Ahead of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, we’ve curated a list of businesses and media you can engage with to support the community, and also learn more about their culture
Chuba Jamir
Eat
Naga Chukka
Chuba Jamir, a chef from Nagaland, is committed to bringing the indigenous food of the state’s 16 tribes to Mumbai. Jamir, who belongs to Nagaland’s Ao tribe, runs a cloud kitchen in Santacruz which delivers authentic food to homes across Mumbai. The available dishes include signature foods of the Ao tribe like Rosep Aon, a dish of mixed vegetables, dry fish and bamboo shoot, and smoked pork with anishi (an ingredient made from matured colocasia leaves). He also sells the traditional dishes of other tribes from Nagaland, such as smoked pork with axone, a popular meal of the Sema tribe.
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@naga_chukka, Instagram
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Watch
Fire in Our Hearts
In 2011, 15-year-old Jayshree Janu Kharpade directed a 27-minute long documentary about the lives of female children like herself, raised in Wada Taluka, Thane. After her mother’s death in 2005, Jayshree, who belongs to the Warli tribe of western India, was made to drop out of school at the age of eight to help raise her younger siblings. Fire in Our Hearts, which received an award at the 2012 Asian American Film Festival in New York, focuses on the efforts that the Warli tribe unions made to ensure their female children were educated, ultimately resulting in the establishment of a residential school that enabled young girls of the tribe to get an education.
Read
Angor by Jacinta Kerketta
Angor is a collection of poems that convey the struggle of Adivasi communities. Poet Jacinta Kerketta hails from the Oraon tribe in Jharkhand, and Angor is inspired by the real stories of her community, exploring themes of identity, violence against women, and state oppression, in the Adivasi context.
Wear
Tega Collective
Founded by sustainable fashion designer Niha Elety, Tega Collective is a brand that celebrates ancestral tribal fashion. The Bengaluru-based brand ships products worldwide, and showcases the embroidery techniques of the Lambani community. Lambani women from Ballari, Karnataka, are the chief artisans behind their products, and their clothes are made using the unique Lambani embroidery technique which utilises 14 main stitches. Tega Collective launched a collection last year called Alankara, which includes balloon tops in vibrant colours, flowy maxi skirts and dresses, and embroidered trousers. The clothing uses materials like khadi, an indigenous cotton, as well as eri silk for more flowy outfits.
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Shop: www.tegacollective.com
Listen
Da Minot
Da Minot is a folk band from Shillong that takes inspiration from the authentic music and culture of Meghalaya’s Khasi tribe. The band, led by musician Hammarsingh L Kharhmar, aspires to highlight Khasi folklore by presenting it in a musical format. The instrumentals in their music are unique, blending the familiar audio of contemporary instruments like the electric guitar with traditional Khasi percussion and flute sounds. In their single Ka Hok Ka Shi Kyntie, the band uses the Ksing Shynrang, a religious percussion instrument found in Meghalaya, and the duitara a four-stringed Khasi instrument that resembles a guitar.
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@da_minot, Instagram
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