that he
was facing his preceptors and relatives on the battlefield. He had done so in the Virata war a few
months ago. As he went to that battlefield, he had not decided against killing any kinsmen at
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whatever cost to himself and Uttara, the prince of Virata, who was under his protection for all
practical purposes. And as soon as he entered the battlefield, he did not shoot that arrow which
made everyone in the Kaurava army unconscious. Soon after that incident preparations for the
conclusive war against the Kauravas had started in real earnest. He was party to the war
preparations. At no stage during the preparations had he expressed the view that he was firmly
against killing his kinsmen. In fact, it was his grandfather Bhishma who had decided that he
would not kill his grandchildren, the Pandavas, and had kept no one in the dark about this
decision of his. Arjuna had not decided anything similar. Not that he could have taken such a
decision even if he had so wished. He simply would not have been allowed to. He was not the
decision maker in the Pandava camp. For all practical purposes, it was Krishna. In any case,
given the above, it does surprise that he had those disturbing thoughts moments before the start
of the war. Like others, by that time, he too had blown his conch indicating the imminent start of
the war. It is difficult to accept that he was so unimaginative that he became aware of the
possible consequences of war, only after he literally stood face-to-face with his enemies on the
battlefield.
From the point of view of the Mahabharata narrative, the GITA discourse would have been
integrated into the narrative much more naturally and elegantly had it occurred in Udyoga Parva,
dealing with the preparations for the war. It could have been a dialogue between Arjuna and
Krishna, as in its present form; there could have been other listeners too, had the narrator wanted
it that way. Nothing in terms of deep insight and profound vision expressed in the discourse
would have been lost. Occurring as it does in that tense and terrible moment immediately before
the war, it might appear more dramatic and spectacular, but it appears much less natural. Some
might think that it is more melodramatic than dramatic, and as for the spectacular, the Universal
Form of Krishna is so spectacular and captivating that the absence of such an amazing happening
as time stopping its flow during the GITA discourse, one of the consequences of which was that
the armies stood unmoving, would not have diluted the effect of the spectacular for Sarala’s
audience. The Universal Form could be accommodated in Udyoga Parva too; Krishna would let
his listener or listeners know that he had already killed all who would later die in the battlefield,
etc.
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Turning to a different matter, given GITA’s injunction that it should not be told to an unworthy
(in moral terms) person, it is ironical that it was told, indirectly though, to Dhritarastra, an
apaatra (unworthy person), rather than to, say, Vidura. Krishna surely knew that Sanjaya was
narrating to the blind, old king what was happening in the battlefield. It can be argued that this
way the narrative purpose of making the king a participant in the war and suffer the agony as his
army, his sons and grandsons and relations were being systematically destroyed was served. As a
counter argument it can be observed that this purpose would have been equally well-served even
otherwise. Frozen in time, as none of those assembled on the battlefield of Kurukshetra heard
what Krishna was telling Arjuna, likewise Sanjaya and Dhritarastra would not have heard the
discourse too. But then how would the GITA, one might ask, have been made available to
mankind? A possible answer would be that it would have been in the same way as in the puranas:
on being asked by Parvati, Shiva said, “this is what Krishna told Arjuna...” - the standard format.
In GITA we see a very different Arjuna from the rest of the Mahabharata. In the rest, he is
sensitive but not sentimental, kind-hearted and conscientious, but not weak, not so very unsure
about what was the right course of action for him and what was not, and certainly not oblivious
of his duty. But in GITA, he comes out as an unimaginative person, to say the least, who needed
to be physically present in front of his cousins and elders to be able to feel what it would mean to
him to be the cause of their death. After the GITA discourse one sees the other Arjuna. The
discourse had very little effect on him. Perhaps the only effect the profound, transformational
discourse had on him was that he decided to join the war. Thus during the war he was reluctant
to fight Bhishma with all his might, he was inconsolable to know about the killing of Abhimanyu
and took an irresponsible oath to avenge his killing, he was reluctant to attack Karna when he
was in a difficult situation and wanted to give him time to sort out his problem, to name only a
few. He had forgotten Krishna’s teaching about the real nature of death and the immortality of
the dehin, the atma and the mortality of the body. The idea of taking revenge suggests that he had
come to think of himself as the agent; he had forgotten about the Universal Form of Krishna and
the message it conveyed to him.
What all Krishna told him in order to make him see things in the right perspective and act
accordingly are too well known, making a detailed presentation of the same unnecessary here. It
would suffice to list the some of the main points he made. He said that Arjuna would be the
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gainer in victory and in defeat: if he won, he would enjoy the pleasures of the earth, if he was
killed, he would enjoy the pleasures of the heaven. If he did not fight, he would be denounced as
a coward. By refusing to fight he would betray his ksatriya dharma; he would be guilty of failing
to perform the duties assigned to the warrior class by tradition. In fact, he was extremely
fortunate, said Krishna, to have the opportunity of participating in a dharma yuddha (just war) –
an opportunity which does not come to all warriors. Besides, death is only the death of the body,
which is like a dress that atman, the dweller in the body, wears. Since atman is immortal, death is
like the atman’s change of clothes, which is a normal activity and deserves no emotional
response. Through his Viswarupa, Universal Form, Krishna made Arjuna aware that he was
going to be only a nimitta, an instrument, and not the karta, since, as the karta, he, Krishna, had
already killed those who would die on the battlefield.
One could argue that Krishna overstated things to an extent, but even if he did, conceding for the
sake of argument, it is understandable, considering that he was trying to persuade to fight the one
who had decided not to fight on ethical grounds. As for the charge of overstatement, it is difficult
to believe that the great warriors who were his contemporaries or the future generations of
warriors would have really judged him as a coward. Everyone knew that not long ago,
singlehandedly he had defeated the Kauravas, Karna, Aswasthama, and elders like Bhishma and
Drona in the Virata war. He did not have to prove his competence to anyone: man or asura
(adversaries of gods)or sura (god). He would, in all likelihood, have been condemned as an
irresponsible warrior and sentimental person. From one point of view, all this is pointless,
because once he felt that killing one’s own was adharma, it would have mattered nothing to him
whether his contemporaries condemned him and the future generations regarded him as a coward
or a deserter. Neither would it have, whether he was going to win or die in the war and what he
was going to get as a reward in either case. It gives one great mental strength and satisfaction
when one feels that one is following dharma. Then no loss to self, however big, would matter to
one.
In this context one would expect that the arguments based on the real nature of death and his role
as an instrument in what only appears to be killing would be much more persuasive and indeed
the same turned out to be the case. The argument, based on the knowledge, that one really never
ceases to exist and that only the appearances change, creating an illusion of one’s non-existence,
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brought a new dimension to the argument that essentially rendered meaningless the earlier
considerations at the rather mundane level. If there is nothing more to one than one’s body and if
the essential of one is not subject to destruction and what appears as death but is nothing more
than just a change of clothes, then it would hardly matter whether one enjoyed the pleasures of
the earth or of swarga. Arjuna was persuaded by this jnana, knowledge, to such an extent that it
did not occur to him to consider whether it really changed things substantially. One’s discarding
worn-out clothes for the new ones is not the same thing as one’s being made to do so. Quite
obviously one is a voluntary act, the other, obviously not; one is a natural phenomenon, the
other, not. Dying at an old age, which is like the embodied one’s discarding worn-out clothes, is
very different from getting killed in the battlefield, which is like being forced to give up clothes
which are not worn-out. This is the power of the metaphor; it might sometimes subvert the truth.
It is arguably on account of this that Arjuna did not notice that the moral issue he had raised
remained unsolved by the argument of dress change.
Besides, no such moral issues as under discussion are involved at the level of atman, who is
neither born nor undergoes death. Killing and getting killed are both mere illusion as a
consequence, as are human relationships. When the atma takes a body, the being enters into
relationships. Moral issues of the kind under discussion arise only at this level – the worldly
level. Krishna’s discourse sets aside this level and resolves the problem at a higher level, where
moral issues associated with killing do not arise in the first place. So overwhelmed was Arjuna
with the knowledge of the real nature of things that he was persuaded that the considerations that
had made him despondent were not founded on clear thinking and were therefore misleading.
II
In SM the war started in a different way. The Pandavas and the Kauravas had come to the
battlefield to win the war. There was no hesitation in anyone’s mind to kill his enemy, whoever
he might be and whatever be the relation between the warriors concerned. Contrary to the VM
narrative, Bhishma in SM had not decided not to kill a Pandava, which decision on careful
thought appears to be rather odd, considering he was the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava
army and purely sentimental. Interestingly, he had a problem killing a Pandava, but none in the
case of their children, such as Ghatotkacha, Abhimanyu and the children of Draupadi. Only
Karna, unknown to the Kauravas, was promise-bound to his mother not to kill any Pandava
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except Arjuna. Yudhisthira, Arjuna and even Bhima in SM were not keen on war for the
Pandavas’ share of the kingdom and even for fulfilling their vow of revenge but once the war
option was chosen, which they believed was thrust upon them, they had no inhibitions about
killing their enemy.
Once on the war field, Arjuna was reluctant to start the war by shooting the first arrow against
his enemy, as Krishna wanted him to do. “Shoot the first arrow” is in this context a rhetorical
way of saying “attack the enemy”. For Arjuna, as with some others, war was sometimes
unavoidable but it was a sin all the same since it would result in large scale killing, and the killed
would inevitably include the innocents. By attacking the enemy, he didn’t want to be the
immediate cause of the war and carry the burden of sin. He would wait for the Kauravas to attack
him and then he would retaliate, he told Krishna. Those on the Kaurava side probably had the
same perspective, which must have been at least one very important reason why none from that
side attacked the Pandavas. They too were probably waiting for the Pandavas to attack them. In
any case, in SM, Krishna told Arjuna nothing. He simply went to Yudhisthira and told him that
his brother was unwilling to fight.
He could hardly have done anything better. In Sarala’s narrative there is no room for a GITA like
discourse. Here killing was not an issue, so there was no place for the perspective on death, on
immortality of atma, etc. that Krishna offered to Arjuna in VM. One could only ask whether
there was place for an argument based on considerations of self-preservation and victory. Arjuna
had infallible divine weapons. Agreed that some of the warriors on the Kaurava side, in
particular, Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Aswasthama had them too, but Arjuna had more of them.
Besides, he was the greatest archer of his time. Bhishma knew this, so did Drona, and on one
occasion, during the preparations for the war, Bhishma had said this quite clearly to Duryodhana.
There was no basis for the possibility that if the Kauravas attacked even with their divyashtra
(divine weapons), which was unthinkable because those who had them would not have
committed a totally unethical act by starting the war with them, irrespective of what was at stake,
the Pandavas would perish without being able to even start a counter attack. Arjuna was quite
capable of facing such a challenge. So in order to persuade Arjuna to attack the Kauravas,
Krishna could not have informed him on the advantages of the attack-first strategy. In short “no
first strike” was a moral position against which it is difficult to construct a persuasive argument
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based on strong ethical considerations. As for it being untenable on strategic grounds, it was
unpersuasive in that particular context.
If not Arjuna, Bhima was willing to start the attack, but Yudhisthira would not consent to it. He
still wanted to explore the possibility of avoiding a terrible fratricidal war. He wanted to make
one last effort. Thus without weapons he went to the Kaurava side. He sought blessings of
Bhishma, Drona, Kripacharya, Aswasthama and his elder brother Karna, and they all blessed him
for victory. At his pleading, Bhishma and Drona also obliged him by telling him how they could
be eliminated. Then he met Duryodhana but his efforts to avoid war failed because of the latter’s
rejection of his request to give the Pandavas even a single village.
It is worth noting that in SM, not Krishna, but Yudhisthira made the last effort to avoid war. It is
entirely appropriate, in our opinion, because a responsible member of the family, not an outsider,
which is what Krishna and Sakuni essentially were, was crucially involved in the effort for a
resolution of a family dispute and the matter was decided within the family. It is very much
appropriate from another point of view too: here, at the laukika level, it is not the avatara but the
humans who decide on their destiny. The war option was finally chosen by Duryodhana and
Yudhisthira.
Still on the Kaurava side, Yudhisthira called upon all present in the battlefield to decide for the
very last time whether anyone of them would choose to join him and thereby fight on the side of
dharma. Such a person would get the protection of the Pandavas, he added. Durdasa, a brother of
Duryodhana, chose to join the Pandavas. Very angry and upset, Duryodhana ordered an attack on
Durdasa, who, along with Yudhisthira, was still on the Kaurava side of the formation. Things
happened too fast for them to move to the Pandavas’ side. Durdasa fought with the Kaurava
army, protecting the unarmed Yudhisthira in his chariot.
The rest of this episode needs to be told here only briefly, even at the cost of sacrificing some
important and to some extent, relevant, details and nuances. The war had started. The Pandava
army came to Durdasa’s support. And learning that his eldest brother was in danger, Arjuna
requested his charioteer, Krishna, to drive him to the place of action. He joined the war. He
didn’t have to start it.
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This version of the start of the war may appear to be more realistic than the canonical one. One
could imagine that there must have been an atmosphere of tremendous excitement, nervousness
and tension, almost palpable, hovering on the Kurukshetra war field when the two armies,
committed to killing and dying, stood face to face. A tiny spark could lead to a terrible
conflagration. The spark here was completely unexpected, and the response to it, unthinking and
rash. In moments the battlefield was in flames.
One would never know who shot the first arrow or hit someone with his mace or decapitated
someone with his sword and thereby started the war in Arjuna’s sense. The poet does not tell us.
But whoever did it, only obeyed Duryodhana’s order. So, as the causer-agent, could Duryodhana
be held responsible for the war? But then didn’t Duryodhana order the attack against a deserter
from his army? And again wasn’t his a response to a big provocation from his enemy?
Yudhisthira’s call to those on the Kaurava side to join him might be viewed as an honest and a
genuine act of a virtuous man to give the respecters of virtue on his enemy’s side to choose the
side of dharma. He offered the virtuous his protection. It is a noble act. But from another point of
view, his was an act of great provocation, a call for rebellion in the enemy’s camp and for
desertion. From the psychological point of view, wasn’t it tantamount to the first arrow?
SM does not raise and clarify these issues. The great storyteller that Sarala was, once the war
started, he got occupied with it and narrated the war. He left delicate moral issues behind. War
eliminated all possibilities of reflective narration.
Bibliography
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Delhi: Orient Longman.
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Maharana, Surendra Kumar (1992). Sarala Sahitya Parikrama. Cuttack: Orissa Book Store. (2nd
edn.)
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Mansingh, Mayadhara (1981). Odia Sahityara Itihasa. Cuttack: Grantha Mandira. (3rd edn.)
Sarala Dasa in Raghavan, V. (ed.) Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata Writers. (1982).
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………………………(2012a). “On the Great War in Kurukshetra in Saaralaa Mahaabhaarata”.
In Danda, A.K. and R.K.Das (eds.) Alternative Voices of Anthropology. Kolkata: Indian
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Thompson, George (2008). The Bhagavad Gita. New York, North Point Press.
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Folklore As History: A Study of three Myths
Anand Mahanand
amahanand991@gmail.com
Received knowledge informs us that historical narratives are factual and objective and therefore
scientific. Hence they should be valued more than imaginative forms such as folklore and fiction.
However, since the middle of the nineteenth century, this view has been challenged. Hegel
described historiography as interpretation, whereas Levi-Strauss stated that historical facts are
constituted. Northrop Frye argued that historiographical narratives are structured through
emplotment. Thus, as Hayden White explains, “During the nineteenth century, four major
theorists of historiography rejected the myth of objectivity prevailing among Ranke’s followers.
Hegel, Droysen, Nietzsche, and Croce all viewed interpretation as the soul of historiography, and
each tried to work out a classification of its types” (52). If history is viewed as not objective, it
implies that historical narratives construct, rather than objectively present, the past. If
historiography involves imagination, interpretation, construction and emplotment, it is not
radically different from other modes of representation such ach as folklore and fiction. These
views explain two arguments. First, archival historiography is inadequate, and second, it should
be supplemented by other forms such as myth, fiction and folklore. Using these two arguments, I
would like to use the origin myths of the Gondas and suggest that they may also be used to
reconstruct the past in addition to the colonial historical accounts about them.
Historiography as Interpretation
Hayden White, a Professor of Historical Studies and a renowned scholar from the University of
California, in his book Tropics of Discourse subverts the traditional notion of historical accounts
as facts. He states that “critics of historiography as a discipline, have taken more radical views on
the matter of interpretation in history, going so far as to argue that historical accounts are nothing
but for understanding of historical progress in general”(55). White takes help from Levi-Strauss
and Northrop Frye to substantiate his argument. Levi-Strauss’s argument is that “[h]istorical
facts are in no sense ‘given’ to the historian but are rather ‘constituted’ by the historian himself
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by abstraction and as though under the threat of an infinite regress.” (55) Strauss further adds
that “if historical facts are constituted rather than given so too they are selected for an audience.”
This means that in Levi-Strauss’s view history is never simply history but always history as
history written in the interest of some intra-scientific aim or vision ( qtd. in White 56).
Historiography as Emplotment
Northrop Frye views historiography as emplotment.
As White points out : “A historical
interpretation , like a poetic fiction, can be said to appeal to its readers as a plausible
representation of the world by virtue of its implicit appeal to those ‘pregeneric plot-structures’ or
archetypical story forms that define the modalities of a given culture’s literary endowment” (58).
As White understands Frye, just as there can be no explanation in history without a story, so too
there can be no story without a plot by which to make of it a story of a particular kind (61).
Folklore as History
The above propositions not only demonstrate the inadequacy of archival accounts as history, but
also redefine historiography as interpretation, employment and imagination.
Can we then
consider folklore as history? Myth is part of folklore and it precedes history. In the past
mythological narratives served as history, for instance, mythological texts such as Iliad and
Odyssey in Greece and the Ramayana and Mahabharata and many Puranas in India. Historical
narratives not only describe what happened but how it happened. In Indian contexts, both the
event and the process are given importance. Perhaps for this reason, history is understood as
Itihas, which means “it happened this way”, meaning narrating the way it happened or the
process of retelling the story of the event. Many historians including Romila Thapar have argued
for including mythological narratives as history. As stated earlier, myths have been a source of
history. Only in the 19th century western historiography, with its emphasis on archival research,
monopolized itself as the history and underestimated other forms. If we take origin myth as
history going beyond the prescribed archival history, will there be any difference in
interpretation? It is worth exploring this. In this paper, I would like to respond to this question
by studying three origin myths of the Gondas and comparing them in terms of representation of
community.
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A definition of the concept of myth will be helpful here. The word myth comes from the Greek
word mythos, which means story of the people. Myths tell the stories of the ancestors of a
community. Every culture has some kind of mythology of its own. They are not so popular
nowadays. I heard them as a young boy. They have been documented by some scholars in recent
years. They include Nityananda Patnaik, Sarat Chandra Mohanty and Basudev Sunani.
The Gonda: A Profile
The term Gonda and Ganda are used interchangeably. Though many have confused it with the
Gond tribe, Gondas are different from the Gonds.
“Gonda is the name of a caste in the Western part of Odisha bordering Chhatisgarh, and
Jharkhand. They inhabit the districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Balangir,
Kalahandi and Koraput. Apart from Odisha, the Gonda population is distributed in Madhya
Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal” (Patnaik and Mohanty 6).
Gondas have been enlisted as Scheduled Castes. K. S. Singh states that according to the 1981
census their population is 4,18,956. They speak Odia or its dialects. For instance, the Gondas
who live in Sundargarh region of Odisha (bordering Chhatisgarh) speak Laria. These people are
basically non-vegetarian and rice is their staple food. They have different sub-castes such as
Odia Gonda, Laria Gonda, Kandharia Gonda, Khabaria Gonda and Saharia Gonda. Each of the
sub-castes has been again divided into different bansas or clans.
The Gondas in colonial historical narratives
Among the colonial writers who have described Gondas are H.H. Risely, E.T. Dalton and R.V.
Russel. Risely, in his Tribes and Castes of Bengal (1891), describes them as a sub-caste of Pans:
…those pans who live in the villages of the Kandh tribes, work as weavers and perform for
the kandhs a varieties of servile functions…these pans who serve Hindus and or live in
villages of their own and then come to be ranked as a separate sub-caste as regards those
slave class alleged to be included in the group. We know that an extensive traffic in
children destined to human sacrifice used to go on in the Kandh Country, and that the Pans
were the agents….(157)
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While Risley called them agents for supplying humans for sacrifice, Dalton called them bastards:
The agents employed were usually people of the Pan or Panwa class, a low tribe of bastard
hindus who are found diffused amongst the population of all Tributary mahals, under
different denominations, as Pan or Panwas, Chiks, Gandas and Panikas. (286).
Risley adds:
Moreover, apart from the demand for sacrificial purposes, the practice of selling men as
agricultural labourer was until a few years ago by no means uncommon in wider parts of
Chhotanagpur Division, where labour is scarce and cash payments are almost unknown.”
(qtd. in Patnaik & Mohanty 8)
Russel portrays them as criminals when he writes: “the Ganda of Sambalpur have strong criminal
tendencies which have recently called for special repressive measures”(qtd. in Patnaik &
Mohanty 5).
From the colonial narratives we find two images of the community. One is that they are products
of mixed relationship. The other is about their status as agents for selling humans for sacrifice.
Now let us look at the myths of the community.
Dalton’s ethnographical accounts state that they have no particular custom:
We have besides thousands of weavers in the Pan or Panwas, Gandas, Chiks of the
Southern Tributary Estates, and the Pan and Panikas of western districts. In features these
people are Aryan or Hindu rather than Kolarian or Dravidian. Their habits are much alike;
repudiating the Hindu restrictions on food, but worshipping Hindu gods and goddesses,
and having no peculiar custom which stamp them as other races. (325)
Now, let us look at three myths that are prevalent among the Gondas and compare the kind of
images we get in these two categories, the Gonda origin myths and the colonial accounts.
1. How Did the Gonda Became Untouchable
Once there were four brothers. They lived in a casteless society wearing sacred thread. One day
while walking on the road they came across the carcass of a cow. They thought that someone
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should remove the carcass from the road side. They asked the youngest one to remove the
carcass. They took his sacred thread and promised to give it back to him after a purification
ritual. So, the youngest one agreed to do the job. He removed the carcass and came home and
asked for his sacred thread. But the elder brothers deceived him. They told him that he had
become untouchable, as he had performed an unclean job. Hence, he should not mingle with
them and should live on the outskirts of the village. Since then they have called him Gonda and
he has lived on the outskirts.
2. How Did the Gonda Get the Dombaru from Mahapuru
One day King Kolbhol went to the Mahapuru and said, “Mahapuru I have been worshipping you
continuously. You must give me whatever I ask you now.” Mahapuru replied, “All right. Since
you have been worshipping me for a long time, I am pleased with you and I will give you
whatever you ask from me. Kolbhol said, “You must promise three times that you will give
whatever I ask you.” Mahapuru said yes. Then Kolbhol asked him to give his dombaru.
Mahapuru was worried. But he had already promised, so he had to give the dombaru. Before
giving it, he made Kolbhol promise certain things. First, he should play it for the Gonda
community only. Second, he should not show it to others either inside or outside the house.
Before playing, it should be worshipped with unboiled rice and incense. It should not be played
in two houses at a time. He should not eat in houses of other communities but from the Gondas
only. He should not sit on the cot of the Gondas.
Kolbhol agreed to all the conditions. The Mahapuru gave him his dambaru. Kolhbhol went home
with the dombaru. He thought his daughters-in-law would welcome him on his arrival, but
everyone except his wife had gone to sleep. His wife, of course, came and welcomed him and
and the dambaru, and ushered him into the house. While he was entering the house, he hit his
head on the roof and fell down. His younger brother came and helped him get up and take him
inside. But Kolbhol was angry and refused to go inside. He said he would beg at the doorstep and
take whatever he gets. Since then he has been called Birttia, or priest of the Gondas. He begs at
the doorstep but does not go inside the house. He collects alms only from the Gondas and
performs death rituals by recalling the ancestors or dumas. Hence, the other name of the Gonda
caste is also domas.
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3. The Story of Patkhanda Debta
One day Patkhanda debata came to Patanagarh and asked for permission to stay there. But
Goddess Patenaswari did not give him permission. Instead, she said, “You can’t stay here. You
must go to Jarasinghagarh.” So he headed towards Jarasinghagarh. On the way, he saw an old
Gonda man weaving cloth on his handloom. He went to his house and asked for fire to light his
picca. The old man was busy, so he asked him to go inside and ask his daughter for a light.
When he went inside he saw a dhol hanging on the wall. As he came near it, it started playing on
its own. The old man’s daughter fell in love with Patkhanda debta. Patkhanda wanted to marry
her. The old man agreed. Finally Patkhanda requested the old man to go to Jarasinghagarh with
him. The old man agreed to come with him. But he had other three sons along with the daughter.
So they all went together carrying the handloom and settled in Jarasinghagarh, as king. The old
man also settled on the outskirt of the village with his family.
Conclusion
It may be seen that whereas the archival accounts of the Gondas present them as people of mixed
blood or bastards or as criminals, the folklore of the people tell a different story about them.
They tell the story of their dispossession, discrimination and segregation. The former is an
expression of contempt motivated by racial prejudice, whereas the latter is a story of
reconstruction of self identity and experience. Paul Thompson rightly states about oral history
that “it is not only a discovery but also a recovery.” He further says, for the social history of any
minority group the limitations of written documentation are such that the oral sources introduce
an entirely new dimension to the subject (80). To recall Hayden White again, “a historical
narrative is thus necessarily a mixture of adequately and inadequately explained events, an
interpretation and an interpretation that passes for an explanation of the whole process mirrored
in the narrative” (51).
The paper argues that certain facts from these myths can serve as a corrective to the
existing
views on the origin of this community informed by colonial history. Such “tropical
discourse” informs us as to how a community understands itself, what kind of social order the
community lays down for itself and also what kind of identity it constructs for itself (White 1).
Such discourse may not correspond to a historical event or fact. Nevertheless, its study is also an
enquiry into the past.
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Works Cited
Dalton, E.T. (1960). Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. Calcutta: Indian Studies.
Risley, H.H. (1981). The Tribes and Castes of Bengal. Calcutta, Bengal Secretariat.
Russel, R.V. and H. Lal. (1975). The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Delhi:
Cosmo Publications.
Patnaik, Nityananda and S.C. Mohanty. The Ganda: A Scheduled Caste Weaver Community of
Western Orissa. Bhubaneswar: THRTI,nd.
White, H. (1982). Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism. London: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
The Evolution of Humanity in Terms of Ritualism
Amit Kumar Rauth
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rauth.amit@gmail.com
Abstract
The paper maps the historiography of the evolution in the rituals and songs of a society
and in the process trace its comprehensive cultural evolution too. In fact, both rituals and
songs are instrumental in constituting the very foundations of human and even protohuman societies. The absolute ubiquity of rituals, however defined, supports the
attribution of such profound significance to it.
Keywords: rituals, evolution, human, language.
Given the central place that ritualistic considerations have occupied in the thoughts and actions
of men and women in all ages and societies, the conditions that predicate the production of these
rituals appear inevitable. These suggestions concerning ritualistic origins and importance are
meant to provide the most general context possible for the more specific arguments and
discussions developed in the course of this paper. Neither ritualism as a whole nor its elements
will, in the account offered of them, can be reduced to functional or adaptive terms. An account
of rituals framed, a priori, in terms of adaptation, function or other utilitarian assumption or
theory would, moreover, and paradoxically, defeat any possibility of discovering whatever
utilitarian significance it might have by transforming the entire inquiry into a comprehensive
tautology. The only way to expose rituals’ adaptive significance as well as to understand it in its
own right is to provide an account that is true to its own nature. This is not to promise that the
account that follows is framed in ritual’s own terms, whatever they might be. It is not. If it is in
the nature of rituals to lay special claims to truth, then “rituals” own terms’ would necessarily
multiply into the parochial terms of innumerable religious traditions, and one shall be concerned
with human universals, universals of the human condition, universals of religion and the
relationship between them.
As a form or structure rituals possesses certain logical properties, but its properties are not only
logical. Inasmuch as performance is one of its general features, it possesses the properties of
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practice as well. In ritual, logic becomes enacted and embodied and is realized in unique ways.
The next section talks about the role of evolution in a ritual process.
Let me now turn to the salient characteristics of humanity’s evolution and to those of its
problems that ritualism ‘legitimately’ ameliorates. The evolution of humanity in terms of
ritualism emphasizes the capacity that sets our species apart from all others unlike in other, say
biological, terms where evolution is an attempt to locate similarities. Our forebears became what
might loosely be called ‘fully human’ with the emergence of language. All animals
communicate, and even plants receive and transmit information, but only humans, so far as we
know, are possessed of languages composed, first, of lexicons made up of symbols: that is, signs
related only ‘by law’, i.e. convention, to that which they signify, and second, of grammars, sets
of rules for combining symbols into semantically unbounded discourse. It is obvious that the
possession of language makes possible ways of life inconceivable to non-verbal creatures, and
even ‘proto-language’ a form of communication making use of limited vocabularies composed of
symbols but possessing little or only rudimentary grammar must have conferred important
advantages upon the early humans among whom they developed. With proto-language,
communication could, perhaps (or even probably) for the first time in this world’s evolution, not
only escape from the confines of here and now to report upon the past and distant but also begin
to order, to an increasing degree, the future by facilitating the division of labor and by making
more precise planning and coordination possible. Social organization could, as a consequence,
become increasingly differentiated, increasingly effective and uniquely flexible, and new
dimensions of mutual support and protection could be attained.
Even more fundamentally, it is plausible to assume that increased communicational capacities
both indicate and entail increased conceptual capacities. Moreover, the emergence of the symbol
not only increased conceptual capacity but transformed it, and new forms of learning became
possible. With symbolic transmission individuals can learn from the accounts of others as well as
from their own direct experience, and this learning may be transformed in its mere recounting,
into public knowledge which can, by further recounting, be preserved as tradition. The
immediate advantages that such abilities confer upon those who possess them are patent, and, in
light of them, it is plausible to believe that linguistic ability, once it began to develop, would
have been very strongly selected for, which is to say that the anatomical structures on which it is
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based may have been elaborated and transformed at rates that were, in evolutionary terms,
unusually rapid. Proto-language and language could well have emerged in a relatively short time.
Increased ability to plan, to coordinate, to report on the past and distant, to accumulate and
transmit knowledge, to learn in new and more effective ways, must all have been among the
early factors vigorously selecting for increasing linguistic ability. Other rather less obvious but
by no means obscure entailments of language may, however, have been as consequential in the
long run. With language, discourse not only can escape from the confines of here and now to
recapture the concrete past and distant or to approach the foreseeable future. It could also
eventually escape from the concrete altogether. It may be suggested that the transcendence of the
concrete and the emergence of grammar were mutually causal, but, be this as it may, when
discourse can escape from the concrete as well as the present, and when it is empowered by
grammar, it finally becomes free to search for such worlds parallel to the actual as those of ‘the
might have been,’ ‘the should be,’ ‘the could be,’ ‘the never will,’ ‘the may always be.’ It can,
then, explore the realms of the desirable, the moral, the proper, the possible, the fortuitous, the
imaginary, the general, and their negatives, the undesirable, the immoral, the impossible. To
‘explore’ these worlds is not simply to discover what is there. It is to create what is there.
Language does not merely facilitate the communication of what is conceived but expands,
eventually by magnitudes, what can be conceived. This expansion of conceptual power as much
as the ability to communicate to others the products of that expanded power accounts,
understanding, abstractions, evaluations – underlies the general human mode of adaptation and
the specific adaptations of the many societies that evolve out. As such, language and protolanguage before it, have been absolutely central to human evolutionary success. It would not,
indeed, be an exaggeration to claim that humanity is their creation.
Language and its entailment, culture, the general way of life consisting of understandings,
institutions, customs, and material artefacts, whose existence, maintenance and use are
contingent upon language. But even such far-reaching claims as ‘Language is the foundation of
the human way of life’ do not do language’s importance justice, for its significance transcends
the species in which it appeared.
The significance of language, however, is not confined to the recombination and transmission of
the already existant class of information. With the symbol an entirely new form of information
(in the widest sense of the word) appeared in the world. This new form brought with it new
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content, and the world as a whole has not been the same since. The epochal significance of the
symbol for the world beyond the species in which it appeared did not become apparent for many
millennia perhaps hundreds of millennia after it had emerged. But earlier effects of language and
even proto-language upon the life ways of the hominids in its possession must soon have become
enormous. That language permits thought and communication to escape from the solid actualities
of here and now to discover other realms, for instance, those of the possible, the plausible, the
desirable, and the valuable, has already been emphasized. This was not quite correct. Language
does not merely permit such thought but both require it and make it inevitable. Humanity is a
species that lives and can only live in terms of meanings it itself must invent. These meanings
and understandings not only reflect or approximate an independently existing world but
participate in its very construction. The worlds in which humans live are not fully constituted by
tectonic, meteorological and organic processes. They are not only made of rocks and trees and
oceans, but are also constructed out of symbolically conceived and performatively established
cosmologies, institutions, rules, and values. With language the world comes to be furnished with
qualities like good and evil, abstractions like democracy and communism, values like honour,
valour and generosity, imaginary beings like demons, spirits and gods, imagined places like
heaven and hell. All of these concepts are reified, made into real ‘things,’ by social actions
contingent upon language.
Human worlds with its linguistic edge are, therefore, inconceivably richer than the worlds
inhabited by other creatures. Further, each human society develops a unique rite-based culture,
which is also to say that it constructs a unique world that includes not only a special
understanding of the trees and rocks and water surrounding it, but of other things, many unseen,
as real as those trees and animals and rocks. It is in terms of their existence, no less than in terms
of the existence of physical things, that people operate and transform not only their social
systems but the ecosystems surrounding them which, in all but the cases of hunters and
gatherers, they have dominated since the emergence of agriculture and collective living.
In taking ritual to be a mode of communication some of its strangest features the separation in
time and space of some rituals from daily life, the grotesque quality of some ritual postures and
gestures, the weirdness of some ritual utterances, the exuberant elaboration of some objects and
structures used in rituals become clear. The effectiveness of signals is enhanced if they are easy
to distinguish from ordinary technical acts. The more extraordinary a ritual movement or posture
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the more easily it may be recognized as a signal and not a physically efficacious act. Among
animals ritual gestures seem to be based largely upon instrumental movements like those of
walking or resting or feeding, but ritual imposes what has been called a ‘typical form’ on those
movements. Their scale may be exaggerated, their tempo changed, or they may be elaborated in
other ways. Instances of ritualized elaborations of functional movements and objects are also to
be found among humans (e.g., processional paces, the wielding of swords of state), although
many of the artefacts and gestures of human ritual probably have nothing to do with forms of
technical activity. Special time and places may, like extraordinary postures and gestures,
distinguish ritual words and acts from ordinary words and acts. In ritual’s time or place, words
and acts that may be indistinguishable from those of everyday sometimes take on special
meaning. The designation of special times and places for the performance of ritual also, of
course, congregates senders and receivers of messages and may also specify what it is they are to
communicate about. In sum, the formality and non-instrumentality characteristic of ritual
enhances its communicational functioning.
It may be objected that a view of ritual as communication comes up against the fact that many
rituals are conducted in solitude, and that to refer to solitary actions as communications events is
to dilute the meaning of ‘communication’ to the point of meaningless. The subjective experience
of private devotions is however one for which the term ‘communication’ is appropriate, for in
such rituals the performers presumably do feel themselves to be communicating with spiritual
beings. Moreover, given the extent to which in solitary rituals various parts of the psyche
ordinarily inaccessible to each other may be brought into touch, and given the extent to which
the emotions of participants may respond to the stimuli of their own ritual acts, it is reasonable to
take ritual to be auto-communicative as well as allo-communicative.
Auto-communication is of utmost importance even in public rituals. In fact, the transmitters of
ritual’s messages are always among their most important receivers. To understand ritual to be a
mode of communication does not restrict its scope. On the contrary, it entails an expanded notion
of communication. It is possible to distinguish, although not to separate, two large classes of
natural processes. First, there are those in which actions achieve effects in simple accordance
with the laws of physics, chemistry and biology, through the direct application of matter and
energy to whatever is to be effected. Secondly, there are those in which transmitters achieve
effects by informing representing form to, transmitting form to, injecting form into, more simply
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transmitting messages to, receivers. In this view, which is in accord with certain developments in
linguistic philosophy over the past few decades and anthropology as well as information and
communication theory and cybernetics, communication includes not only simple ‘saying,’ but
also the sorts of ‘doing,’ in which the efficacious principle is informative rather than powerful.
To say that ritual is a mode of communication is hardly to suggest that it is interchangeable with
other modes of communication. It is a special medium peculiarly, perhaps even uniquely, suited
to the transmission of certain messages and certain sorts of information.
Bibliography
Siikala A. (2000). Body, Performance, and Agency in Kalevala Rune-Singing, Oral Tradition, p.
255-278
Cohen A. P. (1985).The Symbolic Construction of Community, (London and New York:
Tavistock Publications.
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, “On Social Structure,” in Ideas of Culture: Sources and Uses, ed. by
Frederick C. Gamst and Edward Norbeck, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1976), pp. 99-107.
Catherine Bell, Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions, Oxford University Press, USA; Reissue
edition (December 29, 2009)
Edward Norbeck, “The Role of Religion: Introduction,” in Ideas of Culture: Sources and Uses,
ed. by Frederick C. Gamst and Edward Norbeck, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1976), pp. 322-327.
Elizabeth Bell, Theories of Performance, University of South Florida, USA, SAGE Publications,
Inc, 2008.
F. D. Goodman, Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1992).
John Miles Foley. The Singer of Tales in Performance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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Judith Lynn Hanna, To Dance is Human: A Theory of Nonverbal Communication, (Austin and
London: University of Texas Press, 1979).
Kirin Narayan, “Singing from Separation: Women’s Voices in and about Kangra Folksongs”,
Oral Tradition. Vol.12, No.1, 1997, pp. 23-53.
Rustom Bharucha, Rajasthan: An Oral History: Conversations with Komal Kothari, (2003; New
Delhi: Penguin Global Publishers, 2007).
Stoeltje,Beverly
J.
1992.
Festival.
Folklore,
Cultural
Performances
Entertainments. Ed. by Richard Bauman. New York.
http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/15ii/5_siikala.pdf
Folk Tradition and Nationalism: Yeats in Ireland
Panchanan Dalai,
d_panch@yahoo.com
and
Popular
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Landlords fooled us
England ruled us
Hounding over passions to make us their prey;
But in their spite
The Irish UNITE
And orange and green will carry the day!i
This is what Thomas Davis (1814-45), the Irish nationalist writer, declared to reunite the Irish
people against the imperialist England who had crippled their country - socially, culturally and
economically. After the continued failures of political struggles and uprisings, it was the
nationalist and revivalist writers/leaders like W. B. Yeats, who realized the strength and
significance of their Irish literary and folk tradition to galvanize the Irish people’s penchant for
complete freedom. Already there were books on folk lore such as Ancient Legends, Mystic
Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland, The Fireside Stories of Ireland, History of Ireland:
Cuculain and his Contemporaries, Irish Folklore,ii which were accompanied with one of the first
historical account of the Irish history - History of Ireland: Heroic Period by Standish O’Grady,
published around 1878-80. Besides, the coming of ‘The Gaelic League’ in 1893 stimulated
increasing organized and institutional concerns for everything Gaelic. In the year 1884, the
Gaelic Athletic Association too was founded to promote indigenous Irish games rather than the
English games. It is at this juncture, the Gaelic folk tradition and literature were exploited to the
highest artistic degree in the form of ballad, elegy, songs, speeches, vision poems, ethnographic
accounts, and plays with an intention to be used as literary crusaders against the protestant
English colonizers whose aim was to convert and colonize the Irish Catholics. For the first time,
Irish nationalism became tinged with Gaelic colour due to increasing incorporation and
representation folk heroes and heroines in nationalist literature in Ireland.
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As in India, where folk resources were utilized to evoke nationalism among fellow Indians in
the wake of India’s freedom struggle by great litterateurs like Rabindranath Tagore, Sri
Aurobindo, Bankim Chandra, etc.,
in Ireland too folk literature served many nationalist
purposes: for the revival of Irish literature as against the domineering English and Anglo-Irish
Literature whose market was in London; for forming an anti-imperialist fervor among the Irish
people who were constantly being exploited by landlords and England; for serving as an
alternative to their geographical and political loss at the hand of the colonizers; and finally to
recalling their own Gaelic heroes like Cuchulain, Aengus, etc. to replace the reference towards
Greek heroes like Hercules and Achilles, etc. Understanding the importance of indigenous Irish
folk and literary traditions, Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-86) made a post colonial appeal to revisit
the history of their tradition, particularly when it was being distorted and anglicized:
The genius of a people at large is not to be learned by the notes of Sunday
tourists. The history of centuries must be gathered, published, studied and
digested, before Irish people can be known to the world, and to each other, as they
ought to be.iii
Ferguson was an Anglo-Irish and a ‘Keeper of Irish Records’. He was knighted in 1878 for his
archaeological/archive works in Ireland. His appeal was to his own class, Anglo-Irish not to
distort and misrepresent the Irish folk tradition, but to seriously authenticate the Irish and Ireland
to the world outside. For many early native writers of Ireland, defending the Celtic or Gaelic
history, myths, and legends was to defend their beloved Ireland who was often viewed as a
symbol of beauty, an actual beloved to be freed from the oppressor, an incitement to war and the
priestess of an occult shrine. Many of the works, particularly poems by the nationalist leaders
celebrated these and therefore belonged to a tradition call “Aisling”. The Irish peasantry whose
identity was closely associated with their folk tradition, envisioned Ireland as ‘Rose’ as seen in
Yeats’ poem ‘The Rose’ or ‘Erne, ‘ and ‘Dark Rosaleen’ as in James Clarence Mangan’s (180349) poem ‘The Dark Rosaleen’:
My dark Rosaleen!
My dark Rosaleen!
The judgment Hour must first be nigh,
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Ere you can fade, ere you can dies,
My dark Rosaleeniv
It was around this time that William Butler Yeats realized to be the spokesperson for Irish
culture, particularly to fill the void of Irish cultural leaders who would culturally reunite the Irish
men during the time of Irish freedom struggle. He expressed his desire to join this company of
the native writers who embraced the duty of singing Ireland’s past glories and traditions in their
works and literature. In one of his poems, Yeats captured this desire of his thus:
Know, that I would accounted be
True brother of a company
That sang, to sweeten Ireland’s wrong,
Ballad and story, rann and song
****
Nor may I less be counted one
With Davis, Mangan, Ferguson,. . . . v
At the same time, Yeats was critical of and gave little prominence to the Anglo-Irish writers such
as Jonathan Swift, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith and Berkeley though they were elevated by
him later. On the other hand, he brought into prominence writers who sang the song of Irish
peasantry and traditional and oral composition of the Irishry. Like his fellow Revival Writers
such as John Synge, George Russell, Isabella Augusta Gregory, and Douglas Hyde, W. B. Yeats
too urged his fellow Irish writers to indulge in a renewed literary and cultural discourse having
Celtic or Gaelic tradition at its centre. He therefore appealed to them to get back to Celtic myths,
legends, and folk tradition for several significant reasons that would assist them to revive the old
and indigenous Irish tradition crippled by the British colonizers. He therefore made an ardent
appeal thus:
I would have our writers and craftsmen of many kinds master this history
and these legends and fix upon their memory the appearance of mountains
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and rivers and make it all visible again in their arts, so that Irishmen, even
though they had gone thousands of miles away, would still be in their own
country.vi
In his early works, Yeats tried to revive Irish myths in a “pure” form, pulling strongly on figures
from Celtic mythology in poems such as “The Hosting of the Sidhe”. However, during the time
of colonial imposition of British English and protestant culture, the task of revival was difficult,
as Ireland never had a chance to define itself in modern terms independent of English control.
For example-names of figures and myths were Anglicized, even within the myths themselves. So
freeing and restoring the distorted stories and myths was another dimension of fashioning folk.
And we would remember how in between 1888 and 1894, Yeats went out to collect folklore
around Sligo or in Connaught in cooperation with Lady Gregory. To this end, Yeats began
introducing characters such as Hanrahan, who he was placed in the center in many myths of his
own creation, such as “The Book of the Great Dhoul and Hanrahan” and “Red Hanrahan’s
Curse. His autobiography Reveries Over Childhood and Youth (1914) reflects on this. In The
Celtic Twilight he declared that “Folk art, indeed, is the oldest of the aristocracies of thought.”vii
What is also worth noticing is that during the colonial era, the Irish people looked upon
folk tradition as an alternative to their political loss in the hand of the Britishers. Their constant
fights to regain their freedom was constantly suppressed and ignored by their colonizers. Several
political measures such as the Act of Union (1800) did not succeed in the political and cultural
stability of Ireland. The anti-imperialists writers and revolutionaries imbibed an alternative way
that relied on use of history and reinvention of the nation’s self. This necessitated for new heroes,
myths, religions, as well as a resurrection of Irish native languages. Going back to the romantic
Ireland, was both a literary and political recluse and many writers and leaders like George
Russell, O’Leary, Standish O’Grady, and Douglas Hyde (the Anglo-Irish leaders) did take this
recluse in the rural Ireland. And Yeats was no exception to this. His intention to take recourse
and recluse in nature and rural Ireland is evident in many of his poems and prose pieces. Part of
this recluse was to regenerate the lost Irishry, to revive Irish literary tradition, as well as to heal
his frustration with the political riots and rising like ‘September 1913’ and ‘Easter 1916.’ His
nostalgia for an idealized Ireland during the choleric colonial time can be best witnessed in the
following lines:
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I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.viii
It would be pertinent to remember that at this juncture of his career, Yeats was influenced by the
new scientists like Darwin, Huxley and Tyndall and felt thwarted and deprived by the strength of
atheistic or agnostic fashion. This too forced Yeats to embrace Irish soil, Irish geography and
literary genres such as stories, anecdotes, proverbs, poems, legends etc as his passion and
fashion. In fact he confessed this thus:
All that we did, all that we said or sang
Must come from contact with the soil, from that
Contact everything Antaeus-like grew strongix
Most prominently, however, Irish folk literature was used as an anti-imperialist weapon against
the English colonialist. Daniel Corkery, famous for his books The Hidden Land (1925) and
Synge and Anglo-Irish Literature (1931) vehemently criticized the Anglo-Irish’s claim to depict
Ireland and wrote thus: “the in grained prejudices of the Ascendancy mind are so hard, so selfcentered, so alien to the genius of Ireland, that no Ascendancy writer has ever succeeded in
handling in literature the raw material of Irish life.”x Even, his beloved Maud Gonne too asserted
that “If only we could make contact with the hidden forces of the land it would give us strength
of the freeing of Ireland.”xi To this effect, Yeats brings in many Irish heroes such as Cuchulain,
Aengus, Sidhe, Oisin, Cathleen, etc. to orchestrate the beauty, simplicity, religiosity and
sacrificing traits of Irish people. In fact living in country side like Sligo, making frequent trips to
Glencar Waterfall, fishing in rivers and sea, climbing mountains, riding pony and stallion,
collecting folk stories and anecdotes, etc were part of Yeats’ creative and intellectual indulgences
that aimed at making what Yeats considered as “ a new religion, almost an infallible church of
poetic tradition.”xii
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Nevertheless, following is a listxiii of heroes and heroines of Irish folk tradition that were
incorporated into literature by Yeats and others to sing and contextualize the sordid plight of
Ireland in the hands of England. For example:
Aengus/Aonghus Og — He was a beautiful love god who fell in love with Caer Ibormeith, who
lived in the shape of a swan on a lake with 150 other swans. Aengus had to identify her beloved
correctly before he could claim and free her. Aengus can be viewed as a folk representation for
the Irish people who had to identify themselves correctly before they could claim freedom from
England. Yeats used this Aengus’ story to evoke Irish nationalism and appealed to other poets
thus –“Irish poets, learn your trade, Sing whatever is well made, ****, Sing the peasantry, and
then Hard-riding country gentlemen, . . .xiv
Fergus — He was the King of Ulster. Once he made a deal with his brother’s widow, Nessa,
promising that her son, Conchobar, could rule for one year in exchange for her hand in marriage.
At the end of the term, he found himself betrayed, and eventually exiled. This story bears
similarity with England’s promise of freedom to Ireland. Like the Irish, Fergus has lost control of
his country. The Irish had a similar promise from the English, who promised to reinstate selfrule, but kept postponing when.
Cuchulainn — He was a mythical Irish hero who single-handedly defended Ireland against
invading forcers prior to the English. He was also a tragic figure, because he was constantly in
love with women (several of whom he lost), and was forced to kill his son as well as his best
friend. Cuchulainn’s troubles are equal to the endless, futile riots and resurgences across Ireland
that angered Yeats. In poems such as “Easter, 1916”, “September 1913”, and “Nineteen Hundred
Nineteen” Yeats laments over the futile acts of his countrymen and the loss of young leaders.
Niamh — She married Conganchas MacDaire, a warrior whom no one could slay, and then
revealed his weakness to her father so that he could slay Niamh. Accordingly Niamh was
muredered and MacDaire married Conchobar Mac Nessa, son of the woman who betrayed
Fergus. This reference to Niamh is seen later in Yeats’ work, after he has seen Maud Gonne
provoke so many men to battle and wasteful death. Yeats refers to this in ‘Easter 1916’also.
Niamh & Oisin — Niamh was supernatural goddess, who enticed Oisin into living with her for
300 years but Oisin believed that only 3 weeks had passed. This story is referred to show
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Ireland’s situation, stuck for an infinite amount of time in someone else’s control because of
deceit. Ireland has been deceived by Danish, Normans, Vikings and English people for centuries.
So Oisin’s plight here is parallel with that of Ireland’s enticement with English rule.
Sidhe — It was the dwelling place of De Danaan after their defeat by the Milesians. The De
Danaan were ancient gods, driven underground and minimized in memory to fairies. The ancient
gods of Ireland were minimized in power, just as Yeats’ Ireland was slowly taken over and
politically lost to the English.
Thus nationalism in Ireland was intrinsically connected with the Gaelic land that had a
long history of myth and legends. Yeats’ infusion of folklore into literature depended on his
personal efforts to collect folk materials from fairies, contemporary peasants, as well as ancient
heroes of Gaelic tradition. Both the nationalist writers as well as the revivalist writers took the
Gaelic tradition of myths and legends to the highest order of nationalism, very rarely witnessed
in other colonial countries. Though some of these writers were controversial because of their
origin like Yeats himself, yet they proved with a passion how a country’s folk tradition can be
exploited to incite the national sentiments of its people, more appropriately during the time of
their freedom struggle. By their indomitable Gaelic passion, these writers formed a formidable
folk who wished to live and die with everything that would make the modern Ireland. Any
nationalist pre and post to their country’s freedom would cherish and understand the fiery
nationalistic fervor as can be witnessed in the lines of Yeats below:
‘Whatever stands in field or flood
Bird, beast, fish or man,
Mare or stallion, cock or hen,
Stands in God’s unchanging eye
In all the vigour of its blood;
In that faith I live or die.’2
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References
Davis, Thomas. ‘Orange and Green will Carry the Day’, Thomas Davis. Selections from his
Prose and Poetry, ed. T. W. Rolleston, New York: Frederick A Stokes Company available at
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21210/21210-h/21210-h.htm.
Kinahan, Frank. Yeats, Folklore, and Occultism: Contexts of the Early Work and Thought.
Boston: Unwin Hymann, 1988. p. xii.
Quoted in W. B. Yeats: A Literary Life, ed. Alasdair D. F. Macrae. London: Macmillan Press
Ltd, 1995, p. 62.
Ibid, p. 62.
Yeats, W. B. ‘To Ireland in the Coming Times’, Collected Poems: W. B. Yeats, New Delhi:
Indialog Publications, 2004, pp. 53- 54.
Quoted in W. B. Yeats: A Literary Life, ed. Alasdair D. F. Macrae. London: Macmillan Press
Ltd, 1995, p. 54.
Yeats, W. B. The Celtic Twilights (1893-1902) available at http://www.sacredtexts.com/neu/yeats/twi/twi41.htm. p 232
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Yeats, W. B. ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’, Collected Poems: W. B. Yeats, New Delhi: Indialog
Publications, 2004, pp. 41- 42.
W. B. Yeats ‘The Municipal Gallery Revisited’, available at http://www.webbooks.com/Classics/Poetry/Yeats/New/municipal.htm
Quoted in W. B. Yeats: A Literary Life, ed. Alasdair D. F. Macrae. London: Macmillan Press Ltd,
1995, p. 58.
Maud Gonne in Scattering Branches, ed. Stephen Gwynn, pp 22-23.
Quoted in W. B. Yeats: A Literary Life, ed. Alasdair D. F. Macrae. London: Macmillan Press
Ltd, 1995, p. 45.
www.google.com
Yeats, W. B. ‘Under Ben Bulben’, Collected Poems: W. B. Yeats, New Delhi: Indialog
Publications, 2004, pp. 377- 78.
Ibid, p. 290.
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Community Contribution and Involvement in Museum Building
Mahendra K Mishra
mkmfolk@gmail.com
India is a living museum of carrying the
past heritage in present context. Coexistence of
centuries and attachment of cultural symbols in present social context signifies the continuity of
cultural tradition in the collective memory of both folk and elite. When Nagamandala is a
traditional ritual, it is also a modern drama staged by Girish Kanrad. When Rani Kokila is a
legendary epic in Punjab sung by the bards, it is equally recreated in form of Hindi film to
portray the women rights. River Ganga or Mountain Himalayas have mythical significance,
equally all the rivers and mountains, hills are significant in the local histories and folklore.
People have sixteen Ganga and eighty-four mountains in their
ritual practice and collective
memory. By this way past is associated with the present, but why not a museum in the public
memory. Is it due to the denied access to the people or if allowed, what purpose and meaning
does it carries for a common man in the current society?
The most important aspect of Indian mind is that when there is no evidence of Rama, Krishna
and Siva, they are alive in the rites and rituals, religious practices, sacred texts and literatures.
Whereas the evidence of existence of Ashoka or Buddha, Samudragupta or Kharavela is found in
the inscriptions and stone encarving, they are forgotten heroes in the community memory. Even
people who visit jagannath temple cannot say who was the king who built the temple. But he
can tell hundred myths on Lord Jagannath.
Indian society lives with living tradition where mythic thought, historical characters and events
play an important role in glorifying the land. The cultural symbols in form of stone images,
wooden images, cave paintings, inscriptions, palm leaf painting, scroll paintings are tangible and
durable. But there are some art forms, which are repeated across the life, time in a particular
time/ occasion of the year and plays its socio—religious role and function. These are intangible
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heritage. Creativity is ingrained in these occasions. Wall paintings during rituals both in case of
tribal and non tribal society, singing songs and tales for entertainment or experiential learning,
performing narrative story in social occasion etc are some of the intangible heritage which is
dynamic as well as fast vanishing. Modernity changes this art form, some survive and some
perish. Thus, the rich collective expressive tradition of human society is unnoticed.
An African proverb therefore says,
“When an old man is passed away from our village, a rich store of knowledge and experience is
lost.” Another proverb runs, relating to the local knowledge is that “those who are uninitiated
can never be able to understand us.” Till to day the dichotomy of “folk” and “elite,” “Akam” and
“puram,” “shastriya” and “loukika” have not been able to understand in isolation. Indian culture
can be understood in a in a holistic manner.
The normal concept related to museum in Indian mind is to see the past from some static art and
monuments. But these have, as stated earlier, have one-dimensional in which very reflective few
have participated and authored the tangible heritage.
When a rural visitor visits a museum and sees innumerable stone images, models, icons, and
many more things, what impression he carries in his mind?
Is the museum able to offer him some thing meaningful, which prompt him to feel that the stone
image make him proud of his land, history and culture? When we come across the huge ruins of
Nala kings of 5th Century AD in Podagarh (Navarangpur district of Odisha) we lament for its
preservation. Many stone images are scattered here and there in the whole locality. Out of two
inscriptions, one inscription is worshipped in a nearby village as local village God. The villagers
reinterpret the inscription telling that the scripts are written down by the Gods are esoteric.
Another huge inscription stone is at the hilltop with out care. The hill and the total landscape
bear the local imagination. Interestingly this may be true for a historian to understand the whole
thing easily. But the community perception to the whole archeological site having this much of
cultural materials need to rethink, how the history and current belief of people can be understood
in right perspective.
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Weaknesses of Museum are that it is unable to communicate the actual meaning of an individual
item of cultural object on display and their connection with original or reference to historical –
geographical context. In Orissa, State Museum is a place where people often come and see many
images in isolation.
But in the district level community doesn’t feel the presence of a Museum although it is true
that there are some museums. District level small museums are available in the district
headquarters, which are not maintained properly.
Local people are ignorant of the rich cultural heritage of the locality
Even the local school and college students have also no information regarding the heritage of
their district. The catalogue or information of the available stone images is not available to the
office bearers.
Every year the District Council of Culture organizes annual functions in where the folk and
classical dance, drama, performance are organized. Souvenir is published in which the writers
write about history, literature and folklore.
For last ten years we see the same kind of articles on history and folklore and literature are
repeated in the souvenir and the efforts are more or less left to the group of people who even do
not select the focal aspects of culture in the district.
Souvenir does not reflect the totality of culture in a district. The amount of efforts and money
spent for such souvenir can be substantiated with bringing out some authentic books and
monographs of the group of writers working on culture, history, folklore and literature of the
district. This can be possible if the district authority taking help of the academicians adopts some
systemic approach. For instance, bringing out a catalogue on district Museum, bringing out
monograph on artists, folk dancers, craftsmen of different genres, painters, musicians, writers,
dramatists and oral tradition can be helpful for the tourists to get secondary knowledge which
can be the source of cultural tourism. Proper planning in the district with the experts on culture
and history can help the Council to present the festival in more closer to the community. It
should not be a one time exhibition of a district, but to keep the artists and scholar people “in
culture” to create new expressions throughout the year. Directory of
cultural heritage and
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artistic treasure can be helpful in cultural planning. Marketing of cultural artifacts are also
possible to promote the standard of living of the artists who live in poverty. Information about
the art and craft should be made available to the artists to get their right dues. State department of
Culture may bring out a comprehensive guideline for such cultural conservation and preservation
and dissemination. At least the expenditure of one year is sufficient to promote district cultural
heritage in a more intensive manner, than to repeat the dance tradition and publication of
souvenir every year.
Economic exploitation of natural and cultural heritage (Ghumra, Fiddle, metal craft, textiles, wall
paintings etc.) is very often found in the country. The mediator between the creator and the
consumers of art and craft and textile exploits the artists. They hardly bother about the
ethnography of the artists, or to promote them in changing context. Participation of the artist in
all the stages is not cared. Simiarly, intangible heritage like folklore, oral tradition, folk art etc
are also exploited and the non-authorship of collective creation is exploited. I have witnessed
that since last twenty years, folklore items from my books have been taken by many scholars, but
the ethics of giving reference to the works of the originator or the compiler is neglected, rather,
deliberately ignored. This is against the intellectual property rights. Unfortunately community is
ignorant of their intellectual property both in terms of history and folklore.
Now a days folk narratives, caste genealogies, myths and legends, tales and proverbs are not
promoted in modern societies where as this is the medium of entertainment and experiential
learning among the tribal and rural societies of India. Similarly, folklore as one of the dynamic
and changing aspect of culture has close relation with the other aspect of culture. It is related to
past as well as present. This is also possible to see folklore in changing form in future.
Collection and preservation and dissemination of such living art form should be promoted
through cultural policy.
WIPO and UNESCO have jointly thought of promoting these art forms and have discussed on
role of Museum and archives in the context of community participation.
In Orissa context, it is found that the Museums are established in all the district head quarters.
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In order to provide access to the Museum and cultural aspects of the districts: Following steps
may be taken:
The Achieves are in regional and community level can be promoted involving the
Cultural clubs and schools/ colleges
Resource Centers at the District level may be made operational hiring the Resource
Persons on preservation of tangible and intangible heritage systematically.
Preservation should have permanence
Cooperative network of documentation, archive Resource community
Providing ample scope to the community and scholars to explore the local museum
Museum can be the gateway to cultural tourism
Museum should be natural and cultural
This is confined to a territory having environmental and historical context
Educational and social function of museum need to be broaden
Public and private body may be provided access to promote museum
Valorize the territorial and local cultural heritage (regional culture)
Promoting cultural Identity (Vastar art, Saora paintings, pata Paintings, textiles, brass / metal
craft etc.)
The National goal on cultural preservation should be made available to the community also to
the school and colleges.
Museum should be a contributing agency to contemporary creativity than a treasure house.
Setting new cultural role of Museum and archives in the context of globalization.
Safeguarding cultural diversities: multiple cultural identities of the communities
Safeguarding the intangible heritage:
Revitalization and regeneration of ethnic culture by safeguarding their cultural symbols like
Caste genealogies, Oral epics, Sacred centers, Stone images, Wooden images, Palm leaf
manuscripts, Oral tales, legends and myths, Proverbs and riddles, Songs and narrative poetry,
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Musical instruments, Metal craft, Bamboo craft, Paddy craft, Wooden craft, Wall paintings,
floral painting, Weaving Handwritten manuscripts.
All these cultural materials are intangible and fast vanishing with the changing of time.
Documentation and preservation maybe made through multimedia in its proper context.
In Santal community, wall painting is one of the most fascinating arts. Women folk decorate
their wall with the indigenous colour prepared by them. The walls are decorated with
geometrical shapes along with many flowers and natural objects on the wall. The decoration of
wall is recurring due to the auspicious occasion like marriage, and clan ritual etc. Twodimensional and three-dimensional art is frequently found among the santal art. Similarly in
Saora paintings, the perpetuation of worship in wall painting representing each god or goddess in
any natural object carved on the wall signifies the importance of art in ritual. It is through sacred
rituals that the arts are maintained. Now days Saora art is exploited b y the modern artists. The
purpose and meaning of using the art is distracted from its ritual context and it has become the
source of earning by the modern artists. The ethics of giving back the art to the Saora community
in a changing context is still to be thought of by the artists or the art historians.
There fore the involvement of the creator of original art need to be regenerated and culture
department should take care of it.
In Juang community, the Mandaghar- community house is the storehouse of economy and
culture. Eternal fire is burning there. The musical instruments are preserved there. Paddy and
grains are stored there for community use.
In other tribal group also, the community owns preservation of sacred symbols. The priest is the
preserver of all sacred symbols. Among the Kondhs when Meriah – human sacrifice was in
practice, the hair of the Meriah was preserved in a Jhapi- bamboo box for the goddess. For
Pendragadien, there is a shop in Raipur, a capital city of Chhatishgarh, where people from
southwestern Orissa and Chhatishgarh purchase the saree, blouse, and basket, ornaments
specially designed for the Goddess Pendragadien. This is preserved with care in that community
where the Goddess is worshipped.
Similarly the ethnic singers like Parghania preserve the Kikri- fiddle as his bana- symbol of
Gond God. The Devgunia worship the Bramhaveena, Doms the Muhuri, Banjara the Daphli, and
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Bogua- the Kondh bard to Dhundhunia. This signifies that preservation of cultural materials is
perpetuated with the association of sacred rituals or sacred performance.
The community can share their traditional knowledge since these are no more useful to the
younger generations. It is the modern education system that has replaced and neglected the
traditional knowledge. The value of traditional knowledge is only confined to the seniors. They
also feel their local knowledge obsolete with the emergence of modern knowledge.
The educated youth may be oriented to their cultural values. Training may be given to the
younger generation on their cultural treasure. Some professionals like epic singers are fast
vanishing genres. Those can be documented on priority basis.
Heritage represents the past but folklore represents the present. In museum there is little about
the social history of the people. This can be rebuilt from the folklore, which is found in the
collective memory of the people in form of oral tradition and dynamic arts. Then the
reconstruction of history in the context of past and present can be possible and role of museum
can be meaningfully discernable.
Class Margins: Learning to (Un)Learn
D. Venkat Rao
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telvenkat@gmail.com
I have always thought that the Indian classroom is the most challenging arena for testing one’s
reflections. These reflections may pertain to the pedagogical domain (involving issues such as
what one teaches, how one reads, what one writes about, how/what one inquires into); they may
also pertain to one’s political and ethical concerns of living today. This may surprise one - but
the challenge largely comes from the non-metropolitan classroom situations. Unlike in the
metropolitan cities, these classrooms cannot be treated as unified or homogenous ones. The
metropolitan classrooms are mostly composed of affluent and class-mobile students.
Moffusil or rural-based universities complicate the teaching scenario. Educational programmes
and teaching methods, reared in the colonial epoch are not oriented toward these marginal
universities. The original goal of English (or modern) education was to prepare a corps of
literate subjects who facilitate the governance of the colonized. These literate subjects also form
the conduit for imparting selectively the culture of imperial metropolis. Macaulay’s Minute and
Wood Despatch on Indian education explicitly discounted and discredited Indian (Sanskrit,
vernacular and Arabic) learning. Consequently, thousands of pathsalas, tolls and madarssas that
existed in villages and towns were closed down. Modern education had no place in it for the
radical cultural divergence that forms the subcontinental Indian existence and experience.
Consequently, the modes and the material with which our educational models function have
become deeply disoriented and disorienting practices. They have not offered any significant
direction and rationale for education in our decolonized society. They are in no position to
enable us to understand the distinct compositions of cultural forms and cultural formations of this
country.
The most entrenched model of education that prevails today is based on a derivative two-culture
idea. This divides and opposes the science (and technology) education from the humanities. The
latter are seen to be non-rigorous and superfluous and above all, cognitively and practically of
little worth.
This model has sunk into the most vulgarly philistine path of science and
technology education pandered by private coaching centres.
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As can be seen, among the scores of coaching centres mushrooming in any city, there is not a
single one that attends to the training in the humanities and social sciences. This is the symptom
of our times: our mindsets have been altered by fear of falling behind in the race. The only ideal
or imaginary that seems to shape the idea of our education is the vulgar utilitarianism of selfinterest. The new pragmatic institutions spur these interests. Such institutions work with totally
authoritarian, top-down approach and impose fierce and mind-killing “discipline” among the
wards. These pedagogical models and methods have increasingly two disturbing side effects.
Firstly, they confine and constrict the student’s capability to grasp and interact with the world
outside (for nearly 12-14 hours of the day the student is imprisoned in the coaching centre).
Secondly, thus ghettoed, students develop a skewed understanding of the world outside: that the
outside is evil and that s/he thus trained through confinement has the right to denounce and be
vengeful about the world and people outside. Such centres of training are by definition incapable
of conceiving and imparting an education that enriches the student’s biocultural existence and
cultivates his/her competence in grappling with issues in the world.
Given that the coaching centres cannot provide the required education, one must turn to public
(or any adventurous and enlightened private) institutions – universities – for a new learning and
education. But the universities in the country have dismally worked to uphold the vocation and
task (of transformative teaching and research) which was entrusted to them. Our ailing public
institutions – the universities of higher learning – have given up the imperative to think; they
have abandoned the persistent need to reflect on the nature and purpose of the university.
Expediency seems to norm the governance of the university today. We live in destitute
postcolonial times. These are destitute times for thought and reflection. Destitution in matters of
thinking concerns the inability to know what questions to ask, what inquiries to pursue.
The kind of learning that these unreflecting institutions (both public and private) impart is once
again largely a derivative one. The aim and method of learning that are prevalent are deeply
dubious. They do not evince any kind of sensitivity toward the student composition and its
biocultural heterogeneity.
The opportunity that such a composition provides for a radical
rethinking of our educational goals, methods and material is barely probed in our context.
Crippling cynicism regulates teaching and learning in the universities today.
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Today the largest number of students enrolled in higher education move into the humanities and
social sciences. With 620 universities, 35,539 colleges, over 40 institutes of technologies (IITs,
NITs, IIITs) and scores of other higher educational institutions India has a substantial public and
private academic infrastructure (this is, though, hardly adequate in a population of 1.2 billion).
Over 20 million students enrolled (only) in higher education institutions in 2011.
The
humanities and arts subjects dominate the enrolment lists in colleges and the universities. About
37% (that is, over 6.5 million) opted for the humanities and the social science subjects (in
contrast to about 18% in the sciences). Predictably the humanities and social sciences produce
more graduate and doctoral students every year (over 450 doctorates every year in science and
technology studies against thousands in the arts and humanities in recent years). According to
one account India aims at producing about 100 million graduates to take up jobs (the country
hopes to create) by 2020. For this the country needs 1,000 new universities and about 4,00,000
teachers. But the unfortunate reality is that there are barely any competent institutions of higher
learning that offer a vibrant humanities programme for these increasing numbers. A serious and
vibrant humanities inquiry alone can provide the basis for a meaningful and just education in the
country – an education that takes our mindsets beyond the dead-ends of cost-benefit education.
Critical Humanities
In the new conjuncture formed by the global flows and bio-info technologies, education is indeed
the issue of great magnitude. Now the most challenging task is what kind of education should
one design? How should one impart it? Who are our audiences? What is our content? How do
we address our contexts? Should expediency alone be the determining factor? These are not
mere desperate questions. These are questions concerning our common future.
I have said earlier that our classrooms are the most challenging sites for testing our reflections.
The challenge of Indian classroom comes from its heterogeneous composition.
When we
carefully observe our student composition, we are bound to become aware that one cannot treat
the group as a homogenous one. For our classrooms are composed by divergent jatis and
communities. Over 50% of this enrolment mentioned earlier comes from what is called the
“reservation” (“affirmative action”) category.
This category itself is divided into three
components and each of which gives only the illusion of a unifying totality. Whereas even a
cursory look at these components reveals that each one is composed of thousands of significantly
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varied communities or jātis (which the Portuguese turned into “castes”.) On even a most
conservative estimate these jātis (as currently configured) run into about five thousand
communities. Four separate federal ministries of the Indian state are entrusted with the task of
safeguarding reservations and thus maintaining jāti compositions. If one were to figure out the
jāti compositions of the other 50% of student population one can imagine the radically
heterogeneous nature of the Indian classroom. The British abandoned such an enterprise to
count the jātis in the 1930s. The institutions and the modern system of thought they (the British)
established foreclosed any new reflection or inquiry into the heterogeneous jāti formations and
the alienating but (now) ineluctable structures of colonial modernity.
Critical humanities
education must affirm its task of addressing the questions posed earlier in this double bind.
If the faculties of humanities are concerned with human creativity and reflection, are these
faculties in a position to grapple with the creative and reflective forces and forms of these diverse
jāti formations of India today? The negative answer that awaits such questions goes to prove
that the structure, method, content and pedagogy in the humanities (let alone in the sciences) are
dominated by the Euro-American paradigms. Caught in a juncture of such a glaring cognitive
asymmetry what is to be done?
As pointed out above, traditionally the domain of humanities explored human creativity and
reflection. But the conception of the human and the evolving methods and theories about human
creations and reflections have remained the legacy of the West in the last two hundred years.
This legacy programmes and shapes (not only) the discourses and institutions of the humanities
today. Critical humanities affirm the need to unravel this legacy from the receiving contexts of
cultures that faced colonial domination. While questioning the “human” in the humanities,
critical humanities emphasize the necessity to attend to the radical reconcptualization of life and
living advanced by life and techno sciences today. In this complex conjuncture formed by
European intellectual legacy and bio-techno ascendancy – how does one reconfigure the
reflective space of cultures that flourished for millennia outside the fold of European heritage?
How to rearticulate non-European inheritances from within the discourses and institutional
structures formed by the European heritage? Critical humanities affirm the urgency of collective
reflection across the traditional disciplinary and institutional borders in the Indian context today.
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The universities especially with rural, provincial bases must be made to play a crucial role in
bringing forth and realizing of the imports of critical humanities education indicated above.
More concretely the universities, with their research and training agenda can initiate what can be
called a “virtual adoption” of specific villages to develop such education. The idea of a virtual
adoption, aims at building capabilities through shared work, through inculcation of confidence
and encouraging responsible decision. More concretely, such “adoption” helps the colonialmodern institutions to learn more about the cultural forms and cultural formations that compose
Indian creative and reflective traditions. Such learning can contribute to specify how Indian
culture(s) differ from other cultures of our planet.
But in order to undertake such risky educational/research initiatives one is required to cultivate
intimate affiliation with the heterogeneous resources of the creative, reflective, recitational,
narrative and performative forms of non-cohering jatis. Above all, even (when), if one wishes to
rearticulate and reorient these intimations, one must primarily learn to affirm, say “yes” to, these
heritages. Needless to say that there is an imperative need for such a research into our inherited
resources. The deep heterogeneity of Indian cultural fabric in languages, narrative, visual and
performing traditions would provide challenging material and modes for thought and action. It
must be said that after the early British and European explorations and their sketching of the
cultural (and other resources) map of Indian living traditions, a comparable work of quality,
critically examining that earlier sketch is yet to be undertaken.
It seems to me that the
institutionalized social inquires in our context have barely contributed to cultivating such critical
affirmation. One must be ready to learn to unlearn the institutionalized colonial pedagogy and at
the same time learn to learn from below and put to work our mixed inheritances. Without such
affirmative openings, our inquiries, pedagogic ventures and researches can only reinforce our
postcolonial destitution.
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In the Language of the Other:
Education for Tribal Children from Philosophy of Engagement
Ranjan K. Panda
ranjan.panda@gmail.com
Introduction
“Education is a tool of transmission of culture, accumulated knowledge and experience of
a society. It is also the tool of economic betterment of societal change. India provides an
interesting case study of social change. A meeting ground of several language families,
economic groups and mosaic of cultural patterns, India presents a unique case of
sociolinguistic pluralism bound by a single thread of cultural homogeneity. Therefore,
commonsense would suggest variety rather than uniformity in education, both as an
expression of cultural diversity and as a strategy to meet diverse needs and aspiration of
different cultural groups. But the current concern for uniform design, structure and
content of education caters to neither, confuses issues relating the purpose and goal of
education and is by and large irrelevant to most sectors of society, particularly the tribal
sector.” (Pattanayak 1981: 80)
“Among the Indian states in India, Odisha is probably the state with the largest range of
linguistic and cultural diversity. For one, it shows the excellent example of commingling
of the Dravidic and Indo Aryan languages, the presence of the one not subdued by the
other. In terms of the social composition, Odisha has amazingly diverse tribal
communities. The historical continuity of cultures in Odisha is lot more pronounced than
it is in the states of its south and north. When one thinks of various forms of creative
expressions of the Adivasis, one naturally turns to Odisha for the most alluring instances,
be it dance, painting, song, theatre, music, craft, traditional medicine, agricultural
practices, rural architecture and such. All these have been kept alive by Adivasis for
centuries through their oral traditions. Therefore, when one looks at the oral traditions of
Odisha, one must once think a little beyond the normal expectations that ‘folklore’ brings
to us.” (G. N. Devy 2012: ix).
Education brings changes to society. It helps in transforming social, cultural and economic
conditions of people. Societal changes basically mean the renewal of belief systems, practices
and values that is instrumental in developing standard of living. The complexity of human
societal living can be measured through language. Language is an important element that knits
knowledge, culture and economy of a society. It not only represents the social nexus but also
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forms identity of the people. As multi lingualism has been practised in India both at the macro
and micro levels, one tries to find out a commonality focusing on broad canvas of linguistic
expressions namely art, painting, dance, music, etc., which represents culture. Odisha is an
example of a multilingual society where apart from Odia, many of its adivasi communities speak
different languages. Still tribal children are deprived of being educated in their mother tongue.
Learning becomes a great challenge when teaching conducted through a second language. At a
very early stage of learning, children when find it difficult to relate, they give up going to
schools. Fear and ambiguities start building up in the tender mind of these children and
eventually act as reasons of social alienation. It is important to note that Devy has tried to show
that a diversified adivasi society does contribute to the cultural and economic heritage of Odisha.
But unfortunately, in the schools of tribal areas the medium of instruction has been Odia which is
the state’s official language. Tribal language and folklore do not find a proper place in their
curriculum. The children fail to relate the contents of the text with their everyday experiences of
life which create ambiguities. In addition to that when the texts are taught through a second
language they find that quite burdensome. Apart from the other challenges like untrained and
unmotivated teachers, we also need to overcome the challenge that causes ambiguities and
linguistic alienation. Therefore, there is a need to talk about the larger canvas of language that
adivasis have preserved for us for centuries. The larger canvas of language includes their
manifold forms of expressions, such as, art, paintings, music, dance, agriculture, medicine and
folklore. The non inclusion of adivasi language and their folklore in teaching and learning creates
a space of disengagement that has further deepened alienation in society. Hence, there is a need
to talk about notion of engagement that has potential to bring about the creative power embedded
in their forms of life. In this connection, we theorize the notion of education following some of
the key component of philosophy of engagement maintained by Martin Buber. Education for him
is the creative power through which life flows, forms and flourishes.
A Story of Disengagement
While narrating the ground problems concerning teaching to tribal children, Arungangshu Lodh,
one of the National Award Winning teachers, writes “Ninety five percent of the girls in my
school are from tribal communities, teaching them is a unique challenge. One needs trained
teachers, but the problem in Tripura is that teachers are often not trained, there is only one
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Government institution in the state that has a B. Ed. Course,” he said, adding that in a state like
Tripura where poverty is rampant training teachers should be priority.” (2013) Lack of trained
teachers is one problem and their motivation and commitment to be engaged in their profession
is another problem which seems to me requires a philosophical scrutiny. Because one can
establish training centres and make suitable courses to produce qualified teachers which is
basically to deal through adequate funding and issues concerning development of infrastructure.
Nevertheless, these reasons are not sufficient to bring about motivated and committed teachers.
Unless teachers are self motivated and committed to their duties that they have undertaken the
societal status of these children will not improve. They remain disengaged in their everyday life.
Teachers as community must create a culture of learning. Their motivation and commitment
create the desirable environment of teaching and learning. A suitable environment of learning, as
pointed out by Drèze and Sen, is created if the learner and the teacher are being creatively
engaged. According to them, “Learning and studying can be immensely enjoyable and creatively
engaged activities, and the process of schooling itself can add greatly the quality of life of young
people, quite apart, from the long run benefits they receive from it”(2013, p.109). To be
creatively engaged is to create scope for ‘openness, directness, mutuality and presence’ which
are treated as central theme of an engaged I-Thou relationship stated by Martin Buber (1965:
xiv). We would like to theorize the notion learning as creatively engaged activity from the point
of view of Buber’s notion of I-Thou relationship. In this section, rather we intend to discuss
various form of the important fragments of disengaged story about learning at school.
Uptrend teachers engaged in teaching children belong to tribal communities not only
encounter challenges concerning teaching, but also fail in making learning and studying an
enjoyable and creatively engaged activity. The failure is due to several reasons, such as, lack to
proper curriculum, the medium of instruction, and above all the cultural milieu in which students
live. Apart from these reasons, there are more than half a dozen reason indicated in the study of
Drèze and Sen. (2013) Referring to the cases of schooling in the tribal areas, they mention that
unfortunately, children in these areas have poor attendance because school education is underfunded, but our ‘rhetoric claim is that education is our first priority.’ Raising their concern, they
write, “We mentioned earlier the incidences of absenteeism by teachers, which is very large
indeed in some parts of the country, and on top of that, as was also discussed in many regions the
teachers who do show up seem reluctant to teach. There is something quite chilling in thought
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that a large portion (possible as high as half) of country’s children are sitting ideally in classroom
on an average school days – eager to learn, but deprived of any guidance, and condemned in
many cases to leaving the schooling system without even being able to read and write. Most of
the children are, of course, perfectly able not only to acquire basic literacy or mathematical
skills, but also to study well beyond the constitutionally guaranteed minimum eight years. The
schooling system’s failure to respond these aspirations and abilities is a manifest and colossal
injustice, and yet it has remained unaddressed for many decades” (2013, p.131). Tribal areas are
still considered remote places and that becomes burdensome for the teachers to opt for teaching
in those areas. Lack of infrastructure and communication facility has created this poor
impression among the teaching community and could be a source of demotivation. Teacher
appointed in those areas are reluctant to go and teach on a regular basis. Why it is a challenge to
keep the children engaged during schooling hours? Why most of them are deprived of guidance
and not motivated to read and write? To explicate these questions further, I would like to bring to
your notice experiences from the grassroots level of dedicated persons working in the tribal
literacy programme.
The Rural Education Committeexv that worked more than a decade ago in the tribal areas
of Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha reports that parent’s socio-economic condition is
a hindrance. Some school going children who belong to poor families are forced to work,
whereas others had poor motivation and exhibited carelessness. (Barik 2000, p.4) There are
schools without children. It is stated that “Teachers in some schools are seen lying on the
verandha without having a single child talk to. Thus all motivational work and money behind it
go waste utterly failing an unrealistic elitist idea, which admits the effect and forgets the cause.”
(Barik 2000, p. 5) Teachers were present in the school only to receive their salary. It was in a
sense misuse of government’s fund which shows lack of vision and planning on the part of Govt.
On the other hand, as there is a common time-period prevails all throughout the state, children do
not like to come to school for the whole day. In the elitist’s school programme, one finds that
children spend more time in the schools. The academic curriculum designed in these schools is
mainly to inspire the children to move higher in their academic ladder and become engineers,
doctors, IT professionals, managers or administrators. In the cultural milieu of tribal’s such a
curriculum creates ‘ambiguities.’ So there is a need to have separate curricula and orientation
programme for the tribal children.
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Secondly, since the medium of instruction is not in their mother tongue, rather in Oriya or
in the official language of the state which the tribal children find difficult to cope up with. Barik
emphasizes that “Records are aplenty to show that innumerable tribal children do not succeed in
schools and this is so because they are continually wronged by the existing education system.
Opening up opportunities for these children to learn as well as be examined through their mother
tongue would be a large step in the right direction” (2000, p.14). The importance of language
cannot be ignored when it is a matter of cognitive and cultural development children. With the
use of a second language this means of development becomes a burden for the children as they
fail ‘to connect the message of the text and social progress.’ Language opens up the field of
communication and various intentional dimension of human engagement which binds us
culturally. Language is also a medium through which we disclose our ideas and thoughts
systematically. Thus, Language plays an important role not only in building up cognition but also
building up the culture. (Devy, 2011, p. 91) It is a huge challenge for the tribal children when
they encounter that their medium of instruction in the school and is different from their mother
tongue. This could a prime reason of alienation. D. P. Pattanayak, an eminent linguist and
scholar of tribal studies maintains that this issue of “language has not been properly addressed”
(1981, p. 85). He writes, “Education is expected to develop the necessary skills including the
linguistic competence, participation and involvement in the administrative process and in nation
building. Therefore, the planning of language use in education and administration must be
compatible with each other. If language of education acts as a counter pose to language of
administration than it will create tension which may frustrate planning itself. For most tribals,
both the language of education and administration are alien... The tribal frustration about the
process and product of planning is thus rooted in the discriminatory use of language.”
(Pattanayak 1981, p. 84) The insulation of second language as medium of instruction in the
school not only is a reason of disappointment but also creates an inferiority complex in the mind
of the tribal children and within entire community. Unless we have trained teachers who belong
to the same linguistic community, the provision of formal education through second language
remains a problem. The teachers who know both the language are placed within the binding of
their language, but those who are not could silently induce a feeling of difference (Pattanayak,
1981, p. 85). The teacher becomes an outsider when s/he speaks a different language; in the
language of administration and education. This was the typical challenge which Lodh points out
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while addressing needs of trained teacher for the tribal children of Tripura. There is an urgent
need to have training centres to train them and whoever is equipped bilingually – it becomes easy
to communicate and relate to the needs of the tribal children, and consequently that helps in
bridging the differences. While creating such opportunity, there is a need to keep certain
important things in mind, for instance, ‘the tribal children are not completely alienated from
work orientation. And, their labour is not physically burdensome for them. Most importantly
they are not exploited in any circumstances and to be rescued from vicious life of boredom and
stagnation.’ (Barik, 2000, p. 5)
Education in the form of engagement
As a most famous puranic saying goes: sa vidya ya vimuktayexvi. It means knowledge has the
liberating power. It can free us from all kinds of bondages and stagnations and save the life from
the vicious cycle of exploitation and unhappiness. If education is cultivated in that spirit then it
opens up a new form of learning that directs teachers and students to get engaged to realize their
sense of mutuality and presence. (Buber, 1965, p. xiv) As engagement is a mutual relationship
that intentionally binds both teacher and student; it gives an opportunity to experience each
other. Buber defines this engagement as I-Thou relationship where the other is spontaneously
included in the experience of the self. As Rich summarizes the notion of I-Touh relationship,
“The relationship of I-Thou is a relation of love. It also is the instinct for communion. The
educative relationship is one of inclusion; it is a “true inclusion of one another by human soul.”
The educator’s concern is the person as a whole, in his “present actualities and future
possibilities.” (Rich ,1971, p.84) The relation in love involves the other. The notion of inclusion
is significant in Buber’s illustration – “is that which makes it possible to meet and know the
other in his concrete uniqueness, and not just as content of one’s experience” (Buber 1965: xv).
Engagement is therefore a meeting where ‘the imagination of the real goes hand in hand with
remaining one’s own side of the relationship.’ Unless the teachers intend to meet and experience
the other side of the life of these children a mutual relationship will not be established. Such
meeting is essential for giving birth to a new meaning that emerges in showing the seed
imagination in the mind of illiterate children and creating the hope of learning. Imagination is a
faculty of creative thinking which everyone is endowed with and needs to be cultivated for the
development of the natural activity of the self (Buber 1965, pp.84-85).
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The notion of self, for Buber, is social and a relational concept (Rich 1971: 84). In this
regard, students should not be dealt as a mere individual without any sense of freedom and
dignity, rather to be treated as a person. An individual without freedom and dignity is a victim of
social exclusion. Education nurtures the sense of self considering that an individual is a subject
to be engaged mutually. Buber writes, “Yes, as an originator man is solitary. He stands wholly
without bonds in the echoing hall of his deeds. ...only if someone grasps his hand not as a
‘creator’ but as a fellow-creature lost in the world, to be his comrade or friend or lover beyond
arts, does he have an awareness and share of mutuality” (1965, p. 87). A student is not aware of
this mutual relationship. Self development, therefore, requires engagement grounded on the
intense mutual relationship of the individuals. In the context of education, to enter into the realm
of a mutual relationship presupposes how the student and the teacher have undertaken a course
of action. The notion of undertaking is important as it provides opportunity of sharing the
experience of learning together. This togetherness creates a realm of mutuality in which both
students and teacher dwell with hope to discover and practise whatever follows from it.
Buber says that education begins when we experience the other side, i.e., the teacher
construes the process of learning from the view point of the student. While being engaged in
learning, the mutuality of relationship shows the inclusive power of the intentionality of the
teacher and student operating in reality. Buber maintains that “Inclusiveness is the complete
realization of the submissive person, the desired person, the partner, not by the fancy but by the
actuality of the being” (1965, p. 97) The teachers not only intend to teach but the students also do
show the genuine interest to learn. Illustrating the notion of inclusion, Buber further suggests that
it is a “dialogical relation” which shows “genuine conversation.” “The relation in education is
one of pure dialogue” (1965, p. 98). The need of having dialogue and to maintain the dialogical
relationship speaks about having unfailing communion between the self and the other. In the
context of education this is about educative relation that upholds the teacher and the student
which further develops into friendship – “is based on a concrete and mutual experience of
inclusion. It is the true inclusion of one another by human souls” (Buber 1965, p.101). In
educative dialogical relationship friendship does signify a spiritual bond that co-exists between
the teacher and the student.
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Buber emphasizes that we need to appreciate the “truth of co-existence” and “truth of
recognition”. The later unfolds the mode in which the teacher and student are involved in
understanding one another while being engaged in learning. The teacher is inclined to think
about the needs of the students and problems that they encounter while engaged in learning. If
they fail to recognize and have no inclination towards knowing or identifying their problems,
then one does not necessarily co-exist with the experience of the students. The truth of coexistence refers to the attitude in which the self is engaged with the other. In the realm of coexistence the teacher is not only engaged in educating the students but also is “being educated.”
Thus truth of co-existence and truth of recognition are complementary to each other to explicate
the normative dimension of truth. In other words, understanding truth in an educative
relationship goes along with the notion of responsibility which is shared among the teacher and
students. While being engaged in sharing responsibility, the being unfolds its true character. This
normative dimension of human engagement is an essential aspect of educative relationship.
Responsibility emerges from within, that is, the domain of mutual engagement where the self
feels obliged to the other. One experiences the need to cultivate good will to relate to the other.
This intentional attitude of responsibility unfolds the normative co-existence of individuals in a
society.
Dialogical Engagement: Broadening the Canvas of Language
Human normative relationship that operates within the societal living is mostly expressed
in language. “Language originates in life and is basically rooted in the fabric of life.” xvii (Pradhan
2009) The intrinsic relationship between language and life is central to cognitive as well as the
cultural development of human beings. It is through language our encounter with the reality is
meaningfully conceptualized. As Heidegger puts it, “Language brings face to face with a
possibility of undergoing an experience with something – be it a thing, a person, or a God –
means that this something befalls us, strikes us, comes over us, overwhelms and transforms us”
(1971, p.57). As a linguistic being, the humans have the great opportunity to not only to speak
language or articulate their thoughts, but language also provides an opportunity to them to
undergo an experience. Language has the power which runs into the interiority of life where one
experiences the content of expressions and live with it. Its potentiality of bringing change comes
up when we begin to live with it. The notion of living involves various things such as “receiving,
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enduring, suffering, and submitting.” This aspect of language shows the inner dimension as one
lives with what is being felt – that is, to undergo an experience with language. We often overlook
this when we talk about language is means of communication. Communication not only shows
the outer function of language, but also connects to interiority of human life.
It is through language one experiences the world and tries to make sense of the world. At
the very early stage of the learning when the children are curious about the world, language
equips them to meet those challenges. While undergoing various experiences, the children do
manipulate their cognition and understand a thing which is a part of their engagement with the
world that helps in their development of linguistic concepts or categories. One of the important
observations that Krishna Kumar makes in this regard is that schools at the very early stage do
n’t give importance to language as the central point of learning (Kumar, 2011, pp. 5-6). Teaching
language to the children at the stage where one hardly makes a distinction between knowledge
and skill; it is necessary to examine the mode in which a child is engaged in reading and
learning. He maintains that “One of the primary means of doing these things is language, and a
grade one child is already familiar with marvellous capacities. He has already used it to establish
relationships, to internalise these relationship and then to apply these internalization to explore
wider world. Along with movement, touch, vision, hearing, and smell, a child of six is familiar
with the exciting possibilities of language. He knows from the social lore that school is where he
will learn two new powerful skills reading and writing, and much else.” (Kumar 2011: 59)
Children come to school with a lot of curiosity and hope, but if the environment of learning is
not conducive to nurture the tender minds in the right direction, they will feel alienated.
Linguistic alienation is much stronger as the children fail to internalize the lesson and exhibits
helplessness to communicate with teacher. Apart from this the life of tribal children undergo
some of the severe problems and addressing them, Barik writes, “Drawbacks in the articulation,
lack of confidence a tiny world to wonder about, unhygienic habits inherited from the elders and
the invisible inhibitions to express the inner potential are some of the personality traits in the
children, a wholesome education cannot afford to ignore” (2001, p. 20). Language is a great
facilitator as opens up the being. We not only share our problems but also gain self-confidence.
And without a language one fails not only to articulate thoughts, but also starts breeding
inferiority complex which eventually diminishes the child’s being. The wholesome education, in
this regard, requires an alternative language.
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This alternative language is cultivated through extra-curricular activities. When a
classroom curriculum becomes ineffective and fails to hold the dialogical educative relationship,
there is a need to transcend the existing language and expand the horizon of learning introducing
the extra-curricular activity. The scope of extracurricular activity includes all kinds of sensory
experiences to articulate expressions to be engaged in a communion. As Buber maintains that
dialogue is a “communion in education is just communion, it means being opened up and drawn
in” (1965, p.90). A child is invited to participate in extracurricular activity in order to open up
new door of learning to restore the being of child and unfold their personality. Extra-curricular
activities involve study tours and excursions, games and sports, dance and drawing. Illustrating
the epistemic intensity of learning through extracurricular activity, Barik maintains that
“Knowledge is power and animating, but that is not gained so much from books or classroom
teaching as when learned from personal contact with living and vibrant world around” (2001:
21). Dance and drawing, game and sports, visiting zoo and sea shore do not require a special
language for the tribal children. Rather, children are initiated to learn through performance.
Story telling is about performative learning. The narration of a story or folktale is profoundly
engaging. It creates motivation to learn language in a creative manner. As Mahanand and
Goswami put it, “Folktales as a genre have a great potential in teaching and learning language.
Learners are assured of variety in terms of themes and style. A folktale motivates learners and
sustains interest among them. The brevity of a regular story implies that it does not require more
than one or two sessions to read and discuss it. Learners get to initiate a discussion after just one
or two sessions. When a learner completes reading a story, he/she has a sense of achievement.
Researchers have shown that extensive reading of stories helps in developing proficiency in
learners, like music and dance stories bring life to performance. Storytelling is more interactive.
It enhances eye contacts and provides for a relaxed and free atmosphere, a situation that
increases the chance of learning without any strain” (2011 x). Learning becomes a joyful activity
as it involves the children naturally. When children are asked to draw and name the drawing, or
when the sing the folk-songs and dance; they effortlessly do it without showing any sense of
strain in them with the spirit of co-operation and friendship. There is no competition involved in
such form of performance; rather the potentiality of an individual learner emerges in
togetherness (Das 2007). Learning in this mode enriches the collective culture (Barik 2001: 22).
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To conclude, togetherness is a fertile ground for learning. It helps in developing
educative relationship that unfolds the creative power of the children. Once the child recognizes
this relationship then he/she embraces learning. The child starts feeling that they deserve it which
results from the unconditional friendship that teacher and students maintain while being engaged
in learning. In an educative relationship the teacher not only involves the students but also shares
the content of teaching with a great responsibility of understanding the deeper potential of the
child. In this regard, both teacher and student are spontaneously initiated into the learning – deep
learning. (Das 1980) Human learning engagement thus has to have a spiritual grounding on
which its actual practice takes place. Buber’s dialogical engagement is cultivated with purpose of
realizing the spiritual existence of the other. (Buber 1965: 89) Both Buber and Das agree that
language of the spiritual is the language of “freedom, love and commitment.” xviii Humanity
survives in speaking and listening to the voices of this language. Heidegger has reminded while
narrating the being of language that “speaking is of itself a listening. Speaking is listening to the
language we speak” (1971, p.123). The urge here is to listen to the voices that are even silent and
voices that are silently gazing. Unless the teachers listen to the voices of these types that they
encounter in the eyes of tribal children and in their silence, their engagement will remain a
failure. Their effort will fail to open up the creative power of the children. Hence, education as a
product of educative relationship must bind the teacher and students in the language of love and
commitment. It is ultimately a commitment to the humanity, because in such binding the self will
keep unfolding its creative contents freely. This freedom of the self will always assure us a
greater sense of self-reliance and joy of learning.
Notes:
1
Here we refer to the report written by Satyananda Barik (2000).
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Complete sloka is as follows: “Tat-karma yaa bhandaaya, sa vidya ya vimuktaye, aya saaya
parama karma, vidya-anyaa shilpa naipurnam.” Vishnu Purana, 1. 19.41
1
R. C. Pradhan illustrates Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of language and tries to examine the
language-life interface.
1
1
Giri traces the great meeting of two philosophers and creative writers who belived in dialogue
and world transformation, writes “He [Das] visited Israel in 1950s on his way back to India from
Denmark and had met with Mrtin Buber, the great seeker and philosopher of dialogue. He [Das]
also visited and taught in Kibbutz schools. He was happy to come back to Israel after thirty seven
years in 1991 and his book on Isreal brought these two journeys together.” (2012: 25)
References:
Barik, Satyananda. (2000). Learning how to Educate the Poor, Cuttack: Bani Press.
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Buber, Martin. (1965). Between Man and Man, (trans. M. Friedman) New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company
Das, Chittranjan .(2007). Letters from the Forest, (trans. D. Pattanaik) New Delhi: National
Book Trust.
Devy, G. N. (2011). A Nomad Called Thief: Reflections on Adivasi Silence, New Delhi: Orient
Blackswan
_____, (2012) Voices of the Forest: Tribal Folktales from Southern Odisha, (Trans. Anand
Mahanand .Vadodara: Purva Prakash
Drèze J. & Sen, A. (2013). An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions, New Delhi:
Penguin Allen Lane.
Giri, A. (2012) A New Morning with Chitta Ranjan: Adventures in Co-Realizations and World
Transformations, Bhubaneswar: Sikshasandhan.
Heidegger, M. (1971). On the Way to Language, (trans. Peter D. Hertz) New York: Harper &
Row
Kumar, Krishna. (2011). What is Worth Teaching?, New Delhi: Orient Blackswan
Lodh, A. (2013) “Interview with National Award Winning Teacher,” 6th September, The Indian
Express, Bombay.
Mahanand, A. & Goswami, L. (2012) English through Folk-Tales, New Delhi: Viva Books.
Rich, J. M. (1971) Humanistic Foundation of Education, Ohio: Charles A. Jones Publishing
Company.
Pattanayak, D. P. (1981). Multilingualism and Mother-Tongue Education, London: Oxford
University Press.
Pradhan, R. C. (2009). Language, Reality and Transcendence: An Essay on the Main Strands of
Wittgenstein’s Later Philosophy, New Delhi: Overseas Press.
Diverging Perceptions of Learning in a Critical Episode in a Translanguaging Space
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Uma Maheshwari Chimirala
chirimilaumamaheswari@gmail.com
Abstract
Existing research on how learners draw on their other languages in performing a skill in L2
claims that such strategic application of languages has a pedagogic impact i.e. it aids in the
learning processes. While this claim does appear to acknowledge the linguistic performances of
multilingual language users for a combination of purposes, identity marking and networking and
that a requisite condition for the same would be the creation of an interactional space for other
languages, few studies have examined the nature of what the perceptual learning potency of such
interactions is from the view point of learners and teachers. This paper attempts to understand
divergent perceptions of the pedagogic potency of the eventualities that happen through
translanguaging in a translanguaging space in a learner identified critical episode. The study
defines a critical episode as that interactional episode of learning where the learners are critically
aware of its processes and impact on their learning. From a corpus of Collaborative dialogues,
learner interactions on one task were used to identify critical episodes. Learner pair responses
and teacher reactions to the critical episode gathered through semi structured interview were
documented and analyzed. Variations along major themes are reported. The study finds that
learners’ perceptions of learning are holistic while teachers’ perceptions are piece-meal in nature.
1. Introduction
Rampant research investigating whether knowing one language can influence the performance in
the other language has been a constant engagement in investigations in L2 as English. Specific
research investigations in Second Language Writing has conscientiously found that writing for a
bi/multilingual is a bi/multilingual activity where the 'other' languages that the learners
possess in their repertoire are activated and in myriad ways support and contribute to the
complex thinking processes involved in 'L2 writing' (Grosjean 1989, Cook 2001; Cummins
2007). These investigations owing to what Wei (2011: 1223) calls as “a predominant frequency
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and regularity-oriented pattern seeking approaches” have adopted a dichotomous view of one as
influencing the other rather than a view of an integrated languages representation in the mind.
This paper documents what seems to be happening in a collaborative writing activity from two
perspectives: the learners’ and the teachers’. Empirical investigations of collaborative writing
have reported positive findings for language learning from two theoretical view points. The use
of L1 has been a specific focus of interest in an ESL or EFL context. From an SLA stance,
investigations of L1 use in L2 writing have reported a possibility of ‘uptake’ of specific
linguistic component through the use of various linguistic repertoires (research in the
Interacionist and the IIO paradigm). The same has been of interest also from the SCT perspective
where the L1 is seen as a tool and not necessarily just a linguistic tool as with studies that use
both arguments from SLA and SCT (Merrill Swain and her colleagues’ research). The impact of
this strand of research is that collaboration by itself is considered to be a strategic propeller of
learning that induces visible, observable and modifiable changes in learning behavior. However
we contend that learning and any observable change in learning is a learner internal affair and
that to understand the eventualities and processes of learning through an investigation of an
episode of learning is required. We define an episode of learning as an episode of collaboration
between two (or more learners) identified by the participants as a potential trigger for learning to
happen and a critical episode as that episode of learning where the learner is critically aware of
its processes and impact. This construct builds on Woods’ (1994) construct of a critical event,
but goes beyond since a critical episode supports learner agential behavior as they decide the
episode and self introspect the nature of learning. This paper attempts to understand the learners’
and the teachers’ perspective of what ensues in one such episode of learning- a critical episode.
The structure of the paper is as follows: we begin by explicating the theoretical construct of
translanguaging and translanguaging space in the multilingual context and then follow it up
with a discussion of what Wei (2011) calls as Moment Analysis. Following this the paper
presents the diverging perceptions of teachers and learners of what ensues through
translanguaging in a translanguageing space. It revolves around the major themes that emerge
from the retrospective interviews with the learners and teachers. The concluding section
discusses the results of the study.
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2. Pedagogic potency of Translanguageing: Explicating the Theoretical constructs
Translanguageing as a teaching practice laden with unrealized pedagogic potency was first
highlighted by Cen Williams (1996) in a bilingual English-Welsh context. It is the legitimate and
deliberate use of providing inputs in other languages while the output would be in a different
language. Translanguageing is realized as probably reading and listening to concepts in one
language and producing a written report or an oral presentation in another language.
Theoretically the construct of translanguageing supports an integrated view of language
representation in the mind (Wu and Thierry 2010); that they support each other (Jessner 2002);
and are not inactive but pitch in as a support while performing in another language (Grosjean,
1989).
Tracing the expansion of the phenomenon of investigating translanguaging sees three clear
phases with its inception as the first phase; the second phase being classroom-based
investigations of translanguageing by teachers and learners as a strategy for extending
understanding, constructing meaning, and mediating higher understanding (Gracia 2009) and a
clear third phase where Translanguaging is conceptualized in curricular practices as attempts to
build on a range of literacy practices learners arrive with and as an acknowledgement of learners
flexible linguistic practices as representing learners transient identities in learning (Hornberger,
2003, 2012; Canagarajah 2011).
The idea of translanguaging space is particularly relevant for a multilingual not just because they
have 3-4 languages and traverse through different linguistic worlds and identities constructed
through them while communicating but also because the space they create through their
linguistic practices has far reaching effects on their identities, personalities, ideals and values.
Homi Bhabba (1994) argues that this is not just a space where two or more different identities
meet or merely co-exist but that they combine to create new identities and practices. He says that
it is here that the cultural transmission takes place between tradition and generations. This is not
a concrete space but a constructed neural space that is constantly shifting, expanding and
shrinking at the same time, dynamic and ongoing in nature.
But the question we need to raise is: What does the construction of this space involve in terms of
individual investments? Lefevre's (1991) notion of first space, second space and third space
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amalgamated as the trialectics of spatiality i.e. "space is constructed through a three way
dialectic between perceived space, conceived space and lived space". Leferve calls the perceived
space as the first space which includes the concrete first hand experiences that learners encounter
on a daily basis and have lived with. His conceived space or the second space comprises of the
imagined mental constructs that are discursively devised representations of the spatial workings
of the mind". Crudely this would involve the belief systems, ideas, values and ideals that Bhabba
(1994) says are discursively and culturally transmitted. Lefebvre in questioning the dualism
between the concrete and the imagined proposes a third space or the lived space where the first
two meet. Soje (1996) building on this thirdness argues that what happens in this "space is
understood as the ongoing result of collaborations and negotiations between physical realities
and mental or cultural constructions" (p.97). It is the space that, according to Soje is, "radically
open to additional otherness, to a continuing expansion of spatial knowledge” (p.61). Bringing
Bhabba's argument of cultural transmission together with Soje's argument of third space implies
that the translanguaging space is essentially a collaboratively, interactively constructed social
space by its participants. Wei (2011) contends that this space has three dimensions: a cognitive
dimension where the participants invest in "indexical interactions and interpretations"; a sociohistorical dimension where the space they created through translanguaging overlaps and engulfs
other social spaces and contours of interactions; and a cultural dimension where the space
includes lived experiences of everyday social practices which include their multilingual
practices.
What does this mean for us as language teachers and language learners? This means that
‘monolingualism’ and the assumption of the ‘native’ as the ultimate standard can no longer be
the pedagogic aims and that a genuine cum legitimate space for the multilingual capabilities in
the language classroom (L2)is warranted. A further implication is that operationalising such a
space in a classroom context would mean that learners need to be invariably given opportunities
to bring in their multilingual experiences, practices, identities and criticalities into the classroom.
They need opportunities to be creative and critical about their learning through their own
translanguaging eventualities in the translanguaging space.
Both from a pedagogic perspective and a research perspective, it would be enlightening to know
how learners’ version of eventualities would differ from a teacher’s version. This we believe
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would aid in taking informed decisions on an array of pedagogical aspects ranging from
materials designing and sequencing to methodology to curriculum designing to teacher
education.
Though the larger study (in progress) attempts to document such variations pertaining to various
aspects of the construct of ESL writing, this small study attempts to document variations in
learner and teacher versions of eventualities in a set of critical events documented from
collaborative writing activities. In order to document the eventualities and the various reactions
to the same in the translanguaging space requires a paradigm shift away from etic accounts and
approaches that aim to universalize statistically analyzed frequency-based regular patterns of
occurrence to embrace a more emic, spontaneous and impromptu actions and performances that
can have a long term impact on one’s learning behavior, identity and personality. We adopt Wei
(200x: 1224) construct of moment analysis which she defines “can be a point in or a period of
time which has outstanding significance”. Wei describes that a moment is “characterized by its
distinctiveness and impact on subsequent events or developments” for the participants to such an
extent that they not only recognize its ‘spur-of-the-moment-value but also adjust subsequent
actions accordingly as it becomes a reference point or a frame.
Analyzing a moment of significant impromptu action would require data from multiple sources
chief among which are participant reflections and metalanguageing data i.e. commentaries of the
participants on their language use and practices. This would shed light, in a ‘meta’ sense on
learners making a critical sense of their lived worlds while simultaneously hoarding a scope for a
third person view of the learners’ lived worlds. Thus in order to capture the perceptual pedagogic
potency of a moment or a critical episode we need to understand how the same moment is
viewed and valued by the two key players in a classroom: the learners and the teachers. We
believe that an understanding of what the participants rationalize through metalanguageing of
what is happening in the critical episode and juxtaposing it with teachers’ reactions would shed
light on variations in perceiving learner interactions and also gather teacher perspectives on
translanguaging. This we believe would inform us of the teacher beliefs and ways to address
teacher related aspects in making space for multilingual practices. This study aims to understand
and document participant and teacher reactions to one specific critical episode that occurs in the
course of a collaborative writing task.
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The question we investigate is
Do participants perceive the events of translanguaging in a critical event differently from
practicing teachers? On what aspects is the difference prominently observed?
3. The study
The study is set in a government school attended by learners from low socioeconomic and low
literacy environments. The participants of the study are both teachers who teach in the government
schools and learners who study in government school in the outskirts of a metropolitan city in the
state of Telangana (erstwhile united state of Andhra Pradesh).
3.1 Participants
Eight teachers of English out of the sixteen teachers whom we approached for the study consented to
be a part of the study. All of them worked in different government schools and consented to discuss
various aspects pertaining to the study. All eight teachers had varying periods of teaching experience
(mean 13.8 years), were trained teachers, possessed a postgraduate degree and were keen on research
in their classrooms. Three of them had registered for research degrees in a local university. Of the
eight teachers, four of them have taught on the MLE project being implemented in parts of the state.
Twenty four students (12 male and 12 female), aged between 12-13 years studying in class VIII
of a Government run Zillah Parishad High School participated in the study. These students come
from low socioeconomic background with poor home literacy environments. 18 of the
participants contributed to their family income by working either as a domestic help or assisted
their parents in their labor work. Technically they have had no writing instruction either in their
L1 or their L2 and all the writing that the participants do is either copied from the black board or
from the guides. The participants had about 3-5 years of exposure to English as SL in the school
context. All of them were aware that knowing English would have a + impact on their socioeconomic-institutional access and hence were eager volunteers for the study. They clearly had
the domains for English marked out – higher education and employment.
No prior assessment of their language proficiency was made but an assessment of their writing
ability was done prior to collaborative writing sessions. When the texts were analyzed along
linguistic and semantic parameters, we found that many of the writers were either in a pre-
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sentential stage or the word phrase stage of text production. All the 24 participants were
randomly paired into 12 pairs. The 12 pairs participated in three collaborative writing tasks.
3.2 Methodology and Tools
The study employs qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Initially the collaborative
dialogue of the 12 pairs as they attempted the 3 tasks was transcribed and analyzed in order to
identify the critical events. In order to identify a moment of significance, critical events in each
of the 12 collaborative dialogues need to be identified.
We followed the following steps in doing so1. We read the collaborative dialogue to identify and isolate a set of specific critical
episodes.
2. The episodes were shared with the corresponding pairs who generated them and asked to
identify the most critical events that impacted their collaborative writing processes. They
were also asked to reason out why they felt so. This discussion was recorded and used in
answering the research question.
3. An initial set of several episodes pertaining to analytical parameters of writing namely:
strategy for lexical search, organisation of the text, understanding the task expectation,
content generation, grammar discussion and mechanics of writing were identified. In this
paper we use the 1st episode- a grammar-based episode.
4. This set was shared with the 8 teachers and were asked a set of questions to understand
how they see translanguaging and the events in the translanguaging space. (Appendix 1)
In this paper we discuss the salient aspects of variations in differences in learners (pair
(PC2p23T11) and teachers’ perceptions (n=8) to the eventualities in a translanguaging space
through translanguaging for one critical episode.
4. Data1 analysis Procedures and Analysis
Since our interest is to explore whether the two principal stakeholders in a pedagogic context
perceive the happenings in a translanguaging space differently and along what aspects the
variations exist, two methodological modifications were implemented. One, first the learners’
perception to ‘what’ seems to be happening in the critical episode and what they perceive of their
languages use behavior in a translanguaging space was captured through semi-structured
interviews; the themes evolved in interviewing the learners were used in evolving semi-
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structured questions along which teachers could be prompted to react. Two, following principles
of grounded theory the multi-tiered levels of analysis was adopted. Initially, the larger themes
were identified. Then, a fine-tuned second level of analysis of the themes was done to identify an
array of variations at two levels: intra group perceptions and inter group perceptions to the
happenings in a translanguaging space. In the next segment we present the salient variations
between the pair that produced it and two responding teachers with respect to one particular
episode (Appendix 2) since it generated significant discussions regarding various aspects from
the two teachers.
4.1 Models of action: Learning? Or Pseudo-learning?
One of the clearest impact translanguageing has had on all the 12 pairs is the fact that all of them
were extremely comfortable with each other; that writing with a peer has made them notice
aspects of writing that they would normal tend to overlook; that their peers served as models of
actions for how to learn and what to learn. A thorough discussion of this aspect is attempted in
Sathuvalli and Chimirala (forthcoming). However, teacher perceptions to the same critical
episode varied. The teachers are responding to the question: what do you think is happening in
the episode?
JT11: This is in Telugu! How can they be allowed to use Telugu? (Takes a look at the
transcript and replays the tape to listen to the episode four times). Is this from my
classroom? I think I recognize the two voices. Did they do this kind of talk many times?
R: yes, their entire talk is in Telugu but the text they have written is in English. You can
see the text this episode has generated. What do you think they are doing here?
JT1: I think they are deciding on the grammatical category of a word. But the boy says
“is laugh a work we do?” Is he giving a feedback to the other one? Teaching?
R: That is what both of them say that one helped the other notice the differences in word
categories.
JT1: but this is not feedback. This is not how we do it. Where is the explanation? I
explain a verb and an adjective clearly so that they can understand. I am not sure if the
other fellow has understood and learnt the difference.
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Excerpt1 is a typical example of teachers’ assumed ‘monolingual expectations in an English
classroom. Of the eight, five of our teacher respondents began by questioning the allowance of
Telugu in the English class and seemed to think that the interaction itself was out of place. As
VGT6 strongly puts it, allowing other languages is a “blasphemy’ in ELT”. A stronger objection
was voiced on whether it could be considered a feedback at all. JT1Not only explains how she
would do it but also lays threadbare what her view of language learning is.
Contrasting her is the perception of JST5, in excerpt 2, who not only sees that interaction with
awe but also reasons out how the peers’ explanation could catalytically trigger an understanding
of their stronger language to highlight how it would differ in English. Recognizing a learning
potentiality, we contend, would require an understanding of the complex linguistic processes
where a multi-lingual’s linguistic competencies are put to differential use and linguistic crossing
in order to result in such expressions of contrast. JST5 definitely sees a stronger opportunity for
learning in comparison to his counterpart JT1.
Excerpt 2:
JST5: I wouldn’t have thought of such a statement in Telugu to make the boy understand
that happiness is not an action like in Telugu but a feeling in English. I think this is
unique.
R: what makes it unique? Do you see this as feedback?
JST5: its against what I would do in class. He asks a question in Telugu and that requires
the boy to think what of the word category of happy in Telugu and its synonymous terms.
I think that is a brilliant way of making people see differences and get clarity.
4.2 Focus of interaction: Text creation Vs. Grammar and Contrastive Analysis
We wanted to know what teachers’ would perceive of what the focus of the interaction were and
hence were asked what they perceived as the focus of the interaction in the critical episode. Four
of the teachers replied that in the specific interaction, the learners were discussing ‘grammar’
aspects. However, two teachers went a step ahead in identifying an element of contrastive
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analysis in what the peers were doing. SMT3, a teacher who had worked in the Multilingual
Educational Programme, pointed out that
Excerpt 3
This is something I have noticed in the MLE project classes. If you observe math or
science classes, we notice that the lesson is explained in their tribal language first so that
they get the meaning of the lesson first and then the same lesson is done in English.
Ultimately it is in English that they will have to master. So what I see here is identical to
that. One is explaining the concept of verb and noun forms using the example of ‘Happy’
as used in Telugu so that the variation in English is visible. Though I doubt how much the
other student understood, I think this is a genuine case of Contrastive Analysis. (SMT3)
This perception of the teacher sees learners’ languages as strategic linguistic practices that
learners resort to in order to deal with concept knowledge albeit from a deficiency view of
language competency. This view sees events in the translanguaging space as compensatory in
nature where the inadequate capability in L2 competence is compensated by the L1 rather than a
view that the use of L1 is a genuine multilingual practice that is both a creative and critical use of
languages for an array of purposes.
Interestingly, when we posed the same question to the pair from whose interaction the critical
episode was picked, the pair’s is responded holistically “this is the park task. We are writing the
description of the park. Using L1 we are creating a paragraph that is ours” (PC2p23T1). Note
that terms like grammar, feedback or contrastive analysis have not found space here.
4.3 Creating and valuing the learning Space for realizing the multilingual identity
We wanted to know what the perceived value of the specific critical episode was for the pair in
question and then contrast it against what the teachers’ perceived could be the nature of learning
in it. It must be noted that even before the required question could be asked there were hints of
the ‘learnability’ in their responses (see last lines in excerpt 3).
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Teachers were asked the question: Do you think this episode has any learning potentiality that
could be realized by the learners? If yes what? If no, why do you think so?
Three of the teachers felt that some learning might be possible and that the focus could be the
grammar point they thought the pair was engaged in. The other five teachers expressed to
varying extents that the possibility of learning was not high and cited two reasons: one, that they
did not have evidence that learning has happened and two, that what the learners are discussing
may not be either correct in linguistic terms since there are two languages being used and that the
concept itself may not be learnt accurately by both of them. Interestingly, three teachers included
humanistic and affective aspects for enabling learning through pair collaboration. DST4 argues,
Excerpt 4
I think what is happening here is a reminder that what we deem as learning may not
actually be what they value. In the episode, the learners were allowed to take help which
is not a part of a regular class. Additionally they were also allowed to use any language.
You are calling it Translanguaging but for us it is L1 use. Allowing that by itself is an
aspect of valuing their identity. I think a critical understanding of our own capabilities as
multilinguals practitioners and as strategic language users in difficult situations is
required. (DST4)
The same question was modified (for learners) as follows: Have you benefitted from this episode
of interaction? If yes, in what ways?
Both the learners in the pair revealed that their discussions have had tremendous impact on their
learning behavior. They cited instances that range from meaning-making to error focus. They
realized that through interactions they could create a shared reality where the two knowledge
systems would come together to create a new understanding of the unique problem solving
situation. These aspects have been discussed in Sathuvalli and Chimirala (forthcoming).
Nevertheless the specific response that is vital to us is that the learners’ other languages
capabilities are not a bane but a boon while learning and that the indigenous knowledge they
hoard through their multilingual identities and heuristic systems trigger supporting sociocultural-historical-linguistic intermediaries that help in problem solving. This is a clear variation
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of how teachers perceive how their learners construct their learning through their histories and
identities are visible.
5. Results
Do participants perceive the events of translanguaging in a critical episode differently from
practicing teachers? On what aspects is the difference prominently observed?
We present the findings of the qualitative analysis of the critical episode materialized through
translanguaging in a translanguaging from the perspectives of the two stakeholders: the pair of
learners and the teachers. The analysis shows that the two stakeholders perceived the events
differently. Where learners felt they were learning general and specific linguistic and nonlinguistic aspects, teachers were relatively skeptical about both what was being learnt and how it
was being learnt. The variations become very prominent along 3 aspects: the creation and
constitution of the space, the focus of the interactions and the nature of the interactions.
Firstly, while learners perceived the creation of a space where their lived, co-constructed and
shared realities find application and in turn act as catalysts for further creation of more inclusive
spaces through translanguaging, teachers see the other languages as a strategic behavior that was
triggered due to deficiency in English capabilities and that the presence of other languages as
invasion of the learning space.
Secondly, Learners seem to have a holistic perception that what they were doing in the specific
episode will culminate in a readable text. They seem to be aware of how small aspects contribute
to the evolution of a bigger script. Teachers, on the other hand, despite being given the entire
transcript of the collaborative dialogue, did notice the specific componential focus of the
episode. Additionally they also commented on how they would have dealt with the language
focus in the episode.
Thirdly, we believe that our learners are willing and eager to learn if they can see opportunities
for investing their learned, lived and shared experiences for specific language gains. We also
believe that this attempt is driven at enriching their lives since each of them was aware of their
needs. So when a translanguaging space was initiated through translanguaging, they realized the
opening up of spaces and networks of learning experiences not only from their partner but also
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from other peers. A recognition of their multilingual identity through their translanguaging did
seem to have a pedagogic effect.
6. Conclusion
In this paper we have tried to give a comprehensive account of how a critical episode realized
through translanguaging in a translanguaging space is perceived by the participating learners and
a set of teachers. We believe an understanding of their perceptions would give us a dip into the
biases and the assumptions of their respective views on learners’ multilinguistic practices. In
order to be more critical in documenting perceptions, we used the data generated from one
critical episode of interaction. The study shows that while learners know that they are
constructing a social space in which they would realize pedagogic benefits. They also realized
that in this space they can flexibly and strategically use their multilingual, cultural and historical
experiences for shuffling and recreating their identities and personalities. Principally, they also
realize that this space can only be created only through interactions with others who will
contribute to the situated nature of the interactions. What strikes us blatantly
is the teachers’
relative underestimation of what ensues in this space. We humbly accept that the
consequentiality of the events of translanguaging cannot be accurately measured and estimated
since it is a social space that is constantly evolving, dynamically changing and a very cerebral
activity. Nevertheless studying it is recognition of the agential behavior of the learner because
the space they create is also the space they live in and this happens to be based on their
investment of their resources. Thus the inherent capacity to invest lies with the ways in which the
creation of the space is mediated so that learners can engage with the multilingual practices for
scaffolding their academic achievement.
References
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Cook, V. (2001). Using the first language in the classroom. The Canadian Modern Language
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Wei, L. (2011). Moment Analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of
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Appendix 1
Critical episode used for the study.
S: emi…cheppu raa?: children are…doing happy and running to the balloon seller…(
What… go ahead tell…Children are doing happy and running to the balloon seller…).
P: cheyyadam annaru raa…ahan…. Happy gaa vunnaru..Cheyadamni pani..Panni
cheyyadam .. pani chestharu raa… navvadam pani aa raa? ( Work is done..we do a work
but we don’t do happy…we say we are happy… is laugh a work we do??… (PC2p23T1)
Appendix 2
Semi-structured interview questions for Teachers.
1. What do you think is happening in the excerpt?
2. Can the interactions be in any way considered to be feedback?
3.
If no why do you think so?
4. If yes, what features make it so?
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5. Do you think this episode has any learning potentiality that could be realized by the
learners? If yes what? If no, why do you think so?
6. Would you be interested in allowing other languages in the English language classroom?
Why? Why not?
Semi-structured interview questions for Learners.
1. What are you and your partner doing in the excerpt?
2. What have you learnt from this particular excerpt?
3. Has that impacted further learning in the classroom and outside the classroom? How?
Using Process Genre Approach to Teach Writing: An Experiment in a Multilingual
Classroom
Suchismita Barik
lipuni.ias11@gmail.com
Abstract
Cohesion is a crucial skill that L2 writers need for academic success (Mirzapour & Ahmadi,
2011), as without the ability to create cohesion through the appropriate use of language, texts are
rendered difficult to follow (Halliday & Hasan, 1976). Cohesion consists of related lexical and
grammatical markers throughout discourse to facilitate coherence, and is a means by which
speakers meet communicative goals effectively (Schiffrin, 1987; Witte & Faigly, 1981).
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Learners of English need to acquire the ability to manage cohesion to achieve communicative
competence (Cumming, 2001; Mirzapiur & Ahmadi, 2011). So, in this context the present study
explores the possibility of using narrative writing in Odia (learners’ L1) as scaffolding to teach
narrative writing in English in a multilingual classroom. This study was an attempt to teach
cohesion and coherence in narrative writing. The experiment was done with a group of 15 tribal
learners of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS), Odisha. EMRS are set up in states and
Union Territories with grants under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution of India. Chain story
writing technique in L1 was used to teach narration in English. The objective of this study was to
teach cohesion and use of linkers in narrative writing by using L1 as a scaffolding tool.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: The present study draws on the following theories.
AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS: Krashen’s Affective filter hypothesis states that there
are various ‘affective variables’ which play an important role in second language acquisition.
Variables like self – confidence, anxiety, fear, motivation are included in these affective
variables. According to Krashen’s claim, learners having high and strong motivation, self –
confidence and low level of anxiety and fear are more successful in second language acquisition
than learners with low motivation, self – confidence and high anxiety. According to this
hypothesis, factors like low level of motivation, self – confidence and high level of anxiety and
fear create a mental block or barrier by raising the affective filter. Thus, this barrier blocks
comprehensible input to be used for second language acquisition. In other words, these
emotional variables do not directly prevent learning but do not allow input to be used. So, in this
context, it is very important to try to create a stress free, anxiety free and welcoming atmosphere
for learning. Learners need to feel safe and motivated to produce language. So, learners must be
encouraged and the learning environment needs to be positive for language learning.
BICS AND CALP: The concept of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), introduced by Cummins, tried to focus on
the challenges faced by the second language learners while trying to match with their peers in the
school environment. At this point it is important to understand the difference between the two.
BICS focuses on the oral fluency and CALP refers to learners’ ability of understanding and
expression of important ideas, in oral and written form. The BICS & CALP distinction has
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thrown light on the difference between oral fluency and academic language proficiency. In the
context of present study, it is very important to understand the distinction because the present
study is conducted in a multilingual classroom where every learner brings in a different L1 to the
class but learn the same L2, which is the school language.
DATA COLLECTION
Introduction: For the present study the Researcher collected data in three steps. This experiment
was conducted in three steps. In the first step, the researcher administered a task on narration
with the students. The task was: write one of your most memorable days.
The aim of
administering this task was to collect the writing sample from the learners on a narration task
that gave some idea about how the learners wrote. Then in the second step, the researcher gave a
sample piece of writing to the learners and the piece of writing was titled as “ A memorable
day”. Then the researcher asked the learners to find out the difference between their own writing
and the sample piece given to them by the researcher. In the third step, the researcher
Detailed procedure for each step is given below:
STEP 1: The very first step of the present study includes the pre intervention and intervention
phase by the Researcher. The aim of the pre intervention stage was to collect the writing sample
of the learners and to have an idea about the learners’ level in writing. The writing samples were
collected one month before the present study. The learners were asked to write on the topic, “My
Village” both in Odia and English in ten sentences and based on these writing samples, tasks for
the present study was designed. The reason for choosing the topic, My Village was because of its
function that is description which is the first and easiest function according to Bloom’s
taxonomy. Next, for the present study that was conducted after one month of the pre-intervention
stage, narration was chosen by the researcher. This function was chosen after a careful analysis
of the learners’ English textbooks. It was found that in their English textbooks almost every
lesson had a writing task which focused on narration. Moreover, narration also comes second
after description in Bloom’s taxonomy. So, the function narration was chosen for the present
study.
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ISSN2347-6427
The intervention by the researcher began by asking the learners to write a paragraph on a
memorable day of their life. After collecting the learners’ writing sample, the researcher gave
them a sample piece of writing on A Memorable Day. The purpose of providing the sample
piece of writing later was mainly due to the following reasons:
1. To have an idea about how much and what the learners knew about writing something on
narration.
2. To show them the main features of writing a narration task.
3. And a sample piece will always help them to refer to it when they needed.
STEP 2: The second step included a group work for a chain story writing task. This task was in
Odia, that is the l1 of the learners. The task was administered in the following manner:
Division of the class into groups: the class was divided into 5 small groups, each group
consisting 3 members. The division of groups was random. And the groups were named like
Group 1 to Group 5.
Instruction:
1. You have to complete a story. The first two lines of the story will be given to you
(which were given by the researcher) and you will have to continue and complete
the story.
2. Each group gets only one chance to contribute to the task and they can give only
two sentences. Most important, all the group members must agree to the sentences
chosen by the group ( it was to promote discussion in the group and help them in
decision making)
3. Group 1 will start the continuation and Group 5 will complete the story. So, every
group has to remember this while providing sentences and while deciding on the
sentences, read the previous sentences carefully. ( it was to make them understand
the concept of maintaining connection in the story)
4. Each group will be given equal time to think and give the sentences. When time
starts for one group, all others will count from 1- 20. And the respective group has
to stop discussing and give their sentences when counting is finished.
5. The same process will continue till we reach at Group 5 completing the story.
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6. The beginning and continuation of the story will be put up on the black board by
the researcher. So, one person from each group has to read the sentences aloud to
the whole class.
STEP 3: Step 3 marks the last step of the data collection procedure and it is further divided into
two steps. In the first step, the researcher reads the complete story aloud to the whole class. Next,
all the learners are asked to read and understand the story as a whole. By asking them to read,
they are made to try and see and refer to the features of a narrative writing (which was discussed
in Step 1). By doing this, the researcher tries to promote the learners to make the necessary
changes, for example, inserting linkers, rephrasing or restating the introduction of a character,
filling up some possessive pronouns, correcting the tense form (changing to past tense) etcetera.
Next, the learners are asked to make a note of all these changes and rewrite the story in Odia
with all the changes made. And later, at last, the learners are asked to write the same story in
English using the final Odia copy of the story as the sample piece.
Then, the next day, all the learners are asked to write a story ( one story for every learner) in the
classroom. All the learners are asked to write any story which they can recall from their past.
They are also instructed to write the story in about ten sentences and they are also reminded to
refer to the discussions, corrections and modifications which was done in the previous class after
the group work.
LEARNERS’ PROFILE
The learners chosen for the present study are class VIII of Eklavya Model Residential School
(EMRS), Odisha. The learners are from different tribal groups. They joined EMRS in standard
VI. These learners study CBSE syllabus in the school. The most important thing about these
learners is their linguistic background. Odia, the state language of Odisha, is the second language
for most of these learners because they learnt Odia when the school environment demanded. So,
exposure to Odia language is 8 years and exposure to English is 6 years. At this point, the
interesting thing to notice is that, English in this particular context becomes these learners’ third
language.
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DATA ANALYSIS
Learners’ scripts were given to four independent scorers. The scorers were teachers of English at
The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. They were instructed to score each
script of the learners on a rubric which was adapted from the Writing Narrative Marking Guide.
According to this marking guide, learners’ scripts were scored on 4 categories and they were text
structure (4 marks), ideas (6 marks), cohesion (4 marks) and sentence structure (6 marks). 20
marks was allotted for the above 4 categories and the scorers were instructed to score both scripts
(one script written before the Researcher’s intervention & another script written after the
Researcher’s intervention) independently. Inter – rater reliability was found to be 0.94 and 0.56
for the first script and second script respectively and these values were significant at p < 0. 05.
Details of the rubric are given below.
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Score
Folklore Foundation,India
Text structure
s
0
No evidence of any
Scores
1
No evidence or insufficient evidence
1
Ideas are very few and very simple. Ideas
appear unrelated
2
Minimal evidence of
narrative structure, e.g.
3
a central storyline.
4
structure
3
Contains orientation and
Coherent, controlled and
complete narrative
employing appropriate
structure and including an
effective ending.
Ideas are substantial & elaborated. Ideas
effectively contribute to a storyline
5
resolution
4
Ideas show some development or
elaboration. All ideas relate coherently to
no orientation
Contains beginning or a
Ideas are few, not elaborated or very
predictable
beginning or a middle with
2
Ideas
0
structural components of a
time-sequenced text
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Ideas are elaborated with suitable
examples
6
Ideas are generated, selected and crafted
to explore a recognizable theme.
Ideas are skillfully used in the service of
the storyline
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Score
Folklore Foundation,India
Cohesion
0
Symbols and drawings
1
Links are missing or incorrect.
Score
No evidence of sentences
1
Some correct formation of
sentences (some meaning can be
constructed)
Some links between sentences
(simple connectives used e.g.,
2
3
Some complex sentences correct
Cohesive devices are used
correctly to support reader
4
4
All sentences correct but no
variety
understanding. (connectives
like later, suddenly, earlier,
Most simple & compound
sentences correct
accurate
3
Most simple sentences are correct
(meaning is clear)
but, so, and, then, when etc.)
Most referring words are
Sentence structure
0
Often confusing for the reader
2
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5
All sentences correct & display
because, finally etc. are used)
variety in length, structure (clear
Accurate use of referring
meaning & sentences enhance
words
meaning)
A range of cohesive devices
6
Controlled & well developed
(consistent use) is used
sentences expressing precise
correctly and deliberately to
meaning and are consistently
enhance reading
effective
RESULTS
To see if there was any impact of teaching the learners with L1, the data was analyzed by
calculating the mean score of the variables. And means analysis was done independently for
coherence and cohesion. Let us see the results:
Coherence: For coherence, mean value was calculated of the total score (out of 20) for both
scripts (script 1 & script 2). The result is shown in the following graph.
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Mean Scores
11
10.38
9
7.91
7
5
Script 1
Script 2
From the data presented in the above graph, it can be seen that there was a significant increase
from script 1 to script 2.
Cohesion: To see if there was any change in cohesion, mean was calculated of the scores (which
was given only for cohesion) and the result is shown in the following graph.
3
2.47
2.5
2
1.88
1.5
1
SCRIPT 1
SCRIPT 2
From the data shown in the above graph, it can be seen that there was a remarkable increase
(from script 1 to script 2) in cohesion.
FINDINGS: The data analysis not only showed an increase in both coherence and cohesion, it
also showed instances of using more (sometimes from zero to some) reference markers,i.e.
linkers, using past tense form for narration, an attempt of writing in an organized way (following
the framework of beginning – middle – end). It also showed examples of more use and right use
of demonstrative pronouns. From the data analysis it was found that, there were mainly two
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factors which had an impact on the learners’ performance and they were use of l1 and group
work. Use of l1 of the learners lowered their affective filter and made them more comfortable in
expressing their thoughts. It was also observed that since they were asked first to write in Odia,
they were no more afraid of the fact that they may make many errors. So, the story in their l1
became the base for developing the structure, outline, developing ideas etc. and helped them
write in English with more ease. And the second important, group work motivated them to
perform the task together and released them from the fear of making more mistakes than others.
It was found that they were more comfortable in working in a group than working individually.
Besides these two main factors, there were also some other factors which contributed in the
better performance of the learners. Discussion generated in the class considering the class as one
group helped the learners in sharing ideas among themselves. Story writing was found to be
another effective technique because, in this context where the subjects were tribal learners, it
connected them well with their linguistic culture (as story telling is a part of the tradition of all
tribal language family). At this point, it is useful to discuss some of the following comments of
the Scorers:
There were more evidences of use of past tense in script 2.
Script 2 is more coherent unlike script 1 which was abrupt.
An attempt to elaborate on the topic can be seen in script 2 which was missing in script 1
CONCLUSION: So, from the above findings it can be concluded that scaffolding l2 writing
with learners’ L1 can be very effective to teach coherence and cohesion in writing. Writing in L1
also helps learners in shaping the ideas, following an outline and putting them together in an
organized way. Use of L1 is also an effective tool in lowering the fear factor among the learners.
It also motivates them to generate more ideas.
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Folklore Foundation,India
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Evaluating a Textbook and Adapting it: a Model for the Language Teachers
Harichandan Kar
harichandankar@gmail.com
It has been widely accepted that a textbook is an essential component of a classroom. So, to
analyze a text book, to evaluate it, and finally to adapt it is one of the best ways to ensure that we
meet with the educational objectives that have been set forth. It is also an another way to ensure
that some amount of teaching-learning takes place in the classroom, learners find the
activities/exercises interesting and we maximize the learners’ participation by personalizing the
materials in our contexts.
The book I have chosen to evaluate and adapt is entitled “My English Book” which is published
by School and Mass Education, Government of Odisha. It is prepared by Director of Teacher
Education and state Council of Educational Research and Training, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The
target audience for this book is all the regional medium learners of class VI, Odisha. The book
makes certain claims which are presented below.
Learners friendly materials: learning is joyful and child-friendly
No gender bias in any of the materials and themes that focus on environmental
protection, secularism and child rights etc.
Development of four basic language skills and vocabulary enrichment as language
component
Receptive skills are important because they provide foundation for productive skills
Firstly, the book will be analyzed using a checklist, secondly four lessons will be evaluated, and
finally materials will be adapted based on the evaluation.
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Textbook Analysis
Book’s Name: My English Book
THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION:
Intended audience: learners of 11-13 age
Proficiency level: Class VI
Context: EAP
Presentation and organization of lessons: this book includes 16 lessons.
Author’s view: cognitivism; language is learnt through meaningful communication,
commutative approach to language learning
This book is a main EAP course book.
There is no teacher book. However each activity is accompanied by a note to the teacher
and, in addition, at the end of the book, there is a note to the teacher
No world or index is included at end of the book.
Plenty of pictures are given and most of them are integrated to the theme of reading
passage and different activities.
The layout and presentation are good in the book.
This book is not culturally biased.
The materials do not represent minority group and women in the negative way.
There are no digital materials and tests given in the book.
THE INTERNAL EVALUATION:
All the basic language skills and language components except reference skills are
included in the book and treated in an integrated way.
The materials provide enough opportunity for the learners to use the basic language
skills.
There is no listening text included in the text book. However, teacher is instructed to read
the reading text and poem aloud to develop learners’ listening skills
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The speaking materials do not include the nature of real interaction (e.g., use of gap
fillers, authentic interaction and language etc). However, some of the speaking activities
do demand learners’ active participation.
The tests are not included as part of the materials.
Materials are suitable for auditory, kinesthetic and visual learners but no such claim is
made in the textbook.
Materials are intended to develop learners’ competence in target language
Materials are potential enough to make learners appreciate their own culture
Bilingual instructions as scaffolding are limited to the materials that focus on developing
learners’ pronunciation.
There is a gradual move from easy to complex topics/items
There is adequate recycling and revision of vocabulary items but there is no adequate
recycling and revision for grammar items.
Materials hardly focus on form, meaning and use.
Supports are given for the writing activity according to controlled and guided approach
but there is no focus on process writing.
Listening materials do not focus on comprehension.
There is no key to the exercises.
The book is durable and freely distributed to the learners.
Listening and reading skills are given utmost importance with a view that provide
foundation for speaking and writing skills
This book is very motivating for both teachers and learners.
Justification of using the checklist:
I have adapted the checklist prepared by McDonough and Shaw. This checklist has a
comprehensive list of all most all the points that are required to analyze a textbook in my
context. Moreover, the points are very clear, lucid and organized in a logical way. However, I
have included some of the points which are not listed in the checklist taking my context into
consideration.
Lesson Evaluation
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Lesson no:02
Name of the lesson: “Wolf! Wolf” (story)
The reading text is divided into two chunks: the first chunk is preceded by a pre-reading activity
that sets the learners to think about some aspects that are discussed in the text and to enable the
learners to activate their background knowledge, and followed by some comprehension questions
which test whether the children are able to follow the story.
The second chunk is followed by some comprehension questions, some key words (glossary),
some comprehension questions, vocabulary, spelling, speaking, usage(singular and plural
forms) then final reading.
The story (reading text) is manipulated for both listening and speaking skills. Teacher first reads
the text aloud to enhance learners’ listening skills then learners are instructed to read it silently so
as to enhance their reading skills.
Lesson no: 03
Name of the lesson: WHEN I GROW UP (poem)
The poem is preceded by a pre-reading activity which demands the teacher to ask some questions
related to the theme of the poem and then learners are asked to move to their other classmates to
collect some data about what they want to be. The activity of moving and collecting data is very
much relevant to the theme of the poem and I personally like it very much. The poem is followed
by getting the main idea (appreciation of the poem), reading in chorous, Reading, Knowing
the key words, (glossary), comprehension, vocabulary, usage (contracted forms), reading and
writing, speaking and final reading of the poem.
The poem is manipulated for both appreciation and comprehension. Teacher reads it aloud first
and learners are instructed to listen to the poem while enjoying the music of its lines. Then,
learners are asked to read it silently for comprehension.
Lesson no: 04
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Name of the lesson: RUSTOM CLEANS THE HOUSE (play)
The play is divided into two chunks so as to make the comprehension easy for the learners. The
first chunk is preceded by a pre-reading activity which demands the teacher to ask several
questions to the learners which are related to the theme of the play and it is an excellent idea of
activating learners’ background knowledge. There are some comprehension questions at the end
of the first chunk of the play.
The second chunk of the play is followed by comprehension, reading aloud, reading, knowing
the key word (glossary), comprehension, vocabulary, writing, usage (asking people to do
something),re writing, and writing and speaking.
The play is manipulated for both listening and reading skills. Teacher is instructed to read the
play aloud and then learners are instructed to read it silently. Learners are also given an
opportunity to read it aloud.
Lesson no: 05
Name of the lesson: AKBAR MEETS BIRBAL (story)
The story is divided into three chunks to make the comprehension easy for the learners. The first
chunk is preceded by a pre-reading activity which demands the teacher to ask questions to the
learners which are related to the theme of the story. And is followed by knowing the word
(glossary),and comprehension.
The second chunk is followed by comprehension, knowing the key words (glossary).
The third chunk is followed by comprehension, true or false, speaking, usage (contracted
forms), writing, and reading the story aloud.
Teacher reads only two paragraphs aloud then learners read it silently. Bilingual instruction is
given as scaffoldings to pronounce the word correctly in activity 11 usage (contracted forms).
It is strange to see that all the reading lessons serve both as reading and listening texts. Since the
discourse of a reading and a listening text differs, it is not wise to make the same text serve for
both the purposes. One of the characteristics of a listening text is to have authentic language.
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Where as a reading text may not have that authenticity. Reading texts are rather formal in term of
language used in it.
The way a lesson is divided into different sections is confusing not only for learners but also for
teachers. For example, (Akbar meets Birbal, part-2 page no- 41) glossary is preceded by
comprehension questions. Glossary helps the learners comprehend the text when they come
across with unfamiliar words. So, there is no point in giving the glossary after giving
comprehension questions. Usage is one of the parts of every lesson: it is neither an activity for
grammar nor for speaking; learners notice the target item presented in it and finally it lands
nowhere. For example, (usages, asking people to do something. Page no-35), the teacher explains
how to ask people to do something and then learners are asked to rewrite some sentences given
in the text. it could have been a good speaking activity.
The organization of the lesson and the instructions given in the text or activity are not clear and
very confusing in nature. For example, (page no-36), activity no- 12 goes as Writing and
speaking. None of the sub-skills of speaking is on focus here. In short, what the heading says is
arbitrarily opposite to what it does. Some of the lessons are unnecessarily divided into different
chunks. For instance, the second chunk of the reading lesson Wolf! Wolf contains only few
lines. There is neither any other reason to divide it into chunks. So, it was unnecessary to divide
and bring a break to such an interesting story.
Reading skills
Note: Since all texts are used for both listening and reading skills, comprehension questions for
reading are considered only those which learners are required to comprehend after reading the
text silently. Other questions are considered as part of listening comprehension since teacher
reads the text loudly while learners listen to her closing their books and answer. And same with
the poem.
Name of the lesson
No. of reading Form
comprehension
questions
questions
of
Type
Sub-skills
comprehension
of
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Wolf! Wolf
5
Folklore Foundation,India
True or false
Skimming,
ISSN2347-6427
factual
scanning
When I grow up
11
Wh, true or Skimming,
All
false
questions
are
factual,
few
inferential,
and
scanning
most
all
lateral
Rustom cleans the 8
Wh
house
Skimming,
All
questions
scanning
are
factual
except the last
one
Akbar meets Birbal
21
Wh, true or Skimming,
All
false
questions
are
factual,
one
inferential,
and
scanning
most
one
all
personal
response
All most all the comprehension questions for reading are factual and in the form of WH
questions. Moreover, they only demand on scanning the text. However, there are adequate inputs
given in the form of visual to make the comprehension accessible, easy and interesting.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Listening Skills
Name
No.
Form of Sub-skills
Authentic
of the of
questio
language used comprehensi
learners
lesson
ns
or not
have
comp
Type
on
of Do
Cognitive load
a
rehen
reason to
sion
listen to?
questi
ons
Wolf!
06
WH
Wolf
When
Listening
for specific
03
WH
global(1)
learners
listening
the text is read
for general
(memory
meaning
based)
listening
up
meaning
WH
Very high as
answers after
for general
10
Local(5) and yes
details,
I grow
Rusto
no
Listening
no
global
yes
Not very high
(moderate)
Yes,
Local(8) and yes
Very high as
global(2)
learners
m
for specific Up to
cleans
details,
the
listening
the text is read
house
for general
(memory
meaning
based)
Akbar
X
X
X
some extent
X
answers after
X
X
meets
Birbal
There is not even a single while-listening activity. As the result, listening turns into a memory
based activity. Learners will be able to comprehend only when they remember to each detail of
the text being read to them. The listening text and real life listening do not even correspond.
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Folklore Foundation,India
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Writing Skills
Wolf!
When
I Rustom cleans the Akbar meets
Wolf
grow up
house
Birbal
Area of writing being practiced
X
X
organization
X
Sub-skills in focus
X
X
Organizational
X
skills
Focus of the writing activity
X
X
Rearranging
the X
jumbled sentences
Any given model for the learners to X
X
no
X
X
no
X
X
yes
X
follow
Scope for using own vocabulary, X
content, idea etc.
Is the activity based on the lesson in X
the textbook
Are instructions clear and sufficient
X
X
yes
X
Is the amount of writing specified
X
X
Yes(highly
X
controlled)
Stages of planning learners to go X
X
Writing final draft
X
X
X
verbal
X
and x
x
yes
x
through
Input (verbal or visual)
Is
the
input
appropriate
sufficient
There is no writing activity in the lesson Wolf! Wolf. For the lesson, When I grow up, there is
an activity under the heading reading and writing. But it is not a writing activity at all. Writing
is used here as the modality for the production task of the exercise Usage (contracted forms). For
the lesson, Akbar meets Birbal, there is also an exercise under the heading of writing, but it is
not a writing activity or exercise too. This exercise seems to be a memory based vocabulary
exercise under the term writing.
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Speaking skills
Wolf! Wolf
When I grow Rustom
up
cleans
Akbar meets Birbal
the
house
Language function
No
specific Giving
focus
X
No specific focus on
on preference
function
function
Accuracy and fluency
accuracy
accuracy
X
accuracy
Controlled, guided or Highly
Highly
X
Highly controlled
free
controlled
controlled
Authentic language
No,
some X
Up to some extent
dialogue Up
sounds
to
extent
bookish
Language
support controlled
controlled
X
controlled
X
Very limited
given or not
Learners’ involvement
Meaningful
Yes,
but Very limited,
learners
learners imitate
imitate only
only
context no
learners imitate only
no
X
no
yes
X
yes
created or not
Contextualized to the yes
them or not
Does not look
like
speaking
activity at all
a
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Vocabulary
Wolf! Wolf
When I grow up
Rustom
cleans Akbar
the house
Aspect
of
word Meaning
knowledge
(word Meaning,(finding
detectives), form right word)
Meaning
Birbal
(word No
detectives)
(spelling)
Type of activity
Fill in the blanks
meets
item
for
vocabulary in this
lesson
Sentence
Fill in the blanks
X
appropriate
appropriate
X
yes
yes
X
production
production
X
yes
no
X
complication
Cognitive load
less
Contextualized
to yes
the theme or not
Stage of the activity production
(P, P, P)
Noticing
to
the no
target item before it
is introduced
Note: No item is given for grammar
Some of the findings of my evaluation on the basis of which lessons will be adapted
Same text should not be used for both reading and listening unless the text is potential enough to
land for both the skills.
The unit or the lesson should be well structured so as to avoid confusion and most importantly to
meet with the objectives for which each section is set forth. Instructions should be clear enough
to avoid confusion and to make the exercise/activity accessible to the learners. If there is a
definition to be given for a specific item, it is better to give the definition as a part of your
instruction. But it has to be contextualized using examples from the reading text.
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Reading comprehension questions should focus not only on literal understanding of the text but
also on all other types of comprehension. And questions should be framed using different form.
The text should also include comprehensible language inputs and a theme familiar to the
learners. If the theme is not familiar, a pre-reading activity, as given in all the four chapters being
evaluated here, must be given that will prepare the learners to proceed the text and teacher will
not find much difficulty to introduce the topic.
There should be a judicious balance between rules and usages while introducing a vocabulary
item. So that learners will know how to use it in the context. Activities, which are potential to
engage the learners and can create interest for the learning, must be given.
Each lesson should focus on four basic language skills and language components to maximize
learning.
Adapting the materials
Lesson no-02
Lesson name: “WOLF! WOLF”
Activity to be adapted: Activity 3 Comprehension (page no-13)
Rationale: These questions are set to check learners’ comprehension in listening skills soon after
the text is being read to them by their teacher. So, it is an act of checking learners’ memory
power. So, I want to make it a while-listening activity.
Techniques I will be using to adapt: Firstly I will reorder the activity by making it a whilelistening task; secondly I will restructure the questions by making it a fill in the blanks exercise
with two options and learners have to choose one. Finally, I will also restructure the instruction.
Adapted version of the activity:
Instruction- Fill in the blanks with the correct alternative while listening to the story being read
by your teacher.
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Exercise:
Abdul was a ………boy/girl. Abdul played a….trick/trice on the people of his village. The
villagers felt ………….angry/anger when Abdul played the same trick second time.
Activity to be adapted: activity 7 comprehension (page no-15)
Rationale: Reading comprehension should not be confined to only factual comprehension of the
text. So, I will add two more questions to take the learners beyond the factual comprehension.
Techniques I will be using to adapt: I will expand the exercise by adding two questions that
will focus beyond literal comprehension.
Adapted version of the activity:
Exercise:
a. If you were Abdul, had u played the trick with the villagers? Justify your answer.
b. Did the story teach you anything? Explain.
Lesson no-03
Lesson name: WHEN I GROW UP
Activity to be adapted: activity 4 Getting the main idea (page no-21)
Rationale: it is a good idea to make learners appreciate a poem after they listen to it. So, I will
bring some changes in the activity so as to make the young learners appreciate the poem its
music, rhyme etc.
Techniques I will be using to adapt: I will expand the exercise by adding more questions and
asking learners to participate in group/pair discussion. I will also restructure the instruction. I
will then personalize and individualize the theme of the poem by giving learners a chance to
interpret the poem, analyze the poem own their own way. Finally, I will restructure the heading
by deleting it and adding a new heading to it.
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Activity:
Focus question before the poem is read to the learners: What does the poem describe?
Instruction: Listen to your teacher when she reads the poem aloud
Getting the main idea will be replaced by Let’s appreciate the poem.
Questions under let’s appreciate the poem:
A. Does any line of the poem rhyme with other line? If yes, what are the words that rhyme?
B. List the people from different profession you appreciate them. Give reason.
C. Have you ever read a poem similar to this poem?
Now teacher divides the class into different groups and each group will try to interpret a stanza
after discussing among themselves. Teacher helps them to carry the discussion.
Lesson no-04
Lesson name: RUSTOM CLEANS THE HOUSE
Activity to be adapted: Usage (asking people to do something. Page no- 35)
Rationale: As the heading suggests usage, we generally understand that usage becomes
meaningful when they are brought into a context and ample opportunity is given to the learners
to practice the target item in real life context. But this activity does not allow the learners to
practice this language function (asking people to do something) in real life context. So, I will
create a context where learners will get an opportunity to use the target item.
Techniques I will be using to adapt: I will extend the activity by creating context where
learners will get an opportunity to use the target item.
Activity:
Given below in the box are some verbs. Use the verbs where necessary or you can use your own
verbs, and work with your partner. One of you asks him/her to do and he/she does what you ask
him to do.
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Go
bring
pluck
talk
request
kick
hold
Come back
Swim
wear
help
request
Ask
run
kick
move
A. Bringing a flower from school garden
B. Asking your friend to help you for your homework
C. Playing football
D. Catching fish
Example: one of you may start: stand up, ask the teacher to allow to go outside, go the
garden……………………
Lesson no-05
Lesson name: AKBAR MEETS BIRBAL
Activity to be adapted: (Speaking Page no- 43)
Rationale: The speaking activity does not demand learners’ active participation. It is wise to
focus on both form and function and to integrate them in a speaking activity. Learners should be
encouraged to produce language rather than imitating the dialogue. So, I will focus on both form
and function and will integrate them in this activity creating a context where learners will get an
opportunity to speak and produce language.
Techniques I will be using to adapt:
I will expand the activity by incorporating how to show preferences and make a suggestion. Then
I will personalize the activity to the learners. I will also delete the dialogue given in the activity.
Activity:
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Let’s Speak
Showing preference and making suggestion
Read the conversation between old Gopal and the carpenter. Notice the phrase in bold type
Akbar: Why don’t you look right there through my kitchen window? See that farm over there?
That's my wife's place. And you see that creek running right down there? That creek, it wasn't
there last week. My wife did that to spite me. She took a plough up there, and she dug a big old
furrow from the upper pond and flooded it. Well, I want you to do one better. Since she wants
us divided that way, I suggest you go out there and build me a fence - a big, tall fence - so I
won't even have to see her place anymore!
Birbal: Well, I would like to do this job for you since I have come here looking for a job.
The phrases in bold type are used to make a suggestion or to show a preference. Discuss with
your partner to bring out more examples which could be used to do so. Copy and complete the
table below and compare your ideas with your other classmates.
Making a suggestion
Showing a preference
Look at ho suggestion and preferen e phrases are follo ed y infiniti e, to + infiniti e or gerund
forms of the verbs.
Why don t you +V?
Would you like + to +V?
Let s + V
I d rather + V
I suggest you+V
I d prefer+to+V
I would like +to+V
What/Ho a out + V+ing?
What do you think a out + V+ing?
I suggest+ V+ing
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Work with your partner. For each of the following examples, one of you makes a suggestion and
the other gives a preference and a reason. Try to use a variety of the phrases from the language
box above.
Remember: Usually when we show a preference for something, we also give a reason. For
example: Well, I would like to do this job for you since I have come here looking for a job.
Example:
Seema: Why don’t you buy that pair of shorts?
Papu: No, I don’t think so, Seema. I’d prefer to save my money for the Diwali.
A. Going to Swimming
B. Playing football
C. Eating Odiya food in a hotel
D. Attending Changu dance
E. Catching fish
Conclusion
All other activities almost follow the same pattern. So, they may be adapted the way these
activities have been adapted. For example, all the comprehension questions for listening skills
are memory based and reading section largely focuses on factual understanding of the text and
we can adapt all the listening activities by making them while-listening activities and we can also
incorporate some questions that focus on personal response, inferential, critical understanding of
the reading text.
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ISSN2347-6427
Learn through Riddles with Fun: Riddles for the English Classroom
A Book Review by
Ajit Kumar Pradhan
pradhaneng@gmail.com
Riddles for the English Classroom
Author: Dr Phool Singh Narvaria
Translators : Bhavesh Kumar and Anand Mahanand
Published by : Pagemaker Publication, Bhubaneswar, 2014
Price : Rs. 60 / $ 3
ISBN: 978-81-920052-8-7
Let’s solve the following riddle!
Green was when young
But turned red in old
Just a small size girl
But does many things bold.
(Narvaria 2014, P.13)
Have you ever pondered the pleasure and excitement of solving a riddle? Would you like to
explore a book on riddles for the English classroom, for the development of language skills and
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higher order thinking skills? Then, Riddles for the English Classroom by Bhavesh Kumar and
Anand Mahanand is one of the interesting and the most exciting books to be referred to.
The translated book is a unique collection of fifty-seven riddles by Dr. Phool Singh Narvaria,
who is an experienced teacher educator from Gwalior, India and documented numerous folk
forms to use in the language classroom. All the riddles have been wonderfully translated from
original Hindi to English by Anand Mahanand, a faculty from the EFL University, Hyderabad
and Bhavesh Kumar, a research scholar of the same university.
Consisting of twenty pages, Riddles for the English Classroom bears an appealing cover page, a
forward nicely written by Prof G. Rajagopal, a succinct preface to the book by the translators,
interesting and challenging fifty-seven riddles and a significant blurb. All the riddles have been
presented in a unique pattern, where the original riddle in Hindi is provided first, followed by the
English translation. Each riddle is accompanied with a picture against it, which helps the readers
to guess and solve the riddles. Through this learners are sensitised to their socio-cultural milieu
and learn languages by drawing knowledge from these sources.
Creating Interests
Riddles are an integral part of every indigenous community’s speech and people generally use
riddles for their daily communication. There is a need to use real life speeches and forms of
communication like riddles in the classroom for the enhancement of language learning and
teaching. Further, there is absolutely no iota of doubt that learning should be a pleasurable
journey. Riddles appeal to the students “…because they offer an opportunity to experiment with
language in unexpected and unusual ways” (Buchoff, 1996). Almost all the riddles of the book
are interesting and challenging. Here is an example:
Ek bahadur aisa veer
Gaane gakar mare teer.
Translation- As brave as gallant a warrior around
Pierces arrows with humming sound
(Answer : Machhar/ Mosquito)
(Narvaria, 2014, p.5)
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Developing Literary Skills
Riddles are not only for creating interests among the readers as they do enhance cognitive and
literary skills of the users. The book “Riddles for the English Classroom” provides a wonderful
platform to improve listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of the learners. After going
through the riddles of the book, students can be encouraged to recollect their favourite riddles
and explain logically how the riddles are their favourite ones. Further, students can be
encouraged to create new riddles and/or write stories based on riddles. In this ways, teachers can
exploit any riddle from the book to enhance literary skills and higher order thinking skills.
Suiting the needs of Indian multilingual classroom
Riddles for the English Classroom is a unique book which will serve better for the Indian
multilingual classrooms. Each riddle is given in Hindi transliteration and then, translated into
English. As a reader is expected to read the riddles in his/her mother tongue first and read the
translation later, this would not only help in learning English through reading the translation but
would support for guessing and solving the riddles. Further, all the riddles have been taken from
the cultural background of the Indian readers, which make the riddles familiar and interesting,
but challenging. Here is an example:
Baap bado beta bado
Nati barho amol,
Pai panti bhaav
Do kaudi ko mol
Translation :
Father is costly, so is son
And costlier becomes grandson
But cheaper becomes their next generation
(Answer: Doodh, dahi, ghee, chhachh/ Milk, curd, ghee, butter-milk)
(Narvaria 2014, p. 9)
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Navaria (2014) has made a significant contribution by providing indigenous riddles to cater to
the needs of Indian learners. The translators of the riddles could have included exercises and
activities of the riddles, which would have helped the teachers to use the riddles in the classroom
better. However, the translators are very clear in their approach of not doing so as they clearly
mention in the preface of the book as “We have not included exercises as we felt that would
reduce the pleasure part of the genre. Also riddles are themselves activities and can lead to
practice in communication and language use”.
I strongly recommend that Riddles for the English Classroom should be used in the classroom as
well as outside the classroom. It can generate hearty laugh to any age group, especially for the
children. Irrespective of finding the answer (i.e. red chilly) to the first riddle mentioned in the
beginning of the review you must have gone through an engaging cognitive exercise. Thus, it
will be an enriching and enjoyable experience to go through the book.
References
Buchoff, Rita. “Riddles : Fun with language across the curriculum”. The Reading Teacher, Vol.
49, No. 8 (May, 1996), pp. 666-668. Web.
Narvaria, Phool Singh. (Trans) Anand Mahanand and Bhavesh Kumar. Riddles for the
Classroom. Bhubaneswar: PageMaker Publication, 2014. Print.
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Bridging Cultures through Dialogue:
A Conversation3 with Professor P. C. Kar
Anand Mahanand
amahanand991@gmail.com
Joe Christopher
joechrismyles@gmail.com
Professor P.C. Kar is one the pioneers of American studies in India. He is himself a renowned
scholar in the field of American studies. His doctoral research was on Soul Bellow from U.S.A.
He was Deputy Director of the American Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad during 1982-86,
and Chair, Department of English at Baroda during 1995-2000. He visited Universities of
Chicago, Taxas at Austin, and California at Berkeley under a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship.
He was a Fellow at the School of Criticism and Theory at Dartmouth College, USA in 1986.
Besides editing several scholarly books, he has published papers on American literature, critical
theories and new literatures in English. He is one of the editors of the Journal of Contemporary
Thought, Baroda. He is an institution builder and pioneer of interdisciplinary studies. Retired
as Professor of English from M.S. University of Baroda, currently, he is the Director, Balvant
Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences. Balvant Parekh Centre. for.
General Semantics and Other Human Sciences , Baroda. He as been awarded the the Nicolás
Guillén award for his “extraordinary contribution to the study of the humanities in India”. The
award committee has acknowledged that his work has “impact across the globe” and
acknowledged his contribution for cultivation of dialogue across the Global South. We met
Professor Kar at EFL University, Hyderabad
last November and had the following
conversation with him.
Q.1. Congratulations Prof. P.C. Kar on being the only Indian to have won the Nicolás
Guillén award4. With the receipt of this award you are now in league with Gabriel García
Márquez, Ramabai Espinet and Prof. Gordon Rohlehr. The citation reads that you award
is in recognition to your “extraordinary contribution to the study of the humanities in
3
The interview with Prof. P.C. Kar took place at the EMMRC studios located in the The English and Foreign
Languages University, Hyderabad. The conversation happened alongside the international conference “Unveiling a
Secret Agreement: Revisiting the Contours of English Studies” which was organized by the Department of English
Literature in November 2012.
4
The Nicolas Guillen Philosophical Literature Prize is awarded at the international annual meetings of the
Caribbean Philosophical Association. The prize is awarded to those whose contribute to Caribbean thought.
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India”. The award committee has acknowledged that your work has “impact across the
globe”. The members of the Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) have credited you
for “cultivation of dialogue across the Global South”. The institutions that you have
developed such as the Centre for Contemporary Theory, the Journal of Contemporary
Thought, and the annual Forum in Contemporary Theory conferences have also found a
special mention in Trinidad.
A.1. I feel quite happy to have received this award. It was my pleasure that I could go to the
Caribbean islands for the first time in my life to receive this award in person. It was a thrilling
experience because I am in league with these great distinguished scholars and writers. And as
you said it is the first time that this award has been
given to an Indian. So I am very proud that something
of that kind has happened. It is not actually
recognition of my work, but the recognition of the
kind of facility that we have provided for the young
scholars in the country to create a kind of ambience
for promoting studies of the humanities, particularly
in the Global South. For that reason, I am very happy that they have finally recognized globally
the kind of role we have been playing for several years to promote the cultivation of this kind of
dialogue. For that reason the award is very special for me, because as I have said it is global
recognition of our project.
Q.2. How does it feel to have been honoured in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago by the
Caribbean Philosophical Association in July 2012? They seem to have beaten institutions in
India in honouring your contributions to the humanities.
A.2. It is not a question of us not being recognized in this country. But we have created a kind of
networking around the globe for some many years. For the last 15-16 years we have been
working with many people, many scholars all over the globe. They have been coming to our
national conferences every year. They have been contributing to our journals. They recognized
that something has been done. So nationally we are known, but perhaps we are known more
internationally than nationally. We are less known locally, little more known nationally, but
perhaps more known internationally. That always happens.
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Q.3. Prof. Kar you have contributed significantly to various fields: first through your stay
in American universities and at the American Studies Research Centre (ASRC) to
American Studies, then through the Forum on Contemporary Theory (FCT) to Cultural
Studies and South Asian Studies. Now you are an important part of the Caribbean
Philosophical Association. You have become a vital link in the ‘Global South dialogue
project’. How equipped do you think are the
scholars in the departments of humanities in
India to actively participate in such a
dialogue?
A.3. Students and the research scholars from the
Indian universities are taking part in the global
dialogue, through the kind of project that we
have launched that is the south-south dialogue.
Intellectually they are of high calibre. There is
no doubt about their capabilities. But what is the
problem in the country? The problem is that we
have not been able to create a kind of
atmosphere which facilitates this kind of
dialogue. Universities have not done that. That is the reason the Forum Contemporary Theory
which cuts across disciplinary boundaries and institutional boundaries strives to create that kind
of atmosphere where people meet from time to time and discuss ideas locally, nationally and
globally. Those ideas circulate.
As you have said I started it here in Hyderabad when I was working for the American Studies
Research Centre. That was perhaps the beginning of my interest in the Global South project. In
order to be more focussed about what you have been doing for the Global South project, you
have to be a more expansive in your outlook. My interest in American Studies gave me that
familiarity, gave me the opportunity to have that expansive vision. Gradually you narrow down
the vision to a specific area after getting a broad exposure. So American Studies helped me a lot.
I am not saying that I was instrumental for some kind of paradigm shift in American Studies. But
I was a part of that shift because when I was here in the eighties it was the time that American
Studies was picking up in India. Whether I was instrumental or not in the shift? I can’t say that I
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played an important role in that shift. It was the right moment; the moment was opportune to
start something new, because there was a lot of support intellectually from all over the world. So
we tried to move on. The American Studies certainly helped me a lot in thinking about the
Global South and eventually coming back. You have to go beyond in order to return to your
homeland. Certainly that perspective has been very helpful to me. That is why we are where we
are now.
Q.4. As a Professor of English for over four decades you have witnessed several points of
crises within English studies in India. Several young scholars today would like to know
what the discipline did to overcome the major challenges it faced.
A.4. That is what we have been doing (discussing) today in the conference that has been
convened to talk about the various challenges that the discipline of English Studies has thrown
up before us and how we have been trying to tackle those challenges. You know the challenges
for English Studies have come from both outside and also from inside the discipline. From
outside several forces were operating to bring in new fields of enquiry into the discipline.
American literature came, then Australian literature then Canadian literature and African
literature. All these are new entrants to English studies. But English is a very resilient discipline.
It is very open ended, resilient and hospitable to new courses. So there was no major crisis that
English Studies suffered because of this expansion. We somehow managed to bring all these
forces into the discipline, disciplinary framework and managed to be at home with all those
fields. Later on the challenge came in when theory impinged upon the discipline as a big force.
Was it post 1969?
It came mostly in the seventies, the late seventies. Particularly when Derrida’s influence was felt
in most English departments and that brought some amount of discomfort to those who were
brought up on the old tradition of New Criticism. It was revolutionary. Derrida’s entrenchment
into English Studies was of a radical kind. It was revolutionary idea. That is why the crisis “How
to accommodate theory into the domain of literary studies?” came. Theory was not a tool that
could be used to explicate a text. Theory was theory per se. Theory was an end in itself; it was
not the means to an end. Deconstruction which Derrida promoted in a big way certainly created a
big crisis. That crisis was not a negative crisis. It was kind of difficult for English departments to
accommodate this new field of study. English departments did accommodate it. Because of that
the departments became so expansive and it received inputs from departments of philosophy,
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sociology, cinema studies, popular culture, gender studies and several other new fields of
enquiry. English studies became very, very expansive. If you look at it another way there was a
dilution of English Studies in the process. So we have to cope with the expansion, proliferation,
and dilution. When proliferation takes place there is bound to be some dilution. That is the state
of affairs today. It is an identity crisis. English Studies is facing an identity crisis. How do we
cope with that problem? We are in that [a similar] state today.
So are you suggesting that we have returned to a state of crisis which can also be used as an
advantage or an opportunity?
Crisis always gives an opportunity to rethink and crisis can be a turning point. If you do not face
a crisis you will continue to remain in the status quo. Crisis is not as harmful as [maintaining the]
status quo, the chalta hai attitude or okay things are going on as usual [attitude]. Crisis makes
you think that perhaps we have to think of different things. Perhaps it is time to change, perhaps
it is time to turn back or it is time to look forward to. So that is why crisis gives you an
opportunity and status quo does not give you an opportunity. That is why various fields of
enquiry that came into the English department shattered the discipline and that shattering was
important. The discipline was shattered from without. These are the forces coming from across
the Atlantic into the United States, England and various parts of the world. They created some
kind of very interesting discomfort. You need to face some moments of discomfort to know that
you need to change. There is a love and hate relationship with the incursion into the discipline
from these forces.
Q.5. Today societies in the South are faced with a challenge of evaluating literatures across
the world on their own terms. In a scenario where intellectuals in Africa, India, Australia,
and Asia are developing unique perspectives it seems difficult to develop a theoretical
framework that is acceptable to all these diverse groups. So what kind of collaborations do
you envisage between scholars in these regions to foster a ‘Global South dialogue project’?
A.5. When we conceived the project of a ‘Global South Dialogue’ the idea was not to produce a
unified theory that could accommodate all these countries aspirations. There is a commonality of
interests that you could perceive. Perhaps you could feel the commonality in the subterranean
level of our consciousness. That is we know that we are closer to the African countries than to
the European countries. The affinities, the emotional affinities between our country and the
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countries of the Global South certainly are greater than the emotional affinity that we have with
the countries in Europe or with the United States.
It is not that we have to define the Global South as a homogenous kind of thing [entity]. The kind
of asymmetrical relationship that the colonialism and the hegemonic nations established between
themselves and the other countries did not facilitate the dialogue between cultures. We [The
Southern societies] were always at the receiving end. The ideas originated there [West] and they
were transmitted to these countries. We were consumers of those ideas. We were not producing
those ideas. So it was a relationship between the consumer [kind of countries] and the producer
kind of countries. Some were at the giving end and we were at the receiving end. Dialogue can
take place only when there are two equal partners. If one is above the other psychologically or
physically you cannot have a dialogue. The West-East dialogue, it was called the WesternEastern dialogue, now it is called the North-South dialogue, was based on an asymmetrical
relationship, a hierarchic relationship. So we are the masters and these were the slaves. The
whole idea came from Hegel—the kind of colonial master and the bondsman. This is something
that we have produced and you have to consume the goods whether you like them or not. We
want to change that mindset to the ideas that are produced in Africa can also be used in India and
vice-versa. So we can give something to them and they can give something to us. With this kind
of mutuality of interest and interaction the dialogue will be more productive. The give and take
will be mutual. It is not that we are the givers and someone is the receiver. [The psychology
needs to be changed]. The South-South dialogue envisions that the dialogue between the
countries with whom we have emotional relationships, effective relationships because of the
conditions in which we live. There were lots of such dialogues in the past. Lots of people went
from here to Africa for trade and commerce and the dialogue was there. Somehow during the
period of colonialism the dialogue was suspended. We have to revive the dialogue. That is the
basis [aim] of the global dialogue project.
Our theory group through our conferences is trying to rectify the imbalance. We are not
discarding the dialogue with the west, but any dialogue that has to be undertaken with the West
that has to be undertaken only in relation to our relationship with other countries of the Global
South. In that context the dialogue becomes a vibrant dialogue. Otherwise it is a kind of usual
dialogue.
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For instance there was the project “Creolizing Rousseau5” which was undertaken by the CPA.
Yet the instincts to create Pan-African, Pan-Caribbean, or Pan-Indian ideology still remain.
However, only the Global South kind of projects seems to provide scope to read Gandhi and
Fanon together.
That is true. Why did not Fanon like Césaire’s idea of Negritude? Because it was an exclusivist
ideology. Fanon says that the spirit of nationalism lies in internationalism. One has to keep
oneself aware of the dangers of chauvinism. Nationalism can lead to jingoism, chauvinism and
that is horrible. How we negotiate between nationalism and internationalism is the problem. The
Global South project is interested in not defining pan-Africanism as a specific unit or a panAsianism. It would be a return to the old ideas of chauvinistic ideologies. That will become very
provincial. So these are harmful ideas. So you need to build bridges between nations, even
among the Europeans. The Global South project does not exclude the Europeans. But if you are
to look at the Europeans, you need to look at the Europeans from a different perspective. That
perspective emerges from your own homeland and then you stretch your glance and see that
there are linkages everywhere. You see threads of connections around the globe. That will not
come on their terms but will come from your point of view. That is why Fernand Barudels’ idea
of ‘vantage point’ is very important. The point from where you speak is important. That is why
the Global South is reworking the dialogue the process of the dialogue. The project is not an
insular project, where people are talking of their own literature. It is not nativism. You have to
understand that the Global South dialogue is not exclusivist. That is why Fanon said that he does
not like negritude, because it is promoting the notion that the Negroes are homogenous entity. He
asked how you can think of the blacks without the experience of slavery. The idea of slavery was
linked to the idea of western economy. Some people think that it is slavery that produced the
notion of modernity in some sense because of the music, because of the idea of culture that
developed. It was assimilation of many processes that produced the notion of European
modernity. These are the ideas that are very important. These ideas are coming from the others.
It will be a fascinating idea to talk about Global South because of these various ramifications
when we talk about cultural dialogue.
5
The project was initiated by the Caribbean Philosophical Association. For more information about the project refer
to The CLR James Journal: A Review of Caribbean Ideas Special Issue: Creolizing Rousseau, Volume 15, Number
1, Spring 2009.
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Q.6. Prof. Kar the Forum on Contemporary Theory has been at the forefront of the Global
South dialogue project. You have personally contributed towards this “Shifting of the
Geography of Reason to the South”6. The forum plays a crucial role in creating dialogue
between various departments of humanities in India. How is the diversity of the cultural
context of these departments reflected in the ‘Global South dialogue project’?
A.6. The Forum for Contemporary Theory started in Baroda in 1989. In a very informal way a
group of scholars from MS. University Baroda met and wanted to create a forum where we could
discuss ideas of interdisciplinary exchange. Slowly it became bigger and bigger and now we
have become a kind of global forum where many scholars from abroad come every year for
annual conferences. We have very, very productive exchange of ideas. Because of this the forum
became a very attractive idea for people from abroad who thought that the forum is creating
opportunities for younger people to meet and discuss their ideas. Conferences are held every year
by the forum alone along with other institutions. The difference between the conferences
organized by the Forum and those organized by other institutions is that here is a forum which
brings lots of young people in their twenties and thirties to the conference. They come on their
own paying substantial amount of fee and then stay together with the older scholars. That is why
the exchange of ideas takes place in a better way. New ideas are generated. Fresh ideas are
generated. The ideas are not circulated just amongst the senior scholars. In conferences of other
institutions they invite their people, friends, relatives and they talk among themselves. The ideas
are circulated only amongst a few.
In the Forum we find new people attending the conferences every year. They respond to the call
for papers, submit their abstracts and sometimes these papers are published and that is the kind
of encouragement that the forum offers. The forum also conducts a four week program for young
researchers called “Theory and Praxis” course. Off late we have shifted attention from the
western oriented theory to the theory of the Global South. Lots of scholars who have done work
on the Global South have been coming to teach in the program. It is a small change that has been
taking place. I can see it year after year when students come from various universities, spend a
month or so, interact with the faculty, and go back and send us mailing saying that “we benefited
from the course”. We know that there is a change. I am not saying that the Forum has made an
6
The project is an initiative of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. The annual meetings of the CPA focus on
the theme. In July 2011 Prof. P.C. Kar delivered the plenary address titled “Gandhi and Fanon: On Nationalism and
Decolonization”.
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Folklore Foundation,India
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evolutionary change. But in a small way something is happening. Some transformation is taking
place. That is why the Forum is an empowering institution in some way. We are trying to
empower the younger people who will never get the opportunity to attend international
conferences. That is our satisfaction.
Apart from conferences and the ‘Theory Praxis’ courses, the Forum also publishes a journal of
international repute and newsletters which also contribute significantly.
Very much. One feeds into another. If you have a major conference and there are papers
published they must find a place for expression. We also bring out a volume after each
conference, in which select papers are published. We make sure that the voices that are heard in
the corridors of the conference are not lost. We tap those voices. One leads to the other. The
journal brings the conference and the conference brings the journal. It is a kind of process that
has been going on. If you have a conference where people go and present papers, and forget what
happened it does not have any permanency in print. That is why the journal is very important.
The journal comes out, the conference volume comes out and certain papers are published in the
newsletter. The whole thing is a total concept. One cannot do without the other, as one leads to
the other in a very logical way. Otherwise you speak and those papers are forgotten the next day.
At least some papers are published and gain visibility. We encourage dialogue through
publications and through social gathering during lunch, dinner where young and old scholars
meet and exchange the ideas. That is liberating for younger people. I remember when Girish
Karnad came to give the inaugural speech in 2005 conference in Mangalore he stayed in the
same building where our young scholars were also there. They were so happy to meet Girish
Karnad, the great actor and the great writer during the lunch and dinner. We do not separate the
young and the old. We put them together in the same place. We do not put the big people in five
star hotels and the young people in youth hostels. They have to stay together, eat together so that
there is an opportunity to exchange ideas. For those senior scholars who are seeking comfort go
elsewhere. The Forum is here to facilitate the exchange of ideas. These arrangements help in
continuing the dialogue.
Q.7. It is very apparent that currently there is a crisis in English Studies. It seems that
discipline needs to undergo a transformation. Alternatives are available to English or
literary studies program. What are that changes a department of English studies need to
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
make? What are the projects that it should conceive? What are the steps that researchers
need to take to effectively participate in the Global South Dialogue?
A.7. This is a very good question but is a very difficult one. It cannot be decided from a single
perspective. There is no one perspective which can be applied across all English departments. As
I have said in my lecture yesterday English Studies is facing a crisis today. It is because English
has become too liberal as a discipline. We have to define our identity in some way. There is a
lack of definition and people do not know what is English Studies about.
The English is only a metaphor. We are not talking about only the literature produced in
England. We are concerned with literary studies and both canonical literature and non-canonical
literature have to be read, have to be interpreted, have to be understood. We have to devise skills
in the classroom on how to read the texts and so on and so forth. The ideas of other disciplines
coming into English department is a good thing because it destabilizes the canon from within.
But as they say there is always a line that one should not go beyond. The English department, the
English Studies, the literary studies should not be swallowed by the studies which are coming in
from outside. That is why I suggested let English Studies and Cultural Studies become two big
disciplines7. If English or Literary Studies and Cultural Studies are equal partners there will be a
more productive dialogue between them than putting Cultural Studies within the rubric of
English Studies where neither the English Studies nor Literary Studies will flourish. It is high
time you make such an arrangement. Culture is certainly a special domain and under culture lots
of things can be placed. In the department of Cultural Studies you can go beyond the study of
popular culture. In the Cultural Studies department you can study high culture, literature,
architecture and even weaving. You can do many interesting things. Literary Studies can deal
with both popular literature as well as canonical literature. This kind of alliance between two
equal partners perhaps is more useful than putting one with the other or into the other.
In the university8 that we are sitting, within the School of literature there are departments of
Literary Studies, Commonwealth Literature, American and Caribbean Literature, Literary
Prof. P.C. Kar in his plenary address “From a Crisis to the Crossroads: English Studies Then
and Now” addressed this issue at length and argued on the necessity of creating separate
departments of Literary studies and Cultural Studies
7
8
The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL) which was established in 1957, was transformed
into the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) IN 2007. CIEFL had one school the School of Critical
Humanities which included departments of Literary Studies, Cultural Studies, and European Studies. The EFLU till
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Theory. In the School of Interdisciplinary Studies there are departments of Comparative
Literature, Cultural Studies. There are also the departments of Media Studies and Film Studies
and so on. It is probably a good thing at one level to have some many departments. But is such a
structure capable of enriching the researchers and enable them actively participate in the SouthSouth dialogue.
University is a big thing. Why are the small departments introduced? It was not because there
was an intellectual need for these departments, but there was a technical need. When CIEFL
became a university, it had to justify why it needed more teaching positions. To get more
teaching posts you need to show more departments. But to me some of the departments seem to
be superfluous, they could be combined later. But this university is in a growing phase. It was an
institute and now it is a university.
But South-South dialogue can take place within the departmental structures. You do not need to
have a department of South-South dialogue. Even within the Caribbean and the American
literature, the American literature is interesting because the American literature does not have a
specific identity of its own. That is because a chunk of American literature comes from the Black
literature. A chunk of American literature comes from the Asian literature. So the South-South
dialogue is already a part of American literature. There is the Spanish American literature. So,
American literature is not created by the hegemonic white American alone. You can see the
Black President [Obama] has been re-elected in America. How is it possible? Only 39% of white
Americans voted for him. Most of the votes came from the diasporic people who came in from
the Global South, from India, countries in Asia and Africa. They are actually contributing lot for
the dialogue. In his introductory speech to the conference Dr. Prakash Kona mentioned James
Baldwin’s idea of rewriting the history of the United States. The Black novelist James Baldwin
said that it will be a better to write the history of the United States from the blacks’ point of
view. It will be a different history. You have been hearing about the American history from the
White point of view. But if you write from the black’s point of view it will be a different history.
The relationship between the black and white will have a different complexion than what it is
2013 instead had the School of Literary studies and School of Interdisciplinary Studies. The School of Literary
Studies in addition to the Department of English Literature introduced Department of English Literature from
Commonwealth Countries, Department of American and Caribbean literature, and Department of Literary Theory.
In a vindication of Prof PC Kar’s answer, the university reconfigured the school. Since January 2013 the School has
only two departments—the Department of English Literature and the department of Indian and New Literatures.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
today because it is coming from a hegemonic region. So that is what the South-South dialogue
has to be within the university framework.
Q.8. You are one of the pioneers who introduced Indian Literatures in Translation in the
English Department Syllabus. Could share your experience with the experiment?
A.8. During my tenure at MS University of Baroda as Head of the English Department, we had
brought about some significant curricular reform. One such reform was to introduce a
compulsory course for MA students on the topic "Politics, Ideology and the Teaching of
English." As part and continuation of that program we also introduced Indian writers in English
translation as part of our increased emphasis on comparatism involving textual and cultural
transaction through translation of texts. This also entailed study of translation theory. Since then
translation of regional texts into English has been part of the English curriculum at MSU. In the
new context of postcolonialism translation studies have betting more relevant now as the study of
the vernacular text accords a new dimension to postcolonial studies.
Dr. Anand Mahanand has been on the faculty of the English and Foreign languages University
Hyderabad. He writes and translates in Odia and English. His publications include
Representations of Tribal in Fiction, Tribal Literature in India, English through Folktales and
English for Academic and Professional Skills. He has two collections of Poems in Odia titled
Maa Maatira Gita and Mastaka Mani.
Joe Christopher is a PhD participant at the Department of English Literature of Commonwealth
Countries, at the English and Foreign languages University Hyderabad. His interests include
theory, and public culture.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
A Series of Lectures on Multilingual Education by Dr Mahendra K. Mishra at EFL
University, Hyderabad
Sadananda Meher,
sadanand.meher@gmail.com
The School of English Language Education of EFL University, Hyderabad witnessed a series of
lectures and a workshop by Dr Mahendra Kumar Mishra, the eminent expert in the field of
Multilingual Education.. All three sessions dealt with multilingualism but issues addressed were
different in each session. The sessions focused on the importance of using learners’ mother
tongue, culture and background as useful resources and possible ways of using those resources
fruitfully in the second language classroom were discussed and demonstrated.
The first talk on 21 April addressed the general issues in multilingual education at large. Here Dr
Mishra beautifully discussed the pan Indian classical Sistachara and showed its classification
into Deshachara (regional customs involving constitutional language), Lokachara (sub-regional
customs involving community languages) and Kulachara (home language). Having shown the
different levels of language use in Indian contexts, he argued that multilingual education is not
confined only to the tribal contexts. Then elaborating on his extensive research in Odisha, he
emphasized on the importance of language and background knowledge of children in education.
A healthy discussion and question-answer session followed the presentation where Dr Anand
Mahanand and many Ph.D scholars were the discussants. Prof. Paul Gunashekar, Prof. K.C.
Baral, and Prof. Julu Sen attended the talk. The talk was immensely useful for the contemporary
batch of Ph.D scholars and other scholars who are interested in the area.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
The discussion narrowed down to teaching of English in the second talk “English in the Contexts
of Multilingual Education”, in the post-lunch session on the same day. In this session, Dr Mishra
discussed the Indian school system and analysed rural-urban divide in terms of medium of
instruction. He highlighted the craze of English as medium in urban setup and on the other hand
talked about the very little scope for English language education available for learners in rural
setup. Apart from this, he also presented a brief history of Bilingual education in India with focus
on Odisha. He mentioned during his talk that English is language of colonization; still it is the
language of liberalization. He concluded the second talk with a statement that respecting each
other’s language is similar to respecting each other’s culture. Saying all these, he stressed that
every backward community and tribal community needs English for its liberalization and
development but it has to be provided to them without denying their own language and culture.
The after-presentation discussion was well carried out by Dr Anand Mahanand and other
research scholars of the university.
The following day witnessed a workshop: “Developing Multilingual Materials”, where research
scholars participated in the classroom and developed materials for teaching. Here, Dr Mishra
skillfully demonstrated the ways of accommodating multiple languages in the classroom. A story
in English was dealt-with using four different languages like Telugu, Malayalam, Odia and
Nagamese. After that, the ways of using local stories and folktales to develop materials to teach
different language skills were also discussed and demonstrated. The workshop stimulated the
discussion of different complex linguistic situations in different Indian regions and schools.
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Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Experienced participants discussed the problems they faced during their teaching and those
problems were promptly addressed.
All three sessions were well appreciated by the participants and practical experiences were
brought in during every talk.
Finally, with his empirical experiences, Dr Mishra emphasized that the approach of teaching, the
curriculum, the teacher’s attitudes, and policy makers’ attitude need a change and added that
multilingualism is the need of the hour in Indian education system.
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427
Lokaratna, Volume-VII, 2014
Folklore Foundation,India
ISSN2347-6427