Sonajharia Minz — a JNU professor who was recently appointed Unesco co-chair in Transforming Indigenous Knowledge Research Governance and Rematriation — has said she wants to create a digital platform to document tribal languages, culture and knowledge that will be accessible based on the ethics of individual tribes that contribute.
Minz, the former vice-chancellor of Jharkhand’s Sido Kanhu Murmu University, shares the chair with Amy Parent, an associate professor of education at Canada’s Simon Fraser University.
“There has been an element of distrust over research on tribals done by people outside the tribe. Research needs to be critiqued by the tribals themselves. We now have a critical mass of experts from tribal communities all over India,” Minz, a computer science professor, said.
“Colonial and modern education alienated tribals from their land and culture. Two generations of Adivasis have had to make the tough decision on what to give up in order to acquire this education and enter the job market. The loss of language leads to the loss of everything else related to tribal identity like food and songs. Our documentation will reduce that gap between generations so that, for example, even my grandchildren will be able to turn back and learn about our culture,” she added.
Her expertise in digital technology will be used to create digital platforms that
will be owned by individual tribal groups.
“This will not be freely available on the Internet. Each tribe’s ethics on sharing their resources would apply to what parts of their knowledge can be shared and with whom. We have often seen that tribal communities do not get credit for research on their knowledge done by outsiders. We want to protect the sanctity of our knowledge and ensure that it is not indiscriminately exploited,” Minz said.
This system will follow the CARE principle of the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. CARE stands for Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics. Such proprietary systems are already in use in Canada. Minz hopes to join forces with researchers and technical experts, especially from tribal communities, to create something similar for tribal groups in South Asia.
Minz is the daughter of Nirmal Minz, the founder of Gossner College in Ranchi and an authority on Adivasi languages, especially Kudukh spoken by the Oraon tribe. He won the Bhasha Samman in 2016 for his contribution to the development of Kudukh.
His daughter had to study at St Margaret’s Girls High School in Ranchi after he failed to get her admitted to an English-medium institution.
As a Unesco co-chair, Minz said she would take forward her work on developing curriculum for early education in tribal languages.