Sweetymon Rynjah Khasi Ethnographer

Sweetymon Rynjah became a co-author of this visual ethnography on Khasi tribes and traditions. She was the first Khasi woman to pass the Assam Civil Service and has written many books to teach others about her culture and how the intrinsic values can be found in other cultures, but just expressed in their own unique way.

Sweetymon was born on 10th November, 1934 and attended school at the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls High School which was then known as ‘Welsh Mission Girls High School’. Welsh missionaries started schools in Shillong bringing western Presbyterian Christianity, education and documentation of language. It was Welsh missionaries that encouraged the Khasi language to be documented, where before it had been only an oral tradition.

She worked for Assam Government, but after her retirement she dedicated herself to literary works, including Aphira Award title and first book called “Syrwet Umjer” in 1989.

Sweetymon decided to document through writing because she wanted to continue the culture and values of the Khasi tribe that had only previously been taught through oral culture.

In the interview conducted by Worldview Impact Foundation, she went into great depth about materlinial society, the importance of men and women supporting each other equally as well as the connection between nature and the symbolic meanings of the Khasi tribe.