How Tribal Films Can Build Cultural Competency?
What happens when something becomes so familiar that we stop noticing it? A plant may look like just a plant, while for someone else it may carry knowledge passed down through generations. A folk story may seem simple, yet hold ideas about nature, relationships and community. This article reflects on how tribal films and arts can help us look beyond the ordinary and understand culture more deeply. Viewing the Santali short film Kukli and a conversation with its director, Shyam Sundar Manjhi, as a point of reflection, it explores identity, representation, cultural knowledge and our relationship with our own roots. UNESCO’s understanding of intangible cultural heritage and its 2024 report on culture and arts in education provide a broader context. The article argues that cultural competency is not simply about knowing facts about a community; it is about listening, questioning assumptions and becoming curious about meanings that familiarity can hide.
Culture Is More Than What We See
We often understand culture through things that are easy to recognize: festivals, food, clothes, music and dance. But culture also lives in quieter places: a language spoken at home, a story told by a grandparent, knowledge about a plant, or the reason behind a particular song. The interesting part is that we may not notice these things when they belong to our own everyday lives. Familiarity can make valuable knowledge feel ordinary.
This is especially important in state like Odisha, where according to the 2011 Census 22.85% populations are ST. Odisha has 62 Scheduled Tribe communities, each with its own languages, histories, traditions and ways of relating to the environment. UNESCO’s idea of intangible cultural heritage helps us look beyond objects and festivals to include oral traditions, knowledge of nature, skills and practices that communities continue to transmit and recreate.
Entering the World of Kukli
The idea that familiarity can make us overlook the cultural meanings around us becomes particularly visible in Kukli, a Santali short film directed by Shyam Sundar Majhi, an award-winning Santali filmmaker from Odisha. The film follows Pukli, a young Santal girl whose questions connect her everyday world with the wider world around her.
What made the session more meaningful was the conversation with the director after the screening which was moderated by Madhu Raghavendra and Dr.Kaling Dabi. He shared his journey into filmmaking, how he entered the field, learned about filmmaking and direction, and gradually found a way to express his love for his own culture through cinema. Listening to him helped us see the film differently. It was not simply a story made for an audience. It was also an expression of belonging. Through Kukli, he wanted to bring Santali language, culture, traditions and the realities of his community into a wider space.
What stayed with me was not simply the story, but the idea of asking questions. As children, we often ask why. As adults, we sometimes stop asking because something feels familiar. Hearing Manjhi ji speak about his connection with Santali culture and his intention to present its traditions, social life and lived realities reminded me that representation matters. A community is not simply something to be observed; its members should also have the space to tell, interpret and represent their own stories.
The debrief made us think about the importance of representation. When we learn about a community only from the outside, it is easy to form assumptions. When people tell their own stories, however, we get an opportunity to listen to a perspective shaped by lived experience. The conversation with the director helped us move beyond watching the film and think about the person, community and purpose behind it.
From Watching to Learning
UNESCO describes culture and arts education encompasses learning about, in and through culture and the arts.. It highlights how engaging with culture can strengthen appreciation of diversity, intercultural dialogue, empathy and different ways of understanding the world. It also recognizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge, languages and practices in learning. A tribal film can therefore become more than entertainment. It can become a space for listening, reflection and dialogue. This is where tribal films and arts can become powerful learning tools. A film can make us notice a language, landscape, gesture or relationship in a way that a textbook description may not.
The same is true of folk stories. Instead of asking only “What is this story about?”, we can ask: Why was it told? What does it say about nature, community or relationships? Why was it passed from one generation to another? UNESCO’s 2024 State of Education Report for India, Rhythms of Learning: Culture and Arts in Education, similarly highlights culture and arts as important for creativity, cultural awareness, empathy, intercultural dialogue and social cohesion.
Becoming Curious Again
The film and the discussion that followed turned the questions towards us. While trying to understand another culture, we begin thinking about our own. How deeply are we connected to our roots? How many stories, languages, traditions and practices do we carry without really knowing their meaning? Sometimes we become so familiar with our own culture that we stop noticing its value.
Perhaps the deeper purpose of cultural competency is not to learn everything about another community. It is to learn how to listen without immediately judging or generalizing.
A tribal film can therefore be more than a representation of culture. It can become a starting point for conversation about identity, heritage, language and even our own forgotten roots.
How many things in our lives have become so “normal” that we no longer ask why they exist? What stories have we heard without asking what they were trying to teach us? What knowledge have our elders carried that we have never thought to ask about? And when we speak about kindness and empathy, do we practise them when we meet people whose language, culture, or way of seeing the world is different from ours?
Kukli leaves us with a simple lesson: to raise questions. Maybe that is where cultural competency begins, not with knowing everything, but with being curious enough to listen.
Note:-These learnings are from a film showcase as a part of the Gandhi Fellowship induction for the Batch 18 & Batch 19 in Odisha on 19th August,2026. The Gandhi Fellowship is a 23-month, fully residential, flagship leadership program initiated by the Piramal Foundation in 2008 to build young change-makers and public-system leaders in India
About the Author: Gayatry Gogoi is a Batch 18 Gandhi Fellow and an Education professional from Assam, with a Master’s degree in Education from Tezpur University. Her work lies at the intersection of education, communities, and public systems, with a keen interest in understanding how learning can become more inclusive, meaningful, and rooted in context.
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