ABOUT | Kerala

ABOUT

THE PROJECT

This website collects the multimedia data that students in the NYUAD course CADT-UH 1044JX collected over the course of ten days of ethnographic fieldwork in Kerala, South India. Research in the preservation and transformation of expressive culture invites ethnographic experiments in multisensory data collection (e.g. videography, soundscapes, recipes), polyvocal collaborations (e.g. with interlocutors, between disciplines), and multimodal data presentation (e.g. image, text, interactive media, performance). Such documentation can make vividly visible otherwise imperceptible processes such as neglected histories of marginalized communities and the slow violence of environmental destruction. Our goal was not to comprehensively chronicle the region, but rather to capture our impressions, evoke the people and places we encountered, and cultivate a sense of “virtual intimacy” (Biella 2008) that might lead to deeper connections.

Students conducted fieldwork in Kerala, India, where history and culture have long synthesized global influences and where that history is now threatened by climate change and exclusionary nationalist politics. Our study engaged: 1) sites of material heritage such as the mosques of Kozhikode (Calicut), that have long connected Kerala to the UAE and beyond through religion and trade networks; 2) religious rites such as spectacular Theyyam ceremonies; 3) confrontations with complex future challenges brought on by climate change, such as experiments in sustainability in the Kochi arts scene that integrate contemporary innovations with historic architecture. Before and after fieldwork, we explored the politics of heritage and religion, the ethics of ethnographic representation, and practical technical training as we built our own exhibition.

STUDENTS

Nakyeong Ahn

Alyazia Alblooshi

Ahram Cho

Grace Gu

Shahad Hamwi

Virag Katalin Kiss

Mia Jiann Furey Landeck

Imane Larhlimi

Gabriel Anders Kedmi Moller

Paula Navalon

Panos Oikonomou