The 4-day conference brought together fifty scholars from five countries namely, India, Thailand, Malaysia, UK and the Netherlands, along with heritage activists and museum curators belonging to local communities from the region. Developed around the continuing interactions and involvement in the region by the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK), and the North East Forum (NEF) at Ambedkar University Delhi, the conference was an enabling activity for the Intangible Cultural Heritage Division of INTACH along with the support of INTACH Meghalaya Chapter and Lady Keane College, Shillong, to develop partnerships in the northeast Indian and southeast Asian regions.
The conference was structured as a combination of keynote addresses, research paper presentations, lecture demonstrations and panel discussions. A curated walk of an indigenous community museum, along with interactive sessions, presentations and experience-sharing by local community members, added to the knowledge exchange process. Apart from acquainting the audience with new knowledge on communities that has emerged after the introduction of multi-disciplinary studies in the field of cultural heritage, the presentations described innovative approaches to working with communities, and studying intangible and tangible cultural heritage through oral traditions.
The sessions were designed to include various themes, which helped the participants to engage with oral traditions in multiple ways, from folklore to language, and performative traditions; from gendered tales found in material cultures, to ecological traditions and stories of origin. The presentations made by researchers from Southeast Asia revealed insights into how oral traditions are transforming under different socio-economic contexts. Revitalising the cultural heritage centres and museums through oral traditions was the subject of discussion at the Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Cultures. The exotic collection on display at the multi-storied museum literally walked the participants through the culture of northeast India, invigorating an emotional and thought-provoking panel discussion. Acknowledging the expansion and reach of the digital age into the ‘remote’, the conference hosted an open session, dedicated to examining the various dimensions of oral narratives and memories in a digital age. In the concluding session, participants overwhelmingly expressed the need to continue further iterations of such a conference. Considering that the prevalence and passage of culture in the region relies heavily on oral traditions, this conference hopes that it will be the first of many.