Siddi sisters write about their identity in global anthology

Hubballi: Two sisters, one a college teacher and the other a theatre artiste, have written about their community’s migration from Africa about 500 years ago in an international anthology called ‘Telling Our Stories of Home’.
The reports and articles in the anthology are written by and about women. Geeta Siddi, an assistant professor at Karnataka Folklore University in Gotagodi in Haveri, and her sister Girija had written a play on the Siddi community’s migration from Africa.
Other plays in the anthology, edited by Kathy A. Perkins, professor emerita at the University of Illinois, are written by African-origin women from eight different countries. Geeta and Gayatri’s writing is the only one from Asia. The anthology is dedicated to Channakeshava G, the Kannada theatre personality, who died last year.
Geeta said there was a conference of African-origin artistes in the US in 2016. “Me, my elder sister Girija Siddi and her husband Channakeshava G had participated and presented a two-man show there. The organisers had asked us to write a play on it, but we presented it in a story-telling style. The word ‘home’ represents our village or state or our surrounding environment in the book,” she said.
The book has been published by Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, and was released first in Britain. It has pieces from writers in Lebanon, Haiti, Venezuela, Uganda, Palestine, Brazil, the UK and the US.
Their 11-page piece is titled ‘Those Who Live Here, Those Who Live There’. The Siddi sisters wrote that they are still treated as “outsiders” by society and the government.
The Siddi sisters don’t see themselves as migrants from Africa. “If that is true, where is our language? Of course, there is some cultural connection with Africa in the form of the Damami dance, but we feel it’s not enough to establish our link with Africa. Only assumptions are making the rounds on our migration. One should note that migration and slavery existed in all communities. It’s proved that there were some African people in the court of the Adilshahi sultanate in Vijayapura. Why is their existence not seen today? We mean to say, there is a need for serious scientific study on our ethnicity and this is the apprehension we have expressed in our work in the book,” they said.
Their piece ends with Nelson Mandela’s quote: “It is music and dance that makes me at peace with the world and peace with myself.”
“We construct our songs. Those are related to our nature and our lifestyle. We speak and sing in mixed Konkani and Kannada languages. We want to learn more languages and cultures. We want to be in our home. This is our home. We live here. We belong here. Not there,” Geeta said.
Perkins, who has edited this anthology, is the editor of six play anthologies focusing on women from Africa and the diaspora. She is a professional lighting designer and guest lecturer in theatre history and lighting at numerous institutions, both in the US and internationally.