BHOPAL: A three-day event to mark 43rd Foundation Day of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal began with seminar, exhibition, craft fair and folk song of Nagaland. The event, based northeast states theme, began with seminar on Women of Northeast India: Contributions and Concerns”.
Prof. Sarit K Chaudhuri (Director, IGRMS) explained on contribution of women in the world of anthropology, the respected women who joined IGRMS for the seminar and their accolades. Prof. Subhadra Mitra Channa, (Professor, Dept. of Social Anthropology, University of Delhi) delivered key-note address she started her discourse with a very important question of “How/Why women need to be talked about?” According to her, feminist outlook is usually overlooked when it comes to their perspective as the masculine perspective is the dominant one in our society as we are essentially a patriarchal society.
She says in those societies women are boundary markers on whom the whole reputation of the tribe rests and often the North-East is ostracized and considered as ‘other’, leading to a culturally exoticised image of the women which she termed as ‘symbolic violence’. Rekha Singhal (Professor, IIFM, Bhopal) chaired the inaugural session and said, “A woman’s position in economy is an important determiner for her status in the society. She explained how North-East is the only state with private forests, community ownership and separate community laws guarding their society which makes them the best biodiversity places of the country.”
Besides that, artists, resource person, retired museum staffs lighted country’s largest lamp with 1001 wicks ‘Aal-Vilakku’. A folk fusion music by Tetseo Sisters, Nagaland was also major attraction in the evening. The visitors enjoyed live demonstration cum sale of traditional art and crafts of northeast at Veethi Sankul and ethnic cuisine of Northeast.
