Grants:Project/Rapid/Yann Forget/Documenting oral culture and history

In India alone, several hundreds millions of people do not have any written record for their culture and history. Most of them live in a rural area, with very difficult or no access to modern technology. Information about their ancestors and family, the history of their village and customs will be lost when they pass away. Very few people outside of their community know about their food habit, their religious ceremonies, how they build their houses and what they cultivate in their fields. However their have a very rich patrimony, a deep understanding of their environment, the fauna and flora in which they live.

Examples of culture and history to be documented

History of families and village, displacement and relocation of population
Agriculture technology and practice
Religious ceremonies
Wedding and family relationship
Social relationship and conflict resolution
House building technology and practice
Knowledge of medicinal plants
Food and cooking

Project Plan

Activities

Tell us how you'll carry out your project. What will you and other organizers spend your time doing?

Therefore we would like to record these oral history and culture through reports, photos and videos. For that, we need not only meeting these people, but also get their cooperation. For that we will request help of organisations which work with these people. For example, for more than 25 years, Ekta Parishad, a grassroots movement, has helped Adivasi communities to secure access to their resources, i.e. land, water, and forest. EP can help getting in contact, and facilitate interaction with Adivasi communities.

This intends to be a project over several years with professional level people and equipment. The first year will be a pilot project with a total budget of 160,000 INR. The field operations are planned from 15th December 2018 to 15th March 2019. Objectives and scope of the project will be adjusted after this pilot.

For the first year, we will select Adivasi communities in Madhya Pradesh, among the following: Saharia, Gond, Bhil, and Baiga. After meeting resource people, we will choose a few villages among these communities.

How will you let others in your community know about your project? Why are you targeting a specific audience?

I have already posted notices on Wikimedia Commons board, and I will request help from current contributors for curating content once it is uploaded.

I have talked with the Centre for Internet and Society, and they are considering supporting this project.

What will you have done at the end of your project? How will you follow-up with people that are involved with your project?

We will request an evaluation by academics (sociologists, ethnologists, etc.), and we will review the content produced, and all details pertained to this project, and write an evaluation useful for the rest of the project.

Impact

How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets and feel free to add more specific to your project:

5 to 10 participants
1,000 high quality pictures uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Very few images of Adivasi people, culture, and history are available, even with a free license.
2 hours of videos uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. No free videos of Adivasi people and culture is available.
documentation published under a free license. Up to now free documentation about Adivasis is scarse.

The objective for the first year is to record 1,000 pictures, 2 hours of videos after montage, and 10 pages of notes and documentation. The multimedia content (photos and videos) will be published on Wikimedia Commons under a free license. The text content will be published on a dedicated platform under a free license.

Work done so far

I have already taken many pictures of Adivasis people and culture.

Women in a tribal (Gond adivasi) village, Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh
Old man from Bihar, India
Potter at work, Jaura, Morena district, Madhya Pradesh

Young Indian girl from an Adivasi tribe (Bhil), Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh
Woman harvesting wheat, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh
Adivasi children from Saharia tribe, Morena district, Madhya Pradesh

Adobe wall, Gond village, Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh
Clay grindstone used for rice pruning, Gond village, Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh
Ploughing paddy field with oxen, Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh

Resources

What resources do you have? Include information on who is the organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding).

I (Yann Forget) am a long term contributor, and an admin on several Wikimedia projects, including Wikimedia Commons. I will act as project manager, Internet and free content expert.
I have extensive contacts with Adivasi people through Ekta Parishad.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense:

We need a team which includes at least one photographer, one filmmaker, one writer, one Internet technology specialist, and one person for communication with the community.

Budget breakdown
S.No	Line item	Details of the expense	Amount (INR)
1	Film maker	Responsible for producing 2 hours video	25,000
2	Photographer	Responsible for producing 1,000 high quality pictures	20,000
3	Free content and Internet expert, and Project manager	Responsible for the management of the project and	20,000
4	Documentation Writer and Translator	Responsible for writing and translating documentation for the whole project	20,000
5	Local guide and communication	Communication with the local communities	8,000
6	Logistics	Travel, food, accommodation for the whole team for 2 weeks	65,000
7	Miscellaneous and unexpected		12,000
Total			170,000

Notes

Endorsements

Support For bellow $2000 we can get all these? So cheap! I hope Yann still continuing this proposal.--AldNonymous^Bicara? 19:28, 29 March 2019 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. I have to rethink and postpone this for a year, at least. Regards, Yann (talk) 13:15, 2 April 2019 (UTC)