[Assam] CULTURES OF PEACE: FESTIVAL OF THE NORTHEAST

[Uddipana Goswami]

*Press Release*

*CULTURES OF PEACE: FESTIVAL OF THE NORTHEAST*



*Venue:* India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi

 Gulmohar Hall &

Amphitheatre



*Dates:* 28 and 29 January 2011



*Organized by*

* *

Zubaan                  Heinrich Boll Foundation                     India
Habitat Centre



* *

*The Concept:*

To say that the northeastern states are different from the rest of India in
almost every way is to state the obvious, but it is important in that it
requires us to recognize that these “differences” have created rifts, giving
rise to local insurgencies, demands for secession from the Indian State and
to years of internal conflict and simmering discontent. It is also important
to recognize that this region is different from the rest of the country in a
way that is inevitable in border areas taking one back to arguments made by
scholars and academics, writers and activists alike—that locating a region
by placing oneself at a point central to oneself is an arrogant and
potentially dangerous stance which is what New Delhi has often been accused
of doing. To the people of the Northeast their world is central to
themselves, to “mainland India” it is a borderland but nevertheless the
pattern of political violence in Northeast India cannot be seen as temporary
or aberrant.

It is apparent that more and more creative writing is coming from the region
and in many ways the conflicts and the impact of these informs the writings
of poets, novelists, prose writers, storytellers from these states.
Underlying all this is a desire for normalcy, whatever that may mean, and
this finds expression in the richness and complexity of the writing as well
as the beauty and poignancy of the art and music from the region. A notable
feature of writing from the Northeast is that while the writers are of all
ages and genders (and here is an instance where women do not follow but form
the vanguard) there are many young writers and there is a vibrant dialogue
between generations through well established sahitya sabhas and literary
organizations, writers groups etc. It is these groups that have kept the
lines of dialogue open in the Northeast by channeling and giving space to
creativity and works of the imagination. So we have a unique situation: a
conflict torn region, creative cultural expression that takes this conflict
as its base, is enriched by many genres of creative writing and driven by a
deep concern and desire for peace and a love of the land. By sheer force
this vibrant writing and cultural tradition has made its way beyond the
Northeast and a key feature that has helped make it so accessible is the
fact that much of it is written in English. A festival of peace would allow
for the showcasing of this writing and also at the same time look at the
whole question of whether or not culture can play a proactive role in
bringing about peace, or at the very least, preparing the ground for it, and
how this works. It will also allow for people, both from the Northeast and
from outside to talk across borders and to learn from the experience of
others, and will, we hope, open up a dialogue among people within the
Northeast.

Zubaan has long been involved in publishing writers from the Northeast. The
publication of their work fits in well with Zubaan’s own commitment to and
concern for peace (Zubaan’s list includes books from other violence torn
regions like Kashmir, Bangladesh, Pakistan and so on). A festival of peace
would allow for the showcasing of this writing and also at the same time
look at the whole question of whether or not culture can play a proactive
role in bringing about peace, or at the very least, preparing the ground for
it, and how this works. It will also allow for people, both from the
Northeast and from outside to talk across borders and to learn from the
experience of others. Zubaan has also been involved in solidarity activities
with people in the Northeast: our most recent publication is a collection of
poems by Irom Sharmila, to mark the 10th anniversary of her fast.

The festival is envisaged as a series of workshops/seminars around the
themes of Peace and how writing and culture contribute to creating an
atmosphere that is conducive to peace. The role of the writer and the
creative person in mitigating violence and conflict—something that has
besieged the region for decades. It is envisaged as a platform where we can
also initiate centre-periphery dialogues around peace and how culture can be
central to this. There have been many discussions on the Northeast but none
that has attempted to bring people from the different states in the
Northeast, virtually none that has focused on literature as a vehicle for
peace, and none that has combined academic work with creative writing as
this one plans to do. In addition we will also have a music concert with
musicians from the Northeast showcasing their talent and also a photo
exhibition on young women from the Northeast who come away from their
violence torn states to urban centres like Delhi and how the city treats
them. This is called Seven Sisters and the City by Uzma Mohsin.

* *

*The Programme*

*28 January*

*Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi*

* *

*Session One: WRITING PEACE, WRITING VIOLENCE*

9.30 am to 11.30 am

* *

*Speakers*:

Subir Bhaumik, journalist, Tripura

Temsula Ao, retired professor, Nagaland

Arupa Kalita, writer, Assam

Ananya Guha, senior academic, Meghalaya

Aruni Kashyap, writer, translator, Assam

Pradip Phanjoubam, journalist, Manipur

Indrani Raimedhi, journalist, columnist, writer, Assam

* *

*Moderator*: Nilanjana Roy



For the last six decades and more parts of the Northeast have been caught in
a spiral of political violence. Without exception, writers and cultural
activists have responded to the violence around with an extraordinary
flowering of creativity. In this session writers, poets, journalists from
the different northeastern states respond to the questions: Do situations of
ongoing conflict motivate writers to write for peace? Can literature and
culture play a proactive role in bringing about peace? Can they act as
political tools to mitigate violence? What role, if any, do writers
themselves play?  How do writers deal with the difficult issue of writing
and representing violence without falling into the trap of creating a
pornography of violence? How do they counter popular stereotypes presented
in the media of the Northeast to the mainland and of the ‘outsiders’ to the
Northeast?





*Exhibition Opening: SEVEN SISTERS AND THE CITY, by Uzma Mohsin*

*11.30 am*



*Venue: *Convention Hall Foyer, India Habitat Centre

Exhibition Inaugurated by (tbc)**



*Note from Uzma Mohsin*

Over the last decade, women from the North-East have been increasingly
making their way to Delhi either to study, work or live. The city gives them
opportunities absent back home where political conflict and violence
underpins everyday functioning. Seeking refuge they arrive in the Capital
only to be faced by another kind of violence. A violence of a personal kind.

A big city usually provides possibilities of integration into modern society
free of social structures and prejudices. The anonymity it offers not only
empowers but also enables the evolution of one’s identity and dreams. But
this is not true for the majority of the women from the North-East.

To come and live in the city is an ordeal that they say robs them of their
‘dignity’. Where belongingness to a metropolis is stolen by their distinct
looks, always caught up in labels - ‘exotic’, ‘chinky’ or ‘available’. They
live in constant fear of being targeted as the ‘other’. Lack of knowledge
about their culture further compounds matters.

The following diptychs, “Seven Sisters and the City” tries to encapsulate
the experiences of the city that the women you see here have shared with me.
The photographs provide a glimpse into the spaces where they feel safe, free
to be themselves and other spaces, where they feel threatened and trapped by
their distinct looks.



*11.30 am: Tea/coffee break*

* *

*Session Two: THE WORDS TO SAY IT*

12.00 pm

* *

*Speakers*:

Mamang Dai, writer, journalist, Arunachal Pradesh

Mitra Phukan, writer, Assam

Bijoya Sawian, writer, translator, Meghalaya

Rita Chowdhury, writer, Assam

Mona Zote, poet, Mizoram

Omar Sharif, poet, blogger, Assam

* *

*Moderator*: Preeti Gill



The different northeastern states have rich and multiple linguistic and
cultural histories. They also have high levels of literacy, and, in many
places, a familiarity with English as a language. This session asks how
writers choose their various literary and cultural forms of expression -
oral narratives, poetry, theatre, music. Do they serve similar or different
purposes? How and why has the English language become the dominant medium of
expression? Do the local/indigenous languages still have a role to play? Is
the younger generation experimenting with new form and content? What sorts
of themes are younger writers and poets looking at? Is the old writing style
relevant in the current context? Is there are a movement away from oral
narratives? How are younger writers using, or are they using, the rich
inheritance of myths and legends and folktales?



*1.30 pm: Lunch*

* *

*Session Three: **CROSSING BORDERS*

2.00 pm

* *

*Speakers*:

Monalisa Changkija, journalist, Nagaland

Uddipana Goswami, poet, researcher, media consultant, Assam

Aruni Kashyap, writer, translator, Assam

Triveni Mathur, writer, translator, educator, Assam

Rajesh Dev, political scientist, Meghalaya

Rupa Chinai, journalist, Mumbai

Dhiren Sadokpam, journalist, Manipur

* *

*Moderator*: Uma Chakravarti

For many years, with the Northeast, as with Kashmir, the media in what in
the Northeast is called ‘mainland’ India, have paid scant attention to the
region, seeing it somehow as belonging to the periphery. Equally,
northeastern writers have not figured much – until recently – in the
literary world (more specifically the English literary world) of ‘mainland’
India. In recent years, this has begun to change. How successful has the
effort to create space in ‘mainland’ India been for writing from the
Northeast? Equally importantly, is this literature crossing state borders
within the region itself? What has been the experience if this has already
been done? How far can translations, literary fests and conferences
contribute to this?

Another interesting question in this context might be: If the Northeast has
been ‘relegated’ to the ‘periphery’ and the person from the Northeast faces
a sort of stereotyping (something that we read about in media reports, in
conversations etc.) is there also a stereotyping of the ‘outsider’ in the
literature of the region? How does the Northeast perceive the immigrant
outsider who has settled in the states of the Northeast?



*4.00 pm: ** Tea break*





*Session Four: STORIES FROM A WAR ZONE*

4.15 pm

* *

*Speakers*:

Subir Bhaumik, journalist, Tripura

Sanjoy Hazarika, journalist, writer, Assam

Meenakshi Ganguly, researcher, activist, New Delhi

Deepti Priya Mehrotra, independent scholar, activist, New Delhi

Utpal Borpujari, journalist, film-maker, Assam

Pradip Phanjoubam, journalist, Manipur

* *

*Moderator*: Urvashi Butalia



For several years, parts of the Northeast have been under the infamous and
draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The presence of the army
is ubiquitous, and security forces are everywhere. Yet it is important to
ask: What is security? Does the presence of weapons create a sense of
safety? What purpose does the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act serve? What
would repealing it mean? How does one work towards mitigating violence, both
state-driven and due to factionalism? What does the prolonged presence of
armed forces mean for the ordinary citizen? Does security get identified
with what would normally be its opposite – the weapon, the soldier? In this
session, writers present their views on this by speaking on the issue or
reading from their works.



*6.00 pm: End Day One*




*
*

*29 January*

*Venue: Amphitheatre, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi*

* *

*Session One: CONFRONTING THE PAST, IMAGINING THE FUTURE*

3.00 pm **

* *

*Speakers*:

Sanjoy Hazarika, journalist, writer, Assam

Laxmi Murthy, journalist, writer, feminist activist, Bangalore



This session focuses on the difficult question of looking at the past, and
imagining the future. For the Northeast, a region with enormous linguistic,
ethnic and political diversity, and yet with many commonalities of
geographies, of resources, of marginalization, what does, or what can, the
future hold? Is it at all possible to imagine the region as a federation of
states, given the geographical contiguity and the physical ‘separateness’ of
the region? Or are the differences too wide and too deep? If one question is
how the northeastern states may imagine themselves as a region, another is
how the Northeast sees its future vis-à-vis the ‘mainland’, i.e. India. Does
the past have any lessons to offer in this respect?



* *

*Session Two*: *EXPRESSING THE NORTHEAST, Readings and Performances*

4.00 pm

* *

*          *Readings from *Irom Sharmila*’s *Fragrance of Peace* by *Haripriya
Soibam*

Performance by *Rojio Usham* based on Irom Sharmila’s poetry

Readings by creative writers and poets from the Northeast:

Mitra Phukan, Mona Zote, Aruni Kashyap, Monalisa Changkija, Uddipana
Goswami, Nitoo Das, Omar Sharif, Ananya Guha, Rita Chowdhury, Sabah al
Ahmed, Haripriya Soibam, Nazneen Hussain



Music by *Imphal Talkies* led by *Akhu*



*5.30 High Tea *



GRAND CLOSING: *MUSIC CONCERT by SOULMATE from Shillong*

6.30 pm

Soulmate needs no introduction. SOULMATE is *“The Band That Re-Ignited The
Blues In India”*. Inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues,
Blues-rock, Soul, Rock ‘n Roll, Funk and R&B,SOULMATE came together in
Shillong, in February 2003 playing their first concert at the ‘Roots
Festival’ at the Water Sports Complex in Umiam. Soulmate have played
numerous gigs all over *India* as well as in *Kathmandu*, *France*, *USA*, *
Singapore**, Bhutan and Indonesia*. They will be representing India at
the *Massive
India Festival**,* to be held at the *Kennedy** Center*, in *Washington** DC
** *on the 4th of March, 2011.



We request the media to support this festival by widely covering the
festival. *The Festival is open to ALL and there are no entry passes or
invitations required for the events.*



For more information please contact:

Preeti Gill, Editor, Zubaan

Landline: +91 11 26494617/ 18      Mobile:  +91 9810536512

Email: zubaan at gmail.com



Facebook page: CULTURE FOR PEACE-A FESTIVAL OF THE NORTHEAST**





-- 
Uddipana Goswami
www.jajabori-mon.blogspot.com