Folklore Studies Can Lead to Community Empowerment
MD Muthukumaraswamy, director, National Folklore Support Centre, Chennai, a non-government organization, throws light on the evolving trend in the field.
What's the scenario like when it comes to folklore studies in India?
Folklore is becoming a very important discipline. One of the reasons is that post-colonial study is making it important to understand our roots and culture. The second reason is the subaltern studies movement in history - historians are interested in understanding local history through local lore, traditions etc. (Subaltern studies refer to non-mainstream studies in history, that is, studying the masses as opposed to the elites.) Third, politically-speaking, in post-independent India, several regional uprisings led to people studying folklore because it's linked to linguistic, sub-nationalistic identity.
What are the major employment avenues for folklorists?
They can join the Anthropological Survey of India, in museums as curators and presenters of culture. They can work in radio or TV, producing or presenting programmes. Every radio station has at least one programme on local folklore and music.
These days NGOs present an option for enhancement of livelihood opportunity. The creative energies of communities are embedded in their folklore which can be harnessed for enhancing livelihood options.
What's the current trend in folklore studies?
There was a trend from the 1960s to 1980s to collect and record folk items such as folk tales, paintings etc; they were text-oriented. Then 1980 onwards, the trend changed towards studying text in context, where it's essentially an anthropological study. From the late '90s onwards, folklore is basically community work - using folklore to see how the livelihood opportunities of the community can be improved. It's about working towards community empowerment, through the study of folklore.
Where's most of the work in this discipline being done in India?
Most work is being carried out in south and east India - mainly in non-Hindi states.
What about the Hindi heartland?
Some work has been done but it's not come to the fore.
Author: Rahat Bano (HT Horizons)
Date: 16th December, 2010
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