Mallanna Patnalu: Walking Faith, Bodily Devotion, and the Language of Vows

 

Whose Stories Become History? Preserving Marginalized Voices in the Digital Age

 

All the communities have their own stories. Some are celebrated in books, documented in official records and are part of classroom instruction. Others live on as songs, mythology, rituals, memories and talk from one generation to the next. An older woman recalls some songs from a village festival. In this type of story, a traditional narrator gives an account of the beginnings of a local custom. A community elder shares his/her knowledge on the changes in land use, livelihood and migration and their impact on the daily lives.

These are what might seem normal recollections. But there are histories, identities, cultural knowledge, experiences, within them, which formal records may never make a record of. It does seem a pertinent question, however: Whereas do we choose to save the stories of some and destroy the others?  Is there more than is in the written page? Written documents, official records, and literary traditions which have settled into a tradition form the basis for understanding of history. But man's experience has never been wholly in books.

Oral traditions are another means of explaining things that were the way in the past. Folktales can highlight social fears and concerns, folk songs can capture past experiences of suffering and defiance, and ritual narratives can document a community's interactions with the natural world, their spirit or beliefs, and their sense of the community. Storytelling also can be a way to claim stories; those of women and Indigenous communities, Dalit communities and other historically marginalized groups.

One song handed down through generations can help to keep a record of work practices. A folk tale can show variations in concepts of sex and hierarchy. Even official accounts may be faced with a conflict from a community's memory of a local event. Such stories need not be idealized or considered historical fact. As with all sources they must be carefully interpreted, understood in context and critically engaged with. They are important because they introduce into understanding arguments that may go unspoken.

If we perceive these oral narratives as credible sources of information, we broaden our perception of what is considered to be history, literature and culture heritage. Will disappeared stories be saved by digital technology? There are intriguing possibilities for cultural preservation in the digital age.The use of audio records, digital storytelling, podcasting, multilingual databases and community archives can help preserve and bring to life the oral tradition for future generations. Digital tools may also be used for endangered languages, and to enable the younger generation to access cultural practices that are undergoing shifts in a relatively short time.

Visualize a repository that holds folklore stories in the native linguistic system of the community, with translations, background explanations, pictures and recordings of the times and places where the stories are performed. This archive would be useful for researchers, students and teachers, and members of the community. More importantly, it may be able to prevent the loss of cultural knowledge because it's tied to fewer storytellers. However, the digital copy cannot guarantee the preservation.

A culture might become extinct and recording continue to live. The documentation of a ritual does not necessarily include an explanation of its meaning for the people who use it. There may be many occasions where a story is made widely available online, but the community that shared it is neither recognized nor in control of how the story is shared. This raises another question: Profiting from cultural heritage or just collecting cultural material?

 Ethics of others accounts story

Documentation is not the only aspect of cultural preservation. Who's the "owner" of a recorded story? To whom is it to be interpreted? Should all the stories be open to the public? What occurs when personally significant or respectful cultural history and religious teachings are shared without regard for consent? Questions like these are especially relevant when people from outside communities gather and analyses knowledge traditions of a community that they are not a part of.Informed consent, proper attribution, community involvement and respecting cultural protocols are all necessary to ethical digital preservation. Community voice and choice should determine the content of what is captured, how it is captured, and who has access to it.

They must be viewed as subjects of research, but also as producers and holders of their own knowledge and history. The blog examines the preservation and the narration of cultural landscapes and their cultural meaning. In some ways the best potential of the digital humanities is not just that more stories will be available to see, but who is going to see them. A truly inclusive digital archive would provide room for communities to tell their own stories, capture their languages, explain their traditions and traditions, and engage in any doubt of their representation and abstraction.

Especially in a world without a 1:1 correlation between digital visibility and recognition. There are some who voice their opinion everywhere, and there are others whose voice is never heard either due to language differences, insufficient resources or disparate technology access. To preserve, there must be representation, participation and respect. As a language dies out, so do the memories of those who bear it, or a folk tradition becomes extricated from its cultural setting, we lose more than a body of stories. Man loses means to comprehend human experience.

It's crucial to be able to save a story. It is crucial that it has the voice of its storytellers to be heard in how it is preserved, interpreted and shared. With digital futures I think it's not just how many stories can be saved, but if people bringing the stories to the fore can have a control on how it is represented. What are the stories that you would like to see more people: recognizing, documenting and preserving in your community? Who shall be the one to say to them?