INDIA AND PAKISTAN:
THE HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES [pg 2 of 2]
from “Across Cultures & Continents:
Literature of the South Asian Experience,”
a series developed for Let’s Talk About It
by Professor Deepika Marya
of the University of Southern Maine
For an organization that has mined the complexities of regions like East Asia and ancient Rome, the Maine Humanities Council has offered surprisingly little programming on South Asia. A reading and discussion series focusing primarily on post-colonialism and the diaspora was recently developed for the Let’s Talk About It program. Prior to that, the Council’s primary connection to the region has come courtesy of artist Barbara Goodbody. Goodbody first traveled to India in 1988, with Stephen Huyler of Camden, whom she met in the Maine Photo Workshops. Huyler is an ethnologist and photographer whose books (most recently Daughters of India: Art and Identity), have helped bring Indian folk traditions to the attention of the Hindu elite and the international community. With Huyler as her capable guide, Goodbody was immersed in communities of artists that she would not otherwise have encountered. “I went innocently into a culture vastly different from my own,” she has explained, “and felt a body, mind, and spirit awakening I had not felt before.” The result was India: The Sacred and the Secular, an exhibition of her color photography that traveled, with support from the Council, to the Hudson Museum in Orono and the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Goodbody’s ongoing interest in India led her to the New York-based nonprofit, Folk Arts Rajasthan (FAR). FAR is dedicated to preserving and promoting the traditional music and art of the Merasi people, who have been oppressed by India’s caste system. As a volunteer with FAR, Goodbody has spent enough time with the Merasi that they now honor her with the title amaji—grandmother. She has created a bilingual book as a gift to the Merasi children who are pursuing educational opportunities they were previously denied (see facing page). And in 2005, when FAR first brought a troupe of Merasi musicians to the United States, Goodbody secured a Council grant that enabled them to travel to Maine. When the troupe returned last year, another Council grant brought them back to Maine, where they performed at schools and at the Portland Museum of Art. A highlight of their second tour occurred when their leader, Sarwar Khan, received an honorary doctoral degree from the Maine College of Art. “What an amazing moment,” Goodbody recalls, “for this illiterate musician from halfway around the world to be recognized by a college of art in Maine.”
From Barbara Goodbody’s specific and sustained relationship with the Merasi people, to Rachel Sturman’s virtuosic presentation for teachers on all the complexities of contemporary India and Pakistan, the Maine Humanities Council is proud to strengthen connections between Maine and South Asia, and hopes to cultivate more in the future.
Barbara Goodbody created The Merasi Counting Book to support both of the Merasi School’s strains of instruction, academic and artistic. The book gives the numbers from one through twenty in English and Hindi, alongside the paintings of Merasi artist Indra Banu. It provides Merasi children with a rare opportunity to see their traditional art printed in book form. Goodbody hopes to send as many copies as possible to the school using funds raised from U.S. sales.
To support the Merasi School by purchasing a copy of The Merasi Counting Book, please email bargoodb@gmail.com.
Caitie Whalin, a Maine native and graduate of Waynflete School, Brown University, and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, traveled to India as an intern for Folk Arts Rajasthan in 2006. A year later, Whalin returned as a Truman Scholar and co-founded the Merasi School. The school educates Merasi children in language and mathematics, but also furthers the musical traditions that have distinguished their community for 37 generations. The curriculum “uses the Merasi’s unique musical heritage as the launching pad for an experiential classroom focused on creating walkable avenues to opportunity.”
To learn more about the Merasi School, visit www.merasischool.org.
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