any chance to watch the docu? can anybody upload it or send a personal copy for me?
Regards jeeva On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 11:48 PM, Ranjit Ranjit <[email protected]>wrote: > > http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=595 > > ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Caste’ *When children of the ‘upper’ caste drop > out from school…* > > A guest post by* P.K. Ratheesh Kumar > * > > Different from its conventional understanding, the term ‘dropout’ has > acquired a different meaning in the popular discourse in Kerala. Unlike > other states, on an average, more than 90% of the children complete their > school education and the question of addressing the issue of dropout does > not hold much policy significance in the state of Kerala. > > The term dropout is then generally used to denote the shifting of children > from one school to another. “TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE CASTE”, a documentary > directed by Soumya, a young filmmaker, exposes the dangerous dimension of a > unique dropout episode from a pre-primary school in Malappuram, Kerala. > > By labeling the Uthalakkandi Anganvadi in Thrukalangod gram panjayat as “SC > Anganvadi”, the caste Hindu parents withdraw their children from that > nursery school. They grumble their children will become cultureless by > mixing with Dalit kids who are also labeled as “unhygienic and less > cultured—another video story on caste from the “god’s own country”. > > The movie captures this dreadful caste practice in the larger context of > decentralization and developmental framework in Kerala, which is otherwise > being celebrated as a ‘casteless” society in public discourse. > > “Caste is an old story in Kerala”, ”caste has disappeared from our > society“, caste is no more a significant object in determining Kerala’s > social life and public sphere”—when the larger popular imaginations on caste > in Kerala live with these claims, each frame of the movie wipes out this > common myth. > > Sharply focusing on the critical thinking within Dalit community in the > Uthalakkandy Dalit Colony (Settlement), it visualizes how Dalits resists the > modern forms of caste violence and voices the powerful Dalit responses to > the fake claims of development by the government and the media. > > The movie asserts: “Dalits are not capable of defining their problems is > just a myth created by the state officials and the media. Political > discussions and theorization take place constantly within Dalit community > and they need no one to tell them what kind of problems they have and what > kind of development they require”. > > The question of community participation and empowerment has been at the > centre of discussion among educational planners, activists, and academicians > for quite sometime now. In most of such engagements community turns out to > be a homogenous category. The caste and gender hierarchies, the nature of > participation and conflicts arising out of community involvement are more or > less absent. > > How then one can understand community participation in schooling as > empowering when the caste compositions of that community are not > problematised? > > There was a press conference after the release of “Twinkle Twinkle Little > Caste” at the Malappuram Press Club. Presumably, the media persons –both > right and left- more or less ignored the theme and content of the film since > it’s caste, a remote social syndrome that they cannot relate to. And then > what is the point of discussing about it; so they engaged in a ‘pedagogic’ > action, enlightening the young woman filmmaker on ‘how to make a > documentary’. > > The media men sympathized that this movie has no good visuals, no good > technology involved, just blended with the bits of four people’s random > talk-then how will it become a documentary! > > The press conference, instead of discussing the film, ended up in imparting > the basics of documentary making to the young filmmaker. > > W hile the right wing political workers observed their usual strategic > silence after the movie gotbroadcast by a local television channel, the left > party guardians frantically spread the word - “this is class, not caste”. > Watch Part two <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Wn8sHFFAg> , Part > three,<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMZP7G3E4OE>Part four > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4RqkP3WB3k&feature=related>of the > Documentary > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4RqkP3WB3k&feature=related> > <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4RqkP3WB3k&feature=related> > -- > Ranjit > > > > -- Jeeva Jayadas Programme Producer Marine BizTV Cochin India Phone: 09447404280(mobile) www.marinebiztv.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
