The co-lead scientist on this project is Opino Gomango. He is a native Sora scholar and multimedia creator who has been working for over 10 years as a trained, professional linguist, in collaboration with Living Tongues Institute. He began working as a field linguist on his native Sora language in several local dialects and expanded this work to include closely related languages like Juray and Gorum and distantly related ones spoken in Odisha and in Jharkhand State like Remo, Didayi, Gadaba, Kharia, and Santali, as well as directed research teams on the unrelated Kui and Kuvi of Odisha (Dravidian languages). Gomango received initial training in Linguistics from Deccan College, Pune, and is currently completing his MBA. He is the director of this series of Sora films in collaboration with Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson of Living Tongues Institute.
It is hoped that this film (and upcoming ones in this series) will serve not only to preserve a wide range of traditional knowledge domains and cultural practices of the Sora, but also to help promote these as valuable markers of identity for the Sora community both within India and abroad.
This project was funded by a National Geographic Citizen Science Grant entitled: “Citizen science and cinematography: Documenting stories and technology of the Sora tribe” (India, 2019-2021). Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
Filmed by Opino Gomango for Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. Narrated by Srinivas Gomango. Sora community members, in order of appearance: Sarothi Pradhan (priest), Srinivas Gomango (interviewee). Directed by Opino Gomango and Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson. Produced by Opino Gomango, Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson, Anna Luisa Daigneault, Dr. Luke Horo. Music by Srinivas Gomango. Sound Mix by Anna Luisa Daigneault. Hindi subtitles by Dr. Luke Horo. English subtitles by Dr. Gregory D. S. Anderson and Anna Luisa Daigneault. Edited by Anna Luisa Daigneault
Behind the Scenes: The House of the Lurni Spirit
One of the many speakers we interviewed for the Sora documentation project was Sora cultural expert Srinivas Gomango (pictured above). In this screenshot from the film, he is discussing Lurni-sum, also known as Grandmother Spirit, a spiritual being that watches over Sora villages and is appeased by specific offerings.
While most of the Sora traditional cultural practices were still thriving a generation ago, all are severely threatened now due to state-mediated environmental, education and economic policies that impact the Sora people. The rapid advance of Christian and Hindu religious practices is also replacing the original Sora animist religion.
Living Tongues project coordinator and Sora scholar Opino Gomango has spent months recording interviews, documenting cultural practices among the Sora and curating the footage for the final series of films. This will be one of the first series of films made primarily made by a Sora person for an audience of Sora communities. Living Tongues team members Greg Anderson, Luke Horo and Anna Luisa Daigneault are also helping out with the production, editing and the subtitling of the films.
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