Buda- The Folklore
Objectives
Education
- Publication
- Research and Documentation
- Production
- Community development
- Conservation
Mission:
- Propagating the knowledge of folklore of Uttara kannada to the world
- Making folklore traditions relevant to current world scenarios across various application
- Create a learning community that explore folklore knowledge and its application in contemporary situation
- Exploring connections and commonalities with folklore traditions across India and the world.
- Sharing knowledge-online
- Continuity of folklore
Location
Headquartered at Honnavar, a coastal town in Uttara Kannada district. The geographical landscape of Honnavar with the Western Ghats on one side and the Sharavathi River and the Arabian sea on the other side is unique in its location.
The Folklore centre-
Buda is an interactive center that houses a small museum and library, guest rooms, visiting artisan centre, a medicinal plants garden and research facility. The special ambience of the house offers our guests a unique opportunity to become close to the rich and unique culture of the region, make outbound day trips into neighboring regions, get deeper insights by interacting with the hosts and exchange experiences with visiting artisans
It can accommodate 30 to 35 students with basic minimal facility.
The Folklore museum
Bringing together the extensive material collected by the local community, a small and very special folk museum has been created. The ethnographic collection presented represents over 45 years of collecting by the founders. During the extensive field among the tribes, the couple collected objects from the daily and ceremonial life of the people.
The Library
The founding members (Dr. N. R .Naik and Shanthi Nayak) have been researching on folk culture and heritage for the last 45 years. Together they have authored over 80 books in Kannada on topics like folk games, arts, songs, dance, food, drinks, rituals, ceremonies, festivals, gods, healing plants, costumes, ornaments etc. This well researched database is a treasure trove of knowledge and understanding. Apart from this the couple has huge collection of books related to folklore.
Research and Documentation:
Buda documents, highlights and works towards preserving folk culture and heritage. Started with an aim to understand and record native knowledge, oral tradition and folk culture in and around Uttara Kannada district. The organization has established folklore research as a predominant area of study and research.
Documenting folk songs & dances, costumes & ornaments, arts & crafts, foods & drinks, deities & festivals, native medicines & plants, healers etc., the organization has emerged as a focal point for study and research of folk heritage in Karnataka.
Those are welcome:
Students - Teachers
- Scholars
- Environmentalists
- Anthropologists
- Designers
- Historians
- Botanists
- Food technologists,
- Culture travelers
- Architectures,
Study tours: for schools and Colleges
It has designed a study programme for schools and college children to experience and explore the history, geography, people, art and craft, eco system, bio diversity and the folk culture of the region.
Study of Tribes
The organization works primarily in rural settlements. It takes students and culture travelers to the field to gain hands on work experience and thereby understand the complexities that the native population deal with on a daily basis.
Currently focused on four tribes (Gammokkalu, Kare okkalu, Halakki, Gonda) whose settlements are located around Honnavar.
Buda believes that one of the most exciting aspects of heritage education is experiencing our folk culture first hand and understands the interrelationship between land and people and their way of life.
Forest Folklore (environment group)..
Food and health
Study of medicinal plants, meeting folk healers, , eco friendly way of living ,indigenous knowledge etc.
Forest food
Study of underutilized, uncultivated edible leaves, roots, barriers from the forest
Eco system-
mangroves, estuaries, threats from various human activities.
Bio diversity, study of islands, river and the sea
The 3 routes-
o The river route.
o The sea route
o The forest route
This helps the students to connect the particular place, people and the life, as they are always been interconnected. In addition, they can study how the environment influences the life of the people and visa versa.
A study programme:
There is immense scope to use this knowledge to build and explore new avenues, revisit documented knowledge at field level, understand prevailing stresses or simply showcase the volume of work into modules that are eye-catching.
The foundation would like to encourage students to study folklore. The purpose is entirely academic and community centric. The effort is to understand folk culture and heritage. Hence the foundation would like to initiate diversified studies ranging from a week to a year. It invites students and other interested individuals who would like to explore first hand field research, learn and document.
Focus can be on….
- Community Development
- Preservation and continuity of traditions
- Sustainable Community
- Spirit of Innovation
PHASE 1
o INTENTION
Interacting with families- understanding their lives, their context in which they live and understanding living traditions, study of environment, study of individual families
Study of tribes in the village
Demographic survey- environment, resources, population etc
PHASE 2
o NEEDS and CONCERNS
The understanding of culture, modernity and identity
Traditional knowledge systems of the tribes
Exploring each aspect of culture
Research and Documentation-In collaboration with Buda
PHASE 3
o INTERNSHIP
Product Development
Design intervention
Working with artisans
Food, art and craft
Internships/projects:
Buda hopes to initiate a strong study and research assistantship programme that brings together students and people from diverse parts of India and the world, for the preservation and continuation of Folklore heritage.
Buda provides opportunities to interested individuals who may participate in a wide variety of capacities and projects, depending on their skills and interests. Various options of fieldwork and documentation work are available. Internship FF is involved in various projects and programs in the field of conservation, documentation and preservation of folk culture.
It aimed to create a forum where the students could discuss and explore themselves such as cultural heritage, environment, sustainable development, craft and folk art and the state of indigenous communities. It was an attempt to make connections between people and environment cultural memory, and language, identity in expression of art/craft /other performances, sustainability and biodiversity.
Product Designing and marketing
There is an immense scope to bring together culture and technology. There is a knowledge base to support designing. We invite people who are designers, architects, craftsmen, social and economic planners, who are interested in the art, crafts and culture of this land. It will be a great opening up of many innovative applications for futures which lead to sustainable economic development.
A community Museum –In Situ
We are trying to build here something which is unique in its targets. A living community, an outdoor activity experience for the visitor, combined with enabling the communities to preserve their knowledge, wisdom and tradition. This has to be done while taking into account that they are in a cultural transition.
We have initiated a pilot project in the region to develop community folk museum that would act both as culture center for the community as well as a place for visitors to go and come away with a better understanding of the community and the local culture.
We hope to create these centers within a context of a variety of vernacular architectural styles and characteristic of various tribes and communities of Uttara Kannada. Each different centre can be an active community workplace, museum and store in itself .
Once all documentation is done, Folklore will be able to share the photographic, film and documental archives held the guest house directly to the communities through the cultural centers and local schools.
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Publication in collaboration
Buda encourages students and researchers to explore first hand field research in following areas
Study of tribal’s of uttara kannada dist.(halakki, gonads, gamokkalu, kare okkalu)-(culture based on traditional wisdom can be observed)
Art and craft documentation
Dance and Music
Bio-diversity
Medicinal plants and folk healers
Folk culture and environment
There is immense scope to use this knowledge to build and explore new avenues, revisit documented knowledge at field level, understand prevailing stresses or simply showcase the volume of work into modules that are eye-catching.
The above listed topics warrant research and study for each and every community as a separate project. Over the years the focus has remained on certain tribes and communities, while the rest have vanished into obscurity. Most of the knowledge is available on field without any previous records and documentation. It needs to be captured from the field, by research. Direct research by visits to these people and learning from all they have to teach us and indirect research by looking for documentation and photographs of already lost knowledge and culture
Buda initiates a travel based study on folk culture and environment. Our programs are designed to meet the needs of different groups and are structured to meet different levels of learning, so that a student can gradually learn about the different aspects of culture and its relation with the environment
During the past few years the following organization have sent in students study tours and various programmes.
Srishti school of Art Design and technology, Bangalore
The Valley School, K.F.I. Bangalore
Prakriya Green Wisdom School, Sarjapur,Bangalore
Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
Karnataka university, Folklore Dept. Dharwad
Delhi Public School (Heritage group) Kanakpura Road. Bangalore
Shibumi, Somanahalli, Bangalore.
• For further details you can contact
We found a plethora of knowledge. In every part of its existence whether it was weaving, optimizing the benefits of medicinal plants, the crafting of everyday objects, or the celebration of life through their folk dance. We realize that there is lot to learn- An untapped potential which we would through our project like to present our experience and learning to others”.
-Aditi Goenka (Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology)
