Tales from the yore

The 19th International Oral History Conference started off in full swing at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleswaram.

The first day of the week-long bilingual conference, ‘Speaking, Listening, Interpreting – The Critical Engagements of Oral History’, saw oral historian Meghna Guha Thakurta from Bangladesh, enlightening a packed auditorium on oral history as a catalyst for social transformation, the persistence of memories and the radicalisation of action through oral history in Bangladesh.

The conference opened up a discussion about individual memories and dealt with negotiating the space between oral history and the larger meta-narrative. Indira Chowdhury, the president of International Oral History Association, addressed the gathering by talking about the transformation of oral history from memory to action.

She said, “The conference deals with critical perspectives in oral history and looks at how language, emotion and thought contributes to and co-creates knowledge. It will look at how oral traditions shaped one’s lives and cultures and why memory needs to be brought to the fore.”

She narrated an incident from her memory set in Chambal and distorted the larger narrative of a ‘bandit-ridden area’ with an incident from personal experience. 

The highlights of Meghna’s speech included the importance of oral history, evolution of society and how individual memories act as catalysts of this evolution.

She said, “I belong to an organisation in Bangladesh which works with marginalised communities. Some aspects haven’t touched marginalised societies yet and these communities and their memories are endangered. Oral history is a good way to address and unearth those memories.”

As an oral historian, she said that the most important thing to understand is to hear the right voice.

“Most people talk about authenticity in oral history but we have to understand that even if someone is making up a story, they fictionalise it for a reason. Individual history is of immense value as it creates knowledge of a certain era but is forgotten because it is not part of the grand narrative. What better way other than memory of pain and anguish to bring out personal stories?”

As a researcher who works with family history, Meghna also discussed her personal experiences of interactions with endangered women and how they survived the war that Bangladesh went through and the way they coped with it. 

The performance for the evening was a shadow puppet performance by the Shinde Anjaneyulu family from Dharmavaram.

It was presented by Shinde Hanumanth Rao and his family troupe and curated by the Antara Arts Collective. It was a vibrant performance that straddled between the folk and the classical and the rural and the urban.

The show opened with a narrative about the puppet and the puppeteer which is not from a traditional repertoire but an improvised tale of everyday activity.

Voice was an important aspect as puppets are not just brought to life through action but also the voice drawn from memory.

This is the voice that shapes the relationship between the performer, the object and the spectator.

The event was organised by the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, International Oral History Association and the Oral History Association of India. This is the first conference to be held in Asia. Delegates from 32 countries came over to participate in the event.

These events will be held at the Indian Institute of Science, National Gallery of Modern Art and other public venues in the city.