The Museum of Memory
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- Shankar Kevat, riverbed farmer from
Village Sandia refuses to accept that
summer riverbed farming is not a viable
livelihood
» CLICK TO VIEW - Attar Singh and Rajaram, fishermen from
Village Sandia share how the fish are
disappearing as the river turns into a lake.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Narayan Singh Kevat, fisherman, Village
Sandia says big dams are not useful for
fishing and summer riverbed farming.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Asha Bai and friends from Village
Khaparkheda describe their journey
as a community of hunters to leaf
and grass weavers.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Pyarelal and Vidyabai Moghya from
Shobhapur describe the pressures on the
web of grass that nurtures their
community of grass weavers.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Dalchand Basor, bamboo artisan, of
Village Silari, had to resettle due to caste
discrimination and squeezing out of a
bamboo-based livelihood.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Kamlabai and Latabai from Ayodhya
Basti, describe how the bamboo provides
work and earning for the entire family.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Ramesh Kumar Noriya, a bamboo artisan
from Pipariya, helps unravel the levels at
which the official and unofficial bamboo
bureaucracy functions.
» CLICK TO VIEW - EJangal Yatra, 2006: Tribals march through
the Satpura National Park demanding they
be allowed to live in their home villages
without harassment.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Chandan Singh, farmer, Village Jamada,
talks of the challenges of HYV farming.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Voices and Sounds from the weekly haat
bazaar at Salichowka set to music and an
itinerant singers verse.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Chotelal Sarathe, famer, Village Palia
Pipariya, says groundwater makes modern
farming possible.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Budhiya Bai and her friends of Palia
Pipariya, say the Kausam tree and the Lac
insect are closely tied to the Rajjhar
tradition.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Piloo dada of Junheta speaks of 49 years
of water availability and cropping at his
farm.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Ramkhayali Gond, farmer, Village Dharav
Padav, describes why many in his village
maintain food security by mixed crop
farming.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Siyaram and Prem Thakur, Village Dharav
Padav, say farmers in forest villages have
returned to local seeds to cope with erratic
rainfall.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Khushilal, farmer, Village Dapka, describes
40 years of rainfed farming in a village
bordering the forest.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Sitaram and Nanhe bhaiya from Dapka and
Kajrauta villages, give a user's perception
of the usefulness of stop dams.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Babboo bahiya from Matkuli village locates
the spread of borewells to the dropping
groundwater.
» CLICK TO VIEW - Stories from a reserve forest. Tawa Dam
submergence zone, Satpura National Park,
2008.
» CLICK TO VIEW - The double displacement of Dhain and
Dobjhirna villages in the Satpura National
Park.
» CLICK TO VIEW - The National park system in India created
by displacing korku tribals from their home
forests as colonial policy.
» CLICK TO VIEW
Oral history and knowledge collection is the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. Of primary interest are weaker communities from largely non-literate sections of society. In such castes, tribes and communities, information is carried in speech rather than text, and digital media allows the collection of this 'information from below'.
India contains the second largest human diversity on the planet. With increasing modernisation and the spread of school education in these areas, oral language, knowledge and identity are endangered. At first glance, the information in this collection takes the form of eye-witness accounts, personal observations and experiences, folklore, songs and stories. Yet the communities here comprise an information resource too valuable to ignore, especially in this age of far reaching social and environmental change.
Focus areas:
» Social history and personal memories from communities
» Environment and traditional livelihoods
» Food and farming practice
» Medicinal plants and health care
» Art/culture/music and knowledge
To know more about the Museum of Memory, write to jatan.caravan [at] gmail.com