Folklore and Critical Pedagogy Understanding the Culture of Disadvantaged in India

Folklore as the means of Critical Pedagogy

Understanding the culture of disadvantaged in India

Dr.Mahendra K [email protected]

Part I

• There is no human activity from which every form of intellectual participation can be excluded

Antonio Gramsci

TRIBAL SCENARIO IN ORISSA

Population: Nearly 40 Million

ST Population: 23%SC Population: 15%Literacy Rate: 63%

However, there is a great variation among the districts of Orissa inliteracy rates & other social parameters.

7 out of 30 districts have female

literacy less than 30 %

Example:Example:Female Literacy Rate of Nawarangpur: 21%Female Literacy Rate of Khurda: 71%

A difference of over 50 percentage points!!!

Similar is the diversity and variation in other socialSimilar is the diversity and variation in other socialparameters like health status, IMR, MMR, Elementary enrolment rate, parameters like health status, IMR, MMR, Elementary enrolment rate,

Elementary completion rate etc.Elementary completion rate etc.

Status of Orissa from tribal lens

• 23 % tribal of state population• 62 scheduled tribes in the state• Three language groups( Austro Asiatic,

Dravidian, Indo Aryan)• 13 endangered tribes with vulnerable

situation

Literacy of tribal in Orissa

Total literacy 63.08

Literacy) 75.35

Female literacy 50.51

Tribal literacy 37.37

Tribal male 51.48

Tribal female 23.37

Gap :Gap : 41.25% male41.25% maleGap:Gap: 54% female54% female

Over all gap 38 %Over all gap 38 %

Orissa scenario

Population of Orissa about 4 crores About 84 lakh tribal 83 percent people live in rural areas 13 Percent in urban areas ( 6 percent non

literate ) 50 Percent forest areas Barring eastern Orissa south , north and

western Orissa form the co existence of tribal and rural artisan and agricultural caste group- thus they live together

Tribal Folklore

• Mostly oral in nature

• Functional in domestic and community domain

• Expressed in their own language

• Two context of oral tradition – Sacred ( mythic/ritualistic) – Entertainment ( songs/tales/proverbs / epics

etc)

Priests/Singers/ Story tellers

Each of the community member irrespective of age and sex are the owner of oral tradition

Priests : sacred narratives/ myths/mantras/ chanting

Professional epic singers (caste bard- parghania)

Ameture singers/storytellers among the community( demo)

Genres of folklore

Children's songLullabies, play song, labour song, forest songs Ritual songs , love songs, songs in social andreligious ceremony

Prose and Poetry Narratives : Tales, legends and myths Epics/caste genealogies Proverbs and sayings Semi Literary Narratives Dhan Malika, Briksha Malika, Pakshi Malika

Tribal Religion

• An integrated worldview where man, nature and spirit are inseparable

• They form the epistemic world associating the visible with the invisibles

• Life and plant are interchangeable( reflected in folktales and myths)

• Belief on life after death(Duma) underworld and rebirth of ancestor( past connected to the present )

Tribal Life

• Dance and music

• Art and craft

• Weaving clothes, beads and making ornaments

• Play and group dance

Tribal Technology

• Caging the tiger/ fishing /• Catching the

animals/birds and hunting

• Processing the forest products

• Melting the iron/ preparation of liquor

• Using herbal medicine

Social organization

• Village as a large family

• Village headman as the organizer

• Village priest as the protector of the subjects

• Village shaman ( Disari) as the mediator of the Goddess and the human being

• Customary law ( Saura tale-Gamanga)

•

• Written Literature in Tribal Orissa

• Santali ( ol-chiki script)

• Munda(script)

• Kui (script)

• Saura (script)

• Ho ,Kol

• Bathudi

Folklore is Experiential Education

• Folklore has the roots of social justice

• Therefore it is created by those who are marginalized.

• It believes in humanization( reflected in folk tales ethics and morals)

Consider, out of 600 crores of world population, half of them are literates

half of them are non literates.

Is it not true that the literates are unknown about the complete truth of human knowledge.

Our knowledge is incomplete

with out them!!!

Role of Folklore in Post Colonial Indian Education

• Current education represents the colonial western model.

• Those who are educated in this system are also the victim of “Swadeshi Colonialism”

• Silence is to be broken, folklore has the same power (tui munusa)

• You are a human ,I am a human why do you threaten me ?( Kirpi Melaka –a nonliterate girl from Kondh tribe)

Six Noticeable Demand for Education (UNESCO 2000)

( From South East Asian Perspective)

1.The world is swiftly changing towards globalization

2. Three is a need to counteract the deepening social inequalities and increasing marginalization and violence.

3. Need to recognize that diversities between individual and communities is a valuable resources that is different from social inequality

Six..

• Need to educate individuals for a better citizen

• Addressing increasing broader spectrum of issues

• Co existence of advantages and disadvantages resulting from the impact of technical progress on the environment and the quality of life of individuals and communities

Indian Higher Education

• For us • Village is college • Society is university • A farmer is a professor of agriculture• An old woman is a store house of knowledge • But the gap is that

• Our college could not represent the villages• Our University could not meet the social needs

of the society.

Postcolonial education

• Dream• Basic Education• Vocational skill• Spiritual and moral

education

Self sufficient • Head, hand and

heart

Village self rule

• Reality• Much emphasis on

Higher education• Reading and writing

skill• No vocational skill• Head only, no hand,

no heart • state authority

Post Colonial Education

Focus on the relationship among culture ,power and domination

Culture has to be viewed as a domain of struggle where the production and transmission of knowledge is always a contested process ( Joe Kincheloe)

All education is inherently political and all pedagogy must be aware of this condition

A social and educational vision of justice and equality should ground all education

Issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability are all important domains of oppression and critical anti-hegemonic action.

The alleviation of oppression and human suffering is a key dimension of educational purpose

• For Paulo Freire Education means

• A critical understanding of reality

• Making a commitment to Utopia and changing reality

• Training those who will make change

• Dialogue

Village verses school/College

• Village• A composition of many

languages, ethnicity, religion do coexists

• What is the secret that perpetuates the co existence of these diversities in the villages

• School

Though physical access is not denied, student’s cultural values and experience is not captured

What's the secret that denies the diversities of language, ethnicity and gender

Space of marginalized in the village

• Marginalized are secluded from the sacred centers

• They live in a secluded place

• Visible social barrier ( well, tank, temple)

• Traditional culture has perpetuated this in the society

Do these social inequalities

• Influence the school ?• Curriculum and content ?• Teachers attitude ?• School management ?• Classroom behaviors ?• Learning of children ?

Power relation

• Who are the marginalized

• Lower castes/class• Powerless • Poor• Illiterate • Working class• Unprivileged

• Who are not

• Upper Caste/class • powerful• Rich• Literate • Ruling class• privileged

Who are the marginalized ?

• Dalits • Adivasi• Muslims• Artisan castes• Women • Migrants • Urban deprived • Nomadic

What type of classroom do our schools contain

Children from • Different languages • Different religion • Different ethnic groups • different cultural background

Teachers as authority (on the chair ) and children in culture of silence (sitting on the ground)

Is the school replicate our inherited colonial mind set ?

NCF 2005 • The formal approach, of equality of

treatment in terms of equal access or equal representation for girls, is inadequate. Today, there is a need to adopt a substantive approach, towards equality of outcome, where diversity, difference and disadvantage are taken into account.(p.6)

A classroom with equality

• To make it an inclusive and meaningful experience for children

• To move away from a textbook culture to connect with children’s life

Child centered pedagogy:

• Gives primacy to children’s experiences

• gives primacy to their voices

• gives primacy to their active participation

Physical access only ?

• Marginalized children have physical access to the school

• But they are intellectually neglected • Rich human values of Adivasi is not discussed • Dignity of labour of workers are not respected • Contribution of Muslims are ignored • Tolerance of women and girls are ignored • Service of Christians are misunderstood

How Tribal Folklore matter

• Ensures ethnic identity• Explores local knowledge that is unwritten • Unravel the secrets of the universe• Maintain bio diversities for a sustainable

development • Create a world of shared understanding of life

by mutual respect and togetherness• Higher human values like gender equity,

community living, customary law, integrated worldview,manitain natural law, respect individual freedom

•

Our role

• NFSC as an agency of action

• Connects the village with college

• Society with university

• Individual with the community

• Provide a complete human knowledge for a better understanding of a diverse communities of the country which is unexplored