Mountain History – At the Intersection of Memory, Politics and Identity
organized by
Oral History Association of India
in collaboration with
North Eastern Hill University
March 13th-15th, 2024
Day 1- 13th March 2024, Venue: U Kiang Nongbah (Old) Guest House, NEHU
Day 2- 14th March 2024, Venue: U Kiang Nongbah (Old) Guest House, NEHU
| Start Time | End Time | Venue | Panel No. | Panel Name | Moderator/ Chair | Speakers | Paper Title |
| 9:30 am | 11:00 am | Auditorium | Second keynote address/ Plenary | ||||
| 11:00 am | 11:15 am | Lobby | Refreshments | ||||
| 11:15 am | 1:00 pm | Conference Hall | 7 | Oral History from below: protests, and rebellions in the hills | Etawanda Saiborne | Rahi Soren | Hul Narratives: Songs from the Rajmahal Hills |
| Richa Raj | Bol, Pahadi, Halla Bol The Quest of a Hill State for Autonomy from the ‘Plains’ | ||||||
| Arpeata Sharma | Gorkhali ko choro mo…. Chori chen khai? : Testimonios of the Indian Gorkha women in the Gorkhaland movement (1986 and 2007) | ||||||
| 11:15 am | 1:00 pm | Auditorium | 8 | Perspectives on World War-II from Northeast India | Manash P. Goswami | Lianboi Vaiphei | Recollecting the oral narratives of Second World War from the tribes in North East Frontier: Impact of modernity on the tribal world |
| Sochanphy A. Shimray | Life Amidst Turmoil: A Young Girl’s Journey in the Tangkhul Hills During World War II | ||||||
| Bishnu K Gurung | The Gurkha Experience: An Exploration of Identity, Politics, and Memory in Northeast India | ||||||
| Dawa Lhamu Sherpa | Voices of Valour: Exploring Bravery and Historical Trajectory of Military Recruitment of the Gorkhas of Darjeeling Hills | ||||||
| 1:00 pm | 2:00 pm | Dining Room | LUNCH | ||||
| 2:00 pm | 3:30 pm | Conference Hall | 9 | Oral History perspectives from the Western Ghats | Ravindra Vemula | Tessa Fani Jose, Malavika Nair | Tribal Lores and the Politics of Narration: A study of the “Little Narratives” about Malleswaram Mudi |
| Jagath V | Memory of Displacement and Slavery in the Oral History of Adiyar and Paniya Communities of Wayanad, Kerala | ||||||
| Parvathy V | Migrants or Natives: A Struggle for Identity in Wayanad | ||||||
| 2:00 pm | 3:30 pm | Auditorium | 10 | Studying animals, disease and the environment through orality | Rahi Soren | Ritu Mehra | A Study of the Traditional Interpretation of Bird Calls in the oral histories of Bhumiyathal village in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand |
| Darisha Lyngdoh | Environmentality and Orality in Khasi-Jaintia Hills: A probe in History | ||||||
| C.Lalrinchhani | COVID-19 Pandemic and Mizo Community: A socio-cultural study | ||||||
| 3:30 pm | 3:35 pm | Lobby | Refreshments | ||||
| 3:45 pm | 5:00 pm | Auditorium | 11 | Cosmologies, monk traditions, and belief systems in the hills | Kamaljit Chirom | Tenzin Nyima Bhutia | Tibetan Buddhist Monks as Cultural Custodians: Reviving Faith, Revisiting Memory and Revising Culture in the Eastern Himalayan Regions of India |
| Adhiraj Singh Bisht | Narrating Deities: Brahmanism, Masculinity, Orality and Text in the Deific Cosmology of the Kullu Valley | ||||||
| Preet Joshi. | Sacred Narratives: Tribal Identity and Hindu Elements | ||||||
| Ashif Shaheer K | Tracing religious transformations; a comprehensive study on the evolution of religious practices among the Irula community in Attappady region, Kerala | ||||||
| 3:45 pm | 5:00 pm | Conference Hall | 12 | The making and unmaking of places | Cherry Kharshiing | Tapasya Thapa, Agastya Thapa. | Anxious Transformations: The Language of Land and Emergent “Sameness” in Darjeeling |
| Antarlina Bhattacharjee | Echoes from the Heights: Narratives weaving Jampui Hill’s Nostalgic Tapestry | ||||||
| 5:15 pm onwards | Conference Hall | OHAI AGM | |||||
Day 3- 15th March 2024, Venue: U Kiang Nongbah (Old) Guest House, NEHU
| Start Time | End Time | Venue | Panel No. | Panel Name | Moderator/ Chair | Speakers | Paper Title |
| 10:00 am | 11:30am | Conference Hall | 13 | Constricting mobility, constructing precarious economies | TBD | Somashree Choudhury | Hill Lives of the Hakka Chinese in India |
| Lahun Dashisha Rumnong | Tracing Iewduh’s Past: A Journey of Storytelling with a Farmer Poet | ||||||
| Kishan Sirswal | Echoes from the Nostalgic Heights: Legacy of Trans-Himalayan Trade in the Darjeeling Mountain Economy through Oral History | ||||||
| 10:00 am | 11:30am | Auditorium | 14 | Identity-formation and ethno-genesis in the hills | P Hangsing | Kimneivah Abigail Misao | Cultural Ties of Memory: Exploring Tradition and Interwoven Identity among the Mountains and its Hillmen |
| Vinita Sinha | Voices from the Heights and Below: Unravelling Cultural and Personal Narratives in the Oral Traditions of Garasia Tribe, Aravalli Mountains | ||||||
| Ab Dijinbou | The Folklore of the Liangmai: A Study on the Social Institutions of a Traditional Village | ||||||
| 11:30 am | 11:45am | Lobby | Refreshments | ||||
| 11:45 am | 1:15 pm | Conference Hall | 15 | Literature, song, place-making and orality | TBD | Alfisha Sabri | The Occident’s Ghosts and Graves: Hill Stations and Negotiating with the (Post)Colonial Baggage |
| Sonam Chhomo | Re-imagining home through folktales and adivasi futurism in Subhash Thebe Limbu’s Ningwasum | ||||||
| Vanzikpuii | Redefining Mizo Oral Tradition: A Study of the Select Narratives of Rca- Chhangte Run (online request) | ||||||
| 11:45 am | 1:15 pm | Auditorium | 16 | Forging of a community | Amanda Tongper | Akumthong Longkumer, Temjenkala Jamir | Delicate Balances: Changing trends in Death Practices in the Naga Hills, navigating the transition from oral tradition to modernity |
| Bipasha Patgiri | An Ethnolinguistic Account of the Culinary Lexicon of the Mishing Community: Change and Continuity | ||||||
| Praggnaparamita Biswas, Anup Shekhar Chakraborty | In Anjali Lahiri’s Sonar Sinrir Upakatha Orality Confronts Political Reality – A Critique of Terrain, Tongue and Ethnicity | ||||||
| 1:15 pm | 2:00 pm | Executive Conference Hall | Valedictory Session | ||||
| 2:00 pm | 3:00 pm | Lobby | Lunch | ||||
| 3:00 pm onwards | Visit to the Ever Living Museum for interested participants | ||||||