Welcome to the series of ethnographic films made by Sathya Mohan, a visual anthropologist from India. His work is aimed at visually exploring and documenting the rapidly vanishing tribal cultures.
This film is a call for tribal solidarity. It reveals the approaching trauma of two lakh tribals who will be displaced under the Polavaram Dam Project on river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, India. The project is estimated to submerge four hundred villages and four thousand hectres of forest in Dandakaranya. Large-scale projects often created islands of development in the midst of under-development perpetuating regional imbalances. Past experiences have shown that development paradigms are often discriminatory against the tribal communities and other marginalized sections of society. Development is meaningful only when it is sustainable. India needs an alternative way of development which combines traditional methods with environmentally sustainable technologies. Only then will it be able to sustain its diverse cultures and promote the welfare of the tribals.
This ethnographic documentary deals with the socio-economic and religious life of the Chenchus, a Telugu speaking hunting and gathering tribe living in the Nallamalai forests of Andhra Pradesh, India. They are a conservative tribal group and have not made many changes in their lifestyle or tried to adapt to modernity. They live in the enclosed space and geography leading a life of an unbroken continuity.
The Samanthas or the Khonds of Visakhapatnam agency of Andhra Pradesh, India are one of the few surviving "primitive tribal groups". They speak the language called "Kuvi". Slash and burn cultivation is the major source of livelihood for the Samanthas. Though the modern commercial exploitation of forests has restricted the areas available to the native tribesmen, there remains several tribal societies in India representing various modes of archaic farming which followed in time that of hunters and gatherers.
This ethnographic film in two parts deals with the nature-man interaction and the associated belief system. It examines the features of the environment and ecology in relation to the Koya economic system- the interaction of productive forces and the natural resources. The economy, the social organization and the religion of the Koyas are closely inter-related, inter-dependent and interacting. The basis of enormous diversity in the Indian cultural matrix lies in its varied ecological conditions. The interplay of nature and culture is implicit in the little traditions of the sub-continent. The Koya culture is unique in adapting itself to its natural setting.
The Koyas are one of the few multi-lingual and multi-racial tribal communities living in India. They are also one of the major peasant tribes of Andhra Pradesh numbering more than four lakhs. Their physical features are classified as Australoid. They call themselves as "Koithur". They speak the language called "Koyi". It is blended with Telugu in Andhra Pradesh. This ethnographic film in two parts deals with the nature-man interaction and the associated belief system.
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