The Language Translation Centre (LTC) of Fazl Ali College facilitated a four-member contact base team from Banglanatak in conducting a capacity building workshop on “Documenting and Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Nagaland” from July 19 to 20, 2024 for selected students and alumni.
The workshop Is a step in their project, supported by the German Consulate Kolkata, to strengthen the cultural identity and recognition of the local Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) forms and their practitioners in selected districts of Nagaland, informed a press release by the Information and Publicity Cell, Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung.
The workshop Is an endeavour towards encouraging direct participation from the community in aiding in the preservation of the authentic Naga customs, skills and overall heritage. The team shared their objectives which are to create a storytelling platform to narrate cultural stories of the local communities and their practices, collaborate cross-culturally and safeguard cultural rights of the artists/crafts persons through branding tools.
The workshop also gave an educational overview of UNESCO conventions, and different terminology such as ICH, inventorying, etc. The students and alumni were also instructed on the tools and methods of documenting, ethics of documenting, aspects that one can document, and tips on photo and video editing skills. The first day ended with an informed session for the second practical session (20 July 2024) to be held in Ungma Village. A select group of students will also be given an opportunity to work with the team after the workshop. The workshop had an attendance of 27 students from across various streams.
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The project, supported by the German Consulate Kolkata, aims to strengthen the cultural identity and recognition of the local ICH forms and their actual practitioners in selected districts of Nagaland. Revitalizing community confidence and motivation to pursue and nurture their unique hand-crafted traditions in our fast-changing mechanised and digital world has become particularly relevant today to ensure maximum benefits and value for these indigenous skills and creativity. In this context, documenting diverse Naga ICH in an organized way directly by the respective tradition-bearers and digitally promoting them can not only generate greater awareness and appreciation about authentic Naga cultural traditions and the communities, but also encourage product innovations, creative growth, and creative entrepreneurship especially among the youth.
