"The making of indigeneity" - Santali popular VCD-films and the mediation of culture beyond a region

流行的santali - vcd电影以印度奥里萨邦、西孟加拉邦和贾坎德邦农村地区的“土著”人口为目标，并在阿萨姆邦或孟加拉国等远不止这些的地方吸引观众。到目前为止，新出现的小型电影和录象制作公司估计已制作了250个录象剪辑集和150部流行电影。最近这一媒介流通的扩大与过去十年中以区域和“土著”语言发行无数流行电影的VCD有关。本研究项目在桑塔利电影的基础上调查了属于桑塔利“土著”群体的表达，并探讨了日常文化在这些过程中的地位。该研究包括基于“参与观察”方法的20个月的多地点实地研究，与电影观众和电影制片人一起，在阿萨姆邦，奥里萨邦，加尔各答和孟加拉国的不同环境中，旨在识别和描述文化习俗作为身份建设的一部分。收集的经验数据证实，在Santal社区内表达归属感的日常实践在该群体基于媒体的身份建设中非常重要，并且已经表明，这些实践在各自的环境中也存在很大差异。这些表达归属感的不同方式已经被描述过，可以强调的是，表达归属感（也包括其他社区）的特定“区域”方式经常成为Santal身份建设的一部分。此外，vcd的流通本身可以被电影制作的文化实践显著地塑造，同时，电影观众的日常实践是正在形成的媒体基础设施的一部分。因此，进一步的实地研究打算调查新成立的电影和录像制作公司的生产背景，以揭示社会文化对媒体流通的影响，如文化谈判模式，以及专业和/或艺术的自我认同主张。这项研究提供了面对各种背景的相互作用的经验数据，同时也提供了作为“土著”群体基于媒体的身份建设的重要组成部分的碎片，将对最近关于在南亚宣布“土著”是一个肯定类别的辩论作出重大贡献，并在这方面将发展一个认识到“土著”社区内的区别和相互矛盾的利益的概念。此外，它的目的是提供经验数据，侧重于南亚媒体基础设施形成的文化方面。

Popular Santali-VCD-films target the "indigenous" population of rural areas of Odisha, West-Bengal and Jharkand in India, and do reach audiences at places far beyond, for example in Assam or Bangladesch. So far an estimate of 250 video clip compilations and 150 popular films have been produced by newly emerging small-scale film- and video production companies. The recent enfolding of this media circulation is connected to the formation of countless further VCD circulations of popular films in regional and "indigenous" languages during the past decade. This research project investigates articulations of a belonging to the "indigenous" group of the Santal on the basis of Santali-films, and inquires the position of everyday culture within these processes. The study includes a total twenty month multi-sited field research based on the method of "participant observation" together with film viewers, and also film producers, in differing settings in Assam, Odisha, Kolkata and Bangladesh, which aims to identify and describe cultural practices as a part of identity building.The empirical data collected confirmed that everyday practices of articulating a belonging within the Santal community are of high importance within the media-based identity building of this group, and it has been shown that these practices do also differ strongly within respective settings. These various ways of articulating a sense of belonging have been described, whereby it could be stressed that specific "regional" ways of articulating a belonging (also of further communities) have often become part of Santal's identity building. Furthermore, the circulation of VCDs itself can be seen to be significantly shaped by the cultural practice of film production, and, at the same time, everyday practices of film viewers are part of the ongoing formation of media infrastructure. Therefore, a further field study intends to investigate production contexts of the new start-up film- and video production companies in order to reveal socio-cultural impacts on media circulation there, like cultural negotiation patterns, but also professional and/or artistic self-identification claims. Providing empirical data facing the interplay of various contexts and simultaneously on fragmentations as a significant part of the media-based identity building of an "indigenous" group, the research will critically contribute to a recent debate on proclaiming "indigeneity" as an affirmative category in South Asia, and in this respect will develop a concept which recognizes distinctions and contradicting interests within an "indigenous" community. Besides, it is aimed at providing empirical data focussing on cultural aspects of the formation of media infrastructures in South Asia.