Stills from Veronika Resslová: We Teach Them a Lot (2025)

Veronika Resslova third great book has been published at Ausdruck Books. And we are extremely happy about it, because we have great admiration for Veronika’s work. After Pollution Diaries (2020) and Our Old Folks Had Fields Here (2024), a book called We Teach Them a Lot (2025) is now being published, which charts the author’s stay with the women of Naga Lotha in the village of Yikhum in Nagaland, India.

The graphic design of the book was worked out by Terezie Štindlová.

Once again, we thank Veronika for her trust and friendship and Terezia for her beautiful graphic work💙

The book is now available in pdf. During 2025 or 2026, the book will also be published in printed form together with Our Old Folks Had Fields Here.

A short introductory text is available here:

When I lived in Delhi, I used to spend my weekends at the National Museum. Part of their ethnological collection consists of a modest series of black and white photographs documenting the life of the Naga Lotha tribe. The people in the photographs so caught my eye that I knew I had to go there to see them.

My neighbor in the North Campus of Delhi, who is from Nagaland, listened to my plans with politely concealed doubt. Nevertheless, he and his wife helped to arrange my stay in the village of Yikhum.

The lives of rural Naga women are filled with hard physical labor in the fields, forests and homes. My lazy Western body could not keep up with even the eldest of them in the hills, and my school knowledge was useless in the village.

Besides participating in their daily activities, I asked them to tell me about their lives. Most of them spontaneously decided to share their stories of giving birth. Behind these simple, unpretentious accounts hides the reality of a materially difficult and marginalized life, which they face with admirable dignity and lightness of spirit.

I sincerely hope that the task of representing Naga women in the historical and social contexts of contemporary India will be taken up by the next generation of Indian historians, sociologists and anthropologists and will be undertaken truthfully and fairly.

Veronika Resslova 2025

Bibliographic data:

Concept, photography, interviews, editing: Veronika Resslová Graphic design: Terezie Štindlová English editing: Lloyd Dunn Transcription of recordings: Tsulanghtung Kikon Lotha-English translation: Tsulanghtung Kikon Phrase and verb charts: Abishek Stephen Year 2025