A documentation of an Indigenous salt "tapyo" among the Apatani

Brief description

About the Language Apatani (ISO code apt, Glottocode apat1240) is a Trans-Himalayan language belonging to the Tani subgroup. It is primarily spoken in the Ziro Valley, located in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. In the literature, the language is also variously referred to as Apa Tani, Apa Tanang, or Tanii Agun. It is the mother tongue of the Apatani community and plays a central role in their cultural and social life. About the Collection This documentation project was undertaken by Dr. Tadu Rimi, with support of a 2022 FLICR Fellowship awarded by the Centre for Cultural-Linguistic Diversity (Eastern Himalaya) (http://ccld-eh.org). The program is co-directed by Mark W. Post and Yankee Modi, with Kellen Parker Van Dam and Zilpha Modi serving as Associate Directors. Funding for the 2022 Fellowship was generously provided by the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research, through a grant administered by the University of Sydney. The project was mentored by Yankee Modi. This project comprehensively documents "tapyo", a traditional salt made from plant ash with deep historical roots and that holds great cultural significance for the Apatani people. This salt is not merely a culinary product; it features prominently in rituals, gift exchanges, and other culturally important practices. The project comprises several hours of audio/visual files of interviews with community experts, many of which include time-aligned annotations (Apatani transcriptions and English translations). It is especially notable that tapyo production is a gender-specific tradition. Because the knowledge was historically confined to a small number of women from a few villages, only a handful of elders in the Apatani valley still retain the skills required for its preparation. Today, with the widespread availability of commercial salt, its cultural significance is also diminishing. This project therefore forms part of a vital effort to preserve and revitalize an endangered facet of Apatani cultural heritage before it disappears. About the Collector Dr. Tadu Rimi is a member of the Apatani community, also currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies at Shiv Nadar University in Delhi. A trained social worker and social scientist with a PhD from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai) and the Council for Social Development (Hyderabad), she specializes in tribal studies, oral history, and women’s studies in Northeast India.