KEYNOTE STORIES
From what is told to what's possible to know: A journey with narrative practices and discovering imperfect solidarity
The keynote will capture what sparked Jehanzeb’s interest in narrative therapy and revisit where it all started. Stories of the many ways that narrative ideas resonated and made it possible to challenge the structures and hierarchies that create and support oppressive systems and stories of how they make visible the very everyday yet often subjugated knowledge that people are experts of their own lives and stories of skills and values will be shared along with the moments of joy and feeling like a lot would be possible. She will share glimpses into the journey of learning, collaborating, nurturing and growing the practices and celebrating what has become possible and the many creative, exciting ways that narrative ideas have travelled through our contexts in India and taken many different shapes and forms as more people joined in the collective story. The keynote will show how a dream became a collective dream of building a community and why this is so relevant in today's world.
बटिया हेरटि रहना आँखी...
(Waiting for lost souls…)
Lavkant Chaudhary’s art is rooted in the the Tharu people's long history of resistance to land dispossession, cultural erasure, and forced disappearances. In his keynote address Lavkant will be sharing his work that are drawn from traditional knowledge systems—such as oral histories, seasonal dances, and godana (tattoo) markings serving as a record of often overlooked narratives . He will share his recent pieces that examine and deconstruct key moments, including the 19th-century classification of Tharus as an enslavable or "masinya" caste by the Nepali state, the disproportionate impact of the People’s War (1996-2006) on Tharu civilians, and the recognition of Indigenous identities in Nepal's post-2015 constitutional framework.
Mad Stories
We are all story tellers in some way. We tell stories in different forms, be it through our bodies or through a spoken or unspoken language. Historically, we have seen stories passing down in oral tradition from one generation to another, repeated endlessly in people’s preferred news sources, sometimes tangible and intangible. Interestingly, the narratives we accept and chose to speak about and the narratives we chose to not speak about, shut away and sometimes, reject, be it about ourselves or anyone else, reveal a lot about ourselves, our contexts, our experiences and the way we perceive the world around us. And then there are stories and narratives that evolve through ways the world wants us to perceive ourselves and our experiences. These experiences and stories are often influenced by and a reflection of the world we live in. Patriarchal and oppressive structures curate and ‘normalise’ certain narratives to maintain the status quo. If we carefully look around us, it would not be difficult to find innumerable stories and narratives that are created, advanced and institutionalised in order to ensure that certain sections of the society remain in the peripheries.
Ratnaboli Ray works with one such constituency, people with mental health conditions/psychosocial disabilities, who have been incarcerated in public mental health systems and also live in resource poor communities. Stereotypes and stigma shaping the public perception about their entire existence makes it difficult for their ‘authentic voices’ to be heard. Such people, in the predominant narrative, are called ‘mad’ for breaking the strict rules of grammar and ‘normalcy’, as perceived worldwide. Their narratives are often reduced to symptoms, while ignoring their resilience and agency. However, narratives also have the power to change the system and challenge the inequities and injustices imposed on communities that have been systematically oppressed, excluded and marginalised. The framework of narrative practices enables to bring to fore the stories of people with mental health conditions, narrated by them, using their own language, spoken or unspoken and on their own terms. Working for more than two decades towards mental health justice, narrative practices have been an effective medium in building a counternarrative by centering the subjective experiences of people with psychosocial disabilities. What we often label as incoherent and ‘madness’ can also be considered a world of alternate realities and perceptions and deserves the right to be heard.
Libraries: A Just World in Making
How might life feel like when we experience Justice and Fairness in our everyday life, in small moments? What might it make possible for people and communities? What are those practices and acts we do with/to each other to feel just and fair? Where do the ideas and experiences of Justice come from? Why do we need them? Does love has anything to do with Justice?
Do we need to sit inside a cave on top of a mountain to excavate and someday find enlightenment about the idea of Justice or the simple fact of being human is enough to have the right to have and experience it in every moment of our lives. Can free community libraries and librarians have a role and relationship with the ideas and practice of Justice? I will draw from stories what makes it possible. One story at a time, one moment of Justice at a time.
Resonance as a guiding metaphor for Narrative Practice.
Resonance evokes a sense of vibration, of being touched by, of being in tune with. Resonance is something that we experience in our bodies, a being touched in our hearts and at our core. And it is about value, about being drawn to something that is significant to us; a tuning in or vibrating to the same wavelength of what is important in our desires, our hopes, our commitments, in our stories.
Resonance is not a singularity, but rather something that happens between people. It is the ‘between-ness’ that makes palpable our connections, the linking that joins and moves us. It is an image of connection, and of story, and it is ultimately about movement. It is an experience of being touched by, affected by, swept along in a stream of something that is of value, and being changed through that movement. Michael White used the concept of resonance to shape his account of Narrative Practice, and In her key note Maggie Carrey will explore if this metaphor could provide a guide not only in our everyday practice, but also a direction for how we might live our lives in times of difficulty and division.
Years of walking in the company of women
Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) is a grass-roots organisation working with women-led institutions on financial inclusion, watershed development, sustainable agriculture, commodity aggregation and markets, livestock, skill development, social enterprise, health and nutrition, public education, research and community media. Our direct interventions are spread across Dewas and Khargone districts in Madhya Pradesh, and Amravati district in Maharashtra.
As a Support Voluntary Organisation, and anchor of the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for MGNREGA, SPS has worked with 122 partner grass roots organisations in 72 of the most backward districts across 11 states, primarily in the Central India Adivasi belt. SPS promoted institutions have a membership of over 40,000 women directly through its SHG Federations, in over 600 villages and impact over one lakh households through all its initiatives. The SHGs have gone on to form 14 registered Federations, a Bridge Finance Company, a Farmer Producer Company, and an Artisan Producer Company, that function as autonomous social institutions led by local women. The foundation of our work has been the commitment to build and strengthen women institutions supporting participatory, transparent, decentralized planning and governance.
Grounded in the work of SPS, the place where I have lived and worked over the past 35 years, I will be describing how these institutions shape and influence life, landscape and livelihood outcomes for women in a rural area differently – by pushing at the boundaries of public and private investment, the ownership of resources and the control over assets. In the telling of this journey, I would like to discover the interstices, the unseen spaces in women’s lives that are intricately braided with mine, and find the untold stories that dwell there.
A Slow Revolution: Women, Friendships, and Movements
What is a revolution? Can it bloom in the quiet rhythm of a woman knitting a sweater, or in the aroma of payasam simmering on the stove? Might it be found among young girls working as farm labourers, sharing their packed lunches under the shade of a tree? Is it the tale of a woman learning to swim, or of those women from a small town sneaking into a cinema hall to watch their favourite star on the big screen?
What do we call the wisdom of our grandmothers who, with a knowing glance, can tell which herb will cure a sore throat? For far too long, the stories of women have been told only through the lens of service to others, their worth measured by what they give to men. I think of the times when many of our illiterate mothers knew what they needed to do, to make sure their daughters were educated. Of that one time, when a 17-year-old Savitribai Phule knew she needed to start a school for women. Of the stories that matter regardless of how their ‘worth’ gets calculated.
A tight hug of a friend who knows what happened without having to say a word. These friendships, many gentle nudges, a bundle of generational wisdom, the fierce kindness, a raging protest – these are the stories of women—stories that have been creating a revolution from times immemorial. A slow, gentle, fearless revolution.
In this address, I invite you all to think with me, of the stories of the women in our life. Delve into what happens to these stories when they are told, or why some remain untold. We will think together about what trans-generational wisdom means for young women who have just begun to understand healing.
Desire and Becoming
It is common for us to be told what to desire. It’s not even necessary for someone to actually tell us, on a day to day basis we are surrounded by stories of what sort of life, body, relationships, occupations, objects, and a very long etc… are desirable. The thing with desire is that it’s often disobedient it can be surprising, unpredictable, disconcerting, dangerous and exciting. In this key note Alfonso will share some explorations of particular relationships with desire that comes from experience and not from dominant stories on what life should be. He will explore How do the stories we have about attention influence how we become present in the world? How can presence inform practices of radical subjectivity? What possibilities of desire exist within those practices? Alfonso will share how these questions have informed his narrative practices.
Who am I & where am I from?
Debashish is a documentary filmmaker and photographer by profession from Assam. Which led him to be a part of many lives all over India. In the initial stage of his filmmaking career, Debashish realised that his work was not benefiting the communities. Neither he could revisit the places with the outcomes he was working in nor he was able to continue the relationships he was building. Wherever he went he was documenting lives and stories of their roots. But never been able to be part of the conversation where he could share the stories of his roots and his people. Debashish has always been fond of the river Brahmaputra and wanted to continue his journey of documenting the riverine community in Assam. Co-founding the River Project has given him the liberty to explore and dive deep into places where he is spending more time off camera. In his keynote 'Who am I and where am i from?' Debashish will share stories of his journey of slowly coming out of the guilt of not knowing about his own roots and his ways of creating many roots of his own.
Family-centered care and Narrative practices: Being alongside children and families
Family-centred care has been viewed as the gold standard of any type of service delivery for both children and adults. The theoretical framework and principles of family-centred care have been well described. It’s application into the practice of service providers is however, less well understood. What is family-centred care? What does it mean to empower families, to honor their values, to be their trusted partner? Why is it relevant to narrative practices? This keynote address aims to explore deep into family-centred care by presenting the science and sharing true short stories.
Mehak team - Animedh Charitable Trust
Community led Mental Health Organisation
Dadra & Nagar Haveli, India
तळ-मळ; तळ्यात- मळ्यात
Tal - Mal; Talyat - Malyat
Change the story, change the destiny
In our keynote address we will share stories and wisdoms from our journey as Adivasi women and youth from the villages of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, who, despite being rooted in our ancient rich culture, faced numerous challenges due to rapid industrialization and societal oppression. Through our journey as community mental health workers, we as women and youth began to notice our strengths we always had, lean into our own knowledges, learnt skills from each other , and became confident to be witnessed as change-makers. By responding to systemic gaps and the needs of our community, we are together re-authoring our own lives and asserting respect and recognition within our communities.