Bhubaneswar
The Academy of Tribal Dialects and Culture (ATDC) was set up in the 1970s in cognizance of the need for culture integrated development processes for a state like Odisha with 62 Scheduled Tribes including 13 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
The Academy moved into its next phase of relevance as it was rechristened the Academy of Tribal Languages and Culture (ATLC). In its work at the intersection of tribal community-culture-governance, the ATLC over the decades has been able to build structural capacities for indigenous language evolution.
Decoding these capacities may be seen in three broad categories:
a) Creating technical constructs for language evolution like primers and dictionaries
b) Documenting culture elements as is preserved in living memory through language
c) Creating and facilitating communities of technical practice around language like teachers, scholars and culture practitioners
Moreover, these foundational capacities in indigenous languages have found their way into policy-enabled functional usage pipelines by the State in the form of access to nurture services like primary education (multilingual education) and health (multilingual health information), and availability of information on key rights in indigenous languages.
Thus, ideas of language and culture as being perennially reimagined within indigenous communities find their grounding within government systems and processes with the presence of an institution like the ATLC as their vehicle.
Institution Reimagining And Its Relevance
Reimagining institutions is a step towards the process of constructively examining and transforming the already existing institutions to better equip them with the nuanced and evolved understanding of the individuals and communities they serve.
Reimagining also constitutes assessing traditional administrative structures and practices through a critical lens, while simultaneously envisioning new approaches to promote inclusivity and equity.
Staying aligned with the status quo, governments have the choice of designing interventions and redistributing resources directly to communities through their existing administrative structures.
However, the State building institutional capacity for an Academy like the ATLC can enable governments to leapfrog into knowledge and thought systems. Moreover, spaces and processes of discourse, documentation, conversation and research facilitated by the ATLC will go a long way in the ‘public’ intent of public policy.
In a more articulated sense, such Academies become the powerhouse for collective intelligence, which becomes essential for inclusive public policy and governance. Thus, investing in academies such as the ATLC can play a vital role in co-generating policy solutions which are contextually relevant and culturally sensitive and designed with communities.
In the first phase of reimagination, the ATLC seeks o facilitate, create and make:-
- State of the Art Resource Centre
- Language Labs In Each Block- Closer to communities, provide scope for intergenerational language learning, new age methods of archiving and language usage tools
- Digital Archives Infrastructure- With focus on open source technologies, easy to integrate community-facing modules and searchable knowledge
- Publishing House for distribution of writings on indigenous ways of life, by indigenous and non-indigenous scholars
- Research Fellowships for PhD scholars working on indigenous languages
- Community Sourced Research on indigenous visionaries, innovators and freedom fighters
The reimagined ATLC aims to undergo a transformative journey, shifting its focus from producing culture and knowledge products as an authority to empowering individuals by making culture-making tools widely accessible.
This shift includes not only sponsoring research for preservation purposes but also fostering innovative thinking and action towards utilising languages for various functional applications.
Furthermore, the institution aims to transcend the boundaries of traditional dialogue and conversation, expanding its reach to facilitate cross-border and intercultural exchanges on a larger scale.
In line with this vision, the Academy aspires to move beyond encouraging institutions alone, actively fostering the growth and sustainability of diverse communities of practice that can collaborate and thrive together.
Why Now?
Reimagination of the ATLC as a government intent has emerged from recognising the urgent need to respond to the changing consciousness of our society and demand for comprehending indigenous languages, cultures and human knowledge that they encode.
This evolving understanding of knowledge systems acknowledges that knowledge is not limited to a single dominant system but is diverse, encompassing indigenous knowledge systems alongside academic and traditional forms of knowledge. Indigenous communities across Odisha have themselves activated such critical inquiry and knowledge processes within.
By embracing such shifts, the ATLC aims to foster interdisciplinary and intercultural collaborations, bridging the gaps between different knowledge systems and creating spaces for mutual learning, dialogue, and the co-creation of knowledge.
(The writers are Senior Consultants with ST, SC Development, M&BCW Department, Odisha)
