oral histories, films and indigenous knowledge
oral histories, films and indigenous knowledge
The artistic traditions of the Pardhan Gonds of Madhya Pradesh in Central India have evolved over the past thirty years through external influences and the application of new media, to provide a growing number of Pardhan Gonds with an artistic profession that carries their ancient culture into the contemporary environment.
The Wancho are a community of people inhabiting the Patkai hills of Longding district (previously part of Tirap), in Arunachal Pradesh. They have a population of 56,886 (Census 2011), and they are ethnically related to the Konyak of neighbouring Nagaland: for example, they had a tradition of elaborate tattoos and disposed of the dead in a similar way. The Wancho are organised under important chiefs called Wangham and according to tradition, a portion of any animal killed in a hunt was presented to the Wangham and the entire community combined to build the Wangham’s palace. Every Wangham had his morung (male dormitory and meeting house), and his wife would tattoo the warriors after a head-hunting raid.