Over the past three years, United Kingdom-based researcher Dr Tara Douglas has been digitally recording and documenting the traditional stories and songs of the Wancho tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. Her pioneering work with the UK-based charity, Adivasi Arts Trust, has helped preserve the folktales and legends of various tribal communities of India. In this interview, Tara Douglas talks of her work with the Wancho community and other tribes, as well as her project of presenting traditional tribal stories through animation. Excerpts:
How did your project of documenting the stories of the Wancho tribe start?
I have spent many years researching the stories and cultures of Indian tribes for two digital media projects: “The Tallest Story Competition” (completed in 2006) and “The Tales of the Tribes” (2017). The first one, by West Highland Animation, is a collection of short animated films based on Adivasi stories from central India. The second one, by Adivasi Arts Trust, began as a practice-led PhD research project and produced a series of short animated films on tribal stories, four of which are from north-east India.
I have a background in film and animation: I completed a PhD in Digital Media from Bournemouth University (in the UK) in 2015, for the research and media project, “Tales of the Tribes: Animation as a Tool for Indigenous Representation”. After that, I wanted to continue the work with tribal communities and artists, adapting their stories for animation. Film and animation are a way to engage young people from all backgrounds, including tribal communities, in indigenous narratives, folklore, and knowledge. After getting acquainted with my work, many people told me they wanted to get involved.
One of them was a young designer from the Wancho community who had studied animation at National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. When I asked him about the folktales of his community, I realised the extent [to which] the younger generation is losing touch with their oral heritage. There are no published collections of Wancho stories, and as I was preparing a proposal for a post-doctoral research project, I decided that I needed to visit Longding district to identify stories for the animation project.
Since it is a restricted area, I got the permission to visit after several months. I went there first in November 2019, visiting several villages with my new Wancho collaborators and recording stories narrated by the elders. Since they spoke in Wancho language, the audio-visual recordings required translation. I have since returned to the Wancho area six times to translate the work and to introduce some of the young people in the village to the processes of creating animation.
ALSO READ: Silkworm for snacks
What was the experience like?
I am the first foreign woman to have visited some of the Wancho villages in the upper area of the Patkai Hills bordering Myanmar. The people were, of course, very surprised to see me when I first turned up in 2019. I was lucky to have two wonderful collaborators from the community, Banwang Losu and Jatwang Wangsa. They are both teachers and are fluent in English. That was important because the elders, who are the storytellers and knowledge-keepers in the community, do not speak English.
I was introduced to the Wancho village, Kamhua Noknu, by Banwang and Jatwang. It is a homogeneous Wancho society consisting of more than 250 households (around 2,000 people). I recorded the memories of the elders of Kamhua and five of the surrounding Wancho villages using a digital DSLR camera. The elders were happy that someone had come to document their memories, which are likely to be forgotten soon. Their society is changing fast with the coming of modern education and a more modern way of life.
The terrain is steep and the roads are difficult: I would go up and down the hills with my Wancho friends by foot. Jatwang sat with me for hours to translate the stories, helped by some others. We have recorded and translated 31 stories, transcribed them in English and in the new Wancho script invented recently by Banwan