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

受欢迎的桑塔利VCD电影针对的是印度奥迪萨邦、西孟加拉邦和查尔坎德邦农村地区的“土著”人口，并在遥远的地方接触到观众，例如阿萨姆邦或孟加拉。到目前为止，据估计，新兴的小规模电影和视频制作公司已经制作了250个视频剪辑和150部热门电影。最近这一媒体传播的扩大与过去十年以地区和“土著”语言发行的无数流行电影的VCD传播有关。本研究项目以桑塔利电影为基础，调查属于桑塔尔人“土著”群体的语言表达，并探讨日常文化在这些过程中的地位。这项研究包括在阿萨姆邦、奥迪萨、加尔各答和孟加拉国的不同环境中，与电影观众和电影制片人一起，进行了为期20个月的多地点实地调查，旨在确定和描述文化习俗是建立身份认同的一部分。收集的经验数据证实，在桑塔尔社区内阐明一种归属的日常做法在这一群体以媒体为基础的身份建设中非常重要，而且已经表明，这些做法在各自的背景下也有很大的不同。描述了这些表达归属感的各种方式，由此可以强调的是，表达归属感(以及其他社区的归属感)的具体“地区性”方式往往已成为桑塔尔身份建设的一部分。此外，可以看出，电影制作的文化实践在很大程度上影响了VCD的流通，同时，电影观众的日常实践也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视频制作公司的制作环境，以揭示社会文化对那里媒体流通的影响，如文化谈判模式，但也包括专业和/或艺术自我认同的主张。作为“土著”群体通过媒体建立身份的重要组成部分，这项研究提供了面对各种背景相互作用的经验数据，同时也提供了关于支离破碎的经验数据，这项研究将对最近关于宣布“土著”为南亚肯定类别的辩论作出重要贡献，并在这方面形成一种概念，承认“土著”社区内的差别和相互矛盾的利益。此外，它的目的是提供经验性数据，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.