Abstract

A collaboration between Dr William Gould of the University of Leeds and Dakxinkumar Bajrange of Nomad Movies, who filmed and directed ‘Birth 1871’. The film explores the historical and current disenfranchisement and exclusion of the ‘denotified’ (ex-’criminal’) tribes in India, as well as focussing on their use of the arts in fighting for equality and social change. It is a unique exploration into the continued impact of history on a group of people, and uses oral histories and accounts to provide insight into the lives of people considered outside the mainstream of society. More specifically, the film examines the events surrounding independence as these communities were released from settlements and as the Criminal Tribes Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act in 1952.