The Cultural Politics of Storytelling in Tree Matters (2014) by Gangu Bai

Abstract

The paper attempts to read the children’s picturebook Tree Matters (2014) by Gangu Bai, a Bhil artist, and published by Tara Books, to understand how the cultural politics of storytelling in the book works to underline the complex structure of social injustice and exclusion at play in the right and access to the forest in the case of the Bhil tribe in India. The relationship of the Bhil women with the forest is multidimensional, and the art and narrative by Gangu Bai in the picturebook represents this. The paper argues that the cultural politics of storytelling practiced by the artist reiterates this special relationship with the trees in the forest, and at the same time also makes use of this relationship to assert the unique cultural heritage and identity of the community. The subversive nature of children's books that creatively introduces complex issues of social injustice and environmental politics is also explored.

Keywords:

• Children’s literature
• Bhil art
• picturebooks
• environmental justice
• forest management

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shikha Singh

Shikha Singh is a PhD candidate at the Center for English Studies, School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She is currently working on the cultural politics of publishing and activist publishers for her PhD thesis. Her research interests include the South Asian visual culture, popular culture and media studies. The author can be contacted at: [email protected]