Media and Marginal Communities - III

The American tradition of folklorist before 1930 held mainly two different views about workers. Either an aristocratic view that workers are distasteful or a Jeffersonian view that workers were honest. The author of the biography of the great American Folklorist George Korson writes:

“In Europe a man’s place was determined by birth. In America one could get ahead through diligence and thrift; this was the American Dream. Political Scientists and economists have to write about these issues; folklorists do not. Thus it requires hard work to find ideological statements. Such statements are often implicit, buried in other things. Folklorists typically do not write on political theory; instead they go out and collect material.”

The work of George Korson would be of great importance for those who would like to work on the folklore of oppressed or developing community because he pioneered the study of folklore of working class as before that it was largely associated with the peasantry. He studied the folklore of Coal miners in America. In India for example, the Musahars as are mainly landless workers though they are also, so to say, the last class in the hierarchy of our caste system.

Shri Dasharath Manjhi is a living legend of Musahar community as he is the man who single handedly managed to cut a huge mountain of around – kilometers to reduce the distance between two villages in Bihar. He says that the Musahars have started earning money but they come and spend it on the offerings like meat and “tari” (drinks) to their deity. He further says if you fall sick and go to a doctor he gives you medicine, injection etc. For the money you spent on them but what the deity gives to you in return of ten-twelve thousand that you spend on the offerings. We who want to see our reflection in them ask them to create their own gods and worship.

A few month back, I attended a dialogue between the journalists of Delhi and those of Jharkhanda ( the newly constituted state of India) on the development of Jharkhanda. Some grass root journalist of the various tribes of Jharkhanda were invited. A young journalist and social activist Mr. Sunil Minz spoke at length about the effect of top-down approach of development which according to him is trying to captivate the rivers of their region to generate 750 Megawatt of electricity that will be distributed in the cities. He was equally concerned about the multinationals trying to make in roads in their region. Not only him but speaker after speakers assured the audiences that Jharkhand is fully prepared to stop the entry of Multinationals. The tribals of this region call the other well to do communities “Dikku” which means that they are exploiters.

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