People & Nature Collectives at Keystone

A flagship programme to provide a space for the indigenous communities to practice and store historical evidence of their social and cultural knowledge and belief systems, People and Nature Collectives aims to facilitate and spread information about the Traditional Cultural Expressions of the communities.

Components

People and Nature Collectives has initiated participatory research, fellowships and Foundations to value and facilitate Traditional Cultural Expressions of indigenous communities resulting in a vibrant community media and a living archive and repository of the indigenous, ecological and cultural knowledge from the NBR.

Community Fellowships

Research and Learning Fellowships for the indigenous youth to study traditional lifeways through community-based and participatory research methods such as cultural mapping, audio-visual documentation, etc has resulted in a collection of information on food cultures, traditional practices and forest associations, clans and kinship, pastoral routes, performative arts, among others.

Community Foundations

In collaboration with a global network, two community foundations in the region—Porivarai that promotes traditional music, crafts and instrument-making and creates local livelihood opportunities and Thoduve that takes up local entrepreneurship as well as research—have been set up with the vision of shifting power closer to people and people-led development through community philanthropy.

Community Media

Its initiatives has resulted in Nilgiri Seemai Suddhi, a quarterly newspaper by barefoot journalists from across the NBR. The first community radio, Radio Kotagiri 90.4Mhz, focuses on advocacy and awareness related to matters of social concerns like health, agriculture, biodiversity, etc. A community media network called Kwol Radio, based on low-cost wi-fi mesh technology is another initiative.

Current Projects

Community Media & Participatory Journalism

The main objective of the project is to develop Community Media and Participatory Journalism initiatives, associated training and workshops, support to community media initiatives, storytelling and interviews by community journalists and community events and exhibitions. The project is funded by People & Nature Fund and Both ENDS. The duration of the project is from 2021-2023

The Ownership of Public History in India

To develop a public history pedagogy in India with participation from community research fellows and networks of other grassroots initiatives on the subject. To influence policy, general public and educational practice around inclusion of people’s history in mainstream curriculum in India. The project is funded by the British Academy – GCRF Fund. The Research Team leading this project includes Dr. Shalini Sharma (Keele University UK), Dr. Aparna Vaidik (Ashoka University, Delhi, India) and Dr. Maya Dodd (FLAME University, Pune, India).

Habitat Rights for PVTGs in India

Cultural Mapping and building evidence from the ground towards Habitat Rights of two communities, Kurumbas and Cholanaickans, in the NBR. To advocate for Forest Rights Claims and to strengthen community participation in understanding cultural domains and tenurial claims in the region. The project is funded by Misereor. The duration of the project is from – 2021-2022

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups Leadership Course

To develop course and leadership modules for building social leadership amongst 10 PVTG communities in India through direct impact on 100 Teaching Fellows/Leaders from the 10 PVTG communities. To develop profiles of the 10 selected communities and encourage grassroots leadership and action research across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The project is funded by Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, and the partner institution involved are Haiyya, Delhi. The duration of the project is from 2021-2023.