26.01.2024

RSUH, jointly with the Indian Girijananda Chowdhury University, held an international conference dedicated to the languages and culture of indigenous peoples

On January 23-24, 2024, the international conference “Breaking Borders: Preservation and Development of Indigenous Languages and Cultures” was held online, which brought together more than 120 participants from the universities of India, Uzbekistan, Russia, and the USA

Prof. Kandarpa Das, Chancellor of Girijananda Chowdhury University and Dr. Vera Zabotkina, Acting Vice-Rector for International Cooperation of RSUH, who noted that the topic of preserving the identity of the culture and language of indigenous peoples was a high priority at RSUH, since the University was a member of the Consortium of Universities of the BRICS Countries within the framework of the UNESCO Chair

The section “Community and Identity”, included presentations on Assamese folk culture and customs, Dalit literature in the context of the Dalit liberation movement, the identity crisis of the tea tribes of Assam, eventualization and commercialization of tribal culture, the presence of non-binary gender identity in the Indian tradition with special emphasis on the hijra community in India, etc.;

1. The section on ecocriticism discussed the issues of critical analysis of indigenous identity and environmental consciousness, the study of ecocritical aspects of modern indigenous narratives, environmental imbalance and lost territories, etc.;
2. The section “Traditions, rituals and customs of indigenous peoples” included presentations on preserving the knowledge and traditions of indigenous peoples using the example of Ojibwe culture and customs, on the guardian deities of the indigenous people of Tulu Nadu, on the analysis of the folk songs of Goalpariya, on the socio-political and cultural life of the Mishing tribe, etc.;
3. The section “Literature and Translation” compared translations of children's world literature of the 1990s into the Assamese language. The presenters also spoke on the Assamese translation of Mikhail Sholokhov’s work “Quiet Flows the Don”, a translation of Moushumi Kandali’s novel “Women Black Magicians”, etc.;
4. The section “Revitalization and Documentation of Languages” included presentations on the official recognition of the revived Meitei Mayek font in Manipur, the use of mobile gadgets as a tool for learning English, etc.;
5. In the section “Oral Tradition, Myth and History” the topics included the role of leisure in the book of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah “Awadh: a sociological account of art and politics, a study of oral traditions and the history of Valli Mata of Kataragama, the second wife of Lord Skanda, a study of cultural the context of Khasi folk narratives, Khasi folklore as a narrative and the politics of identity formation in relation to the representation of landscape in the poems of Kinfam Singh Nongkinrih and Desmond Harmawflang, etc.;
6. The section “Music and dances of indigenous peoples” was dedicated to the ballads about colonial Assam, cultural studies of the names of Bihu among the Maran people, tribal art and vitalism, etc.;
7. The section “Food customs as cultural identity” included the topics of the cuisine of the Igbo people in south-eastern Nigeria, the food culture of the Mising tribe, the food tradition of the Marathas was discussed, the food of the Rav people was analyzed, types of street food in Calcutta, cuisines of North-East India in the development of intercultural understanding, etc.