Cultures of Peace: Festival of the Northeast

Cultures of Peace – Festival of the Northeast tries to showcase the diverse and vivid cultures of India’s Northeast through writing, music, film, theatre, media, photography and so on and bring important, pertinent discussions to the forefront of public discourse. It aims to build bridges and make connections with the rest of India, and to create awareness of the region, as it is, in its present day context.

Since it started in 2011, the festival has been organised by Zubaan in collaboration with the Heinrich Boll Foundation in different cities. Cultures of Peace festival at Delhi will discuss on different themes of Northeast.
 

Prog. Schedule

10 AM: Introductions

Urvashi Butalia, Zubaan
Axel Harneit-Sievers, Heinrich Böll Stiftung

10.30 AM: Women in the Northeast: Challenges of Organising

Monisha Behal, North East Network
Suneeta Dhar, Jagori

Monisha Behal is a founding member of North East Network, an organisation that has been advocating for women's rights in the North East since 1995 in the context of health and livelihood, as well as violence in conflict situations and in the domestic sphere. Here, she is in conversation with Suneeta Dhar, director of Jagori, a women's resource centre based in Delhi, discussing the points of convergence and divergence between their experiences: what struggles and issues that women face in the 'North East' are similar to those here in Delhi (and 'mainland' India), and which are different? How do these organisations deal with issues of diversity within the groups they work in, and what do we have to learn from each other?

11.30 AM: Tea

11.45 AM: The Long Road to Peace: the Indo-Naga Framework Agreement

Akum Longchari, The Morung Express
Bharat Bhushan, Catch News
Sevanti Ninan, The Hoot

What are the prospects for reconciliation and peace between, and within, India and Nagaland in the context of the Indo-Naga Framework Agreement - the contents of which, as yet, remain unknown to the general public? Akum Longchari, a long-time peace activist who has been associated with the Forum for Naga Reconciliation since its inception, speaks with Bharat Bhushan (Catch News) and Sevanti Ninan (The Hoot) on the country's oldest insurgency, the (speculated) role of the agreement in bringing peace to the region.

1 PM: Lunch

2 PM: Narrative Traditions in the North East

Cherrie Chhangte, Mizoram University
Belinder Dhanoa, Ambedkar University
Lamkaang Shael, Ambedkar University

The linguistic diversity of the North East expresses itself just as variously: in oral narratives, in particular poetic forms. Here, three scholars working with literature and writing from the region (Cherrie Chhangte, Belinder Dhanoa and Lamkaang Shael) discuss 'North Eastern' narrative traditions, past and contemporary forms of the same, and their role in documenting memory and history as cultural heritage in anti-hegemonic modes and forms.

3 PM: The North East & the Chinese

Jennifer Liang, Action Northeast Trust
Rakhi Sehgal, Activist
Monica Bannerjee, National Foundation for India

4 PM: Women Combatants in the North East: Revolution, Liberation, Agency

Roshmi Goswami, Activist and Researcher
Uma Chakravarti, Historian

"The Northeastern states of India share their borders with Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, which makes this region geo-politically and strategically important for India. Roshmi Goswami, a prominent human rights activist and a well-known leader in the feminist movement in South Asia, conducted this research on the role of women as combatants in armed conflicts of the Indian Northeast, based on an ethnographic survey and interviews with women combatants of the United Liberation Front of Axom (ULFA) (Assam)." Heinrich Böll Stiftung

In this session, historian Uma Chakravarti engages with Roshmi Goswami about her study and its findings.

5 PM: Tea

5.45: The Vinyl Records (performance)

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Information:

Chok Tsering
Program Co-ordinator, Democracy & Dialogue Programme
E: chok.tsering@in.boell.org