Bhasha Research and Publication Centre was founded in 1996 with the purpose of
giving ‘voice’ to Adivasi communities in India. The Adivasi Academy is founded by
Bhasha at Tejgadh in Chhotaudepur district of Gujarat as an institute to combine the
functions of the national academies, museums and literary bodies in the country, with
respect to Adivasi culture, arts and literature. Over the years, the Adivasi communities
with whom Bhasha has been actively involved, have voiced themselves through various
spaces and mediums as arts, theatre, publishing, journalism and cultural activism.
The Vaacha Museum of Voice at the Adivasi Academy is central to the philosophy
and design of the Adivasi Academy. The Vaach Museum aims to revitalize the living
traditions of Adivasi and Nomadic communities in the country. The Vaacha Museum
was opened to public in 2004 and since then has been active in documenting the cultural
traditions of Adivasi communities.
Over the years the Vaacha Museum has built through the various activities and
programmes at Bhasha and Adivasi Academy, a collection of audio and video recordings
and 50,000 odd photographs which provide insights into contemporary Adivasi
life, culture and society. These images and recordings, captured mainly by Adivasi
themselves, present the diversity of Adivasi cultures in the country and through visual
imagery bring to life, community traditions and lifestyles as well as capture cultures in
transition.
Bhasha Archival brings together this collection in digital space which will be of immense
interest and value to museums, anthropologists, cultural studies scholars and artists.
|