February 6, 2024
By Aswathy, Research Assistant Community Research Mentor
For the past several months, our Community Research Fellows for PNC have been working tirelessly to present their findings on Kuttanaickan culture. Two of our fellows, Sumitra and Suresh, are Kuttanaickan themselves, and harnessed their personal experiences and traditional knowledge in order to inform others at conferences, government programs, and festivals. Follow along as Suresh Sumitra and Aswathy, as grassroots researchers, take stage to share their important research about indigenous communities in Nilambur, including the Kattunaickan, Paniya, and Malamuthan communities. These are some of their updates from the past several months in Nilambur.
National Seminar – Government Victoria college in Palakkad
A three day national seminar on ‘Songs of the tribes: History and Resistance’ was held at Government Victoria College, Palakkad on the 12th, 13th and 14th October 2023. On the third day, members from the Kattunaickan Tribal Community of Nilambur held an interactive talk called Traditional Hunting and Gathering Techniques. This talk consisted of an introduction to Keystone Foundation’s program and work areas, a discussion on Kattunaickan traditional food cultures such as tubers, leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and drinks. Fishing methods and the honey hunting process were also discussed. This talk was provided by three Nilambur based Community Research Fellows from the People and Nature Collective at Keystone: Suresh P., Sumithra K., and Aswathy G.V.
Gramoltsav
On October 22nd, 2023, the Yuva Star Arts and Sports Club organized a Gramotsavam program to raise funds for the charitable activities of Karulai Gram Panchayat.
During the month-long event, on 22th October, the PNC team as part of Keystone Foundation had an opportunity to present a photo exhibition covering the food culture and forest resource culture of the Kattunaickan, Paniya and Malamuthan indigneous communities and an exhibition of objects that are part of the tribal culture and lifestyles used by the communities.
KERALEEYAM – 2023
The Nilambur PNC team participated in the Kerala government’s state-level program ‘Keraleeyam’, an event from November 1st to 7th that provided a new perspective on the way Kerala’s progress and culture are reflected. The team set up food stalls during the seven-day event, introducing traditional foods under the new name Beesalu. The term Beesalu, in the Kattunaickan language, signifies the process in which honeybees train their newborns to fly. Beesalu is a new collective under pnc team, which aims to conduct community research from an insider perspective. The collective also conducts outreach programs based on their research to promote and educate the public and students about tribal culture.
A poster display of food habits and forest resources were setup in the same event . During the seven-day program, we got to meet many personalities and contacts for future programs. One highlight included when R. Radhakrishnan, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, Devaswoms visited our stall and appreciated the teamwork and research work.
Pauradwani
Organized by the Kerala Literacy Mission, a program called Pauradwani was held on November 10, 11 and 12 at Palakkayam in Chaliyar Panchayat. The program was conducted by Malamuthan, Paniyar and Kattunaickan sections.
The PNC team was able to convey the importance of this program to the villages and coordinate the program, with Keystone representatives Sunil Kumar and Faseela teaching classes on topics on forest rights and child law and protection.
Keystone representative Sunil Kumar taught a class related to forest rights during the three-day event. The Departments of Forest, Excise and Kudumbashree also took classes related to child law and protection, Mahila Samakhya and classes related to the topic of drugs.
The artists of these settlements also performed arts such as songs, stories and dances on the stage. All the three communities mentioned above showed good cooperation and participation in the programs.
Gothrolsav
The promotion and revival of traditional arts in tribal areas are important objectives within the PNC programme. Gothrotsavam is one such event that aims to achieve these objectives. Given the wealth of experience in the tribal sector and our work, the Keystone team was invited to lead and coordinate a Gothrotsavam with the Chaliyar Panchayat. As this fell under PNC’s Outreach Program, we took the lead in organizing traditional tribal art programs. We visited the Ambumala, Vetila Kolli and Palakkayam villages of Chaliyar Panchayat to find people knowledgeable in traditional songs, dances and activities for the program. Programs like Paniya, Kattunaickan, Malamuthan songs, Paniyar’s Adiyanthirakali, Malamuthan Vattakali etc. were listed. Bringing the Malamuthan’s Vattakali to the stage was a very difficult task, as there are only one or two people who know this traditional dance. Fortunately, the Malamuthan elders taught the Vattakali dance to about 10 youths.
On Saturday, December 2nd, a Gothrotsavam called Engala Thalam was held at Idivanna School. Malappuram Collector VR Vinod IAS inaugurated and Chaliyar Panchayat President Sri Manoharan presided over the program. As part of the program, we also made an exhibition of objects and posters. Ultimately, we were able to deliver a successful program.
