Table of Contents

1. Digital Community Archives
2. Encyclopaedia Indica
3. North East Fellowships
4. NFSC News
5. Events Calendar

NFSC Portal for Journals

The NFSC portal for journals has full archives of the Indian Folklore Research Journal. The first issues of Mukt-Saad and the Journal of the Folklore Research Department of Gauhati University have been published on the site. Click on the journal names to access them. The new issue of Indian Folklife on the theme of Telugu Folklore can be accessed here.

NFSC Portal for Conferences

NFSC now offers you the facility to host conference papers and details of conferences online. The conference on Land Reform organized by Seva Mandir and the Land Reform Programme under the Ministry of Rural Development has invited papers. Visit the site for details. Mail info@indianfolklore.org for help with putting your conferences online.

ONLINE LEARNING

The NFSC would be offering courses online that can be taken by independent scholars, students or teachers as part of a curriculum or as stand-alone modules. The site offers the convenience of online learning and access to several other resources. Most courses are currently under construction. Click here to visit the site.

BOOK NOOK

NFSC has brought out the following books recently:

1. Oral Epics of Kalahandi
   Mahendra Kumar Mishra
2. Epic of the Warriors
3. Mailaralinga Jatre

Click on the titles for details.

In our Archives

The lore of the transgendered is among the research projects being added to our online archives. Access information on available material here. For general access to our archival material, click here.

August 2008 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the National Folklore Support Centre! In this the first edition of our monthly newsletter, we take pride in announcing our achievements, telling you our news and inviting you cordially to events planned by the Centre.

We are happy to announce significant progress in our major projects the setting up of Digital Community Archives in six locations, the Encyclopaedia Indica and online learning at NFSC.

We have also established collaboration with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, held our first outreach lecture and selected participants for the North East fellowships over the past few weeks. Read on for details…

DIGITAL COMMUNITY ARCHIVES

At six locations across the country, indigenous communities and our collaborators are archiving the life, customs and worldview of the community through our digital community archives. For more information about the archives, click here. Digital Community Archives established with a grant from Ford Foundation are located at:

1. Piparia, Hoshangabad district, Madhya Pradesh
2. Sinepali, Naupada district, Orissa
3. Arangottukara, Thrissur, Kerala

With grants from the Tata Education Trust:

1. Jenu Kuruba Archive, HD Kote, Karnataka
2. Nari Kurava Archive, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu
3. Seraikela Chhau Archive, Jharkhand

For updates on activities at our centres in Orissa and Kerala, click on the state names. The list of our collaborators is available here.

You can follow the links from www.wiki.indianfolklore.org for regular updates on the Archives.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA INDICA

This pioneering project of the NFSC aims to revitalize primary education and our engagement with our environment. The Encyclopaedia would examine and present scientific information and folklore surrounding plants and trees, animals, and birds found in India.

We have invited distinguished representatives of children’s publishing, wildlife enthusiasts, experts in biology, animal lovers and representatives of non-governmental organizations to join the Editorial Board and review the process of building this Encyclopaedia online.

We have also organized a workshop with Madhubani artists to acquire art work about indigenous flora and fauna in distinctive folk art forms (see the Events Calendar below).

Watch this space for announcements of more workshops!

NORTH EAST FELLOWSHIPS

Congratulations Biplab Singh and Casanalyrisa Jana! They have been selected for the NFSC Tata Education Trust Scholarships for the study and documentation of local culture and knowledge in North East India.

The Selection Committee considered the names of the short listed candidates in Imphal on July 15 and Guwahati on July 28. The first round of interviews was held at the Manipur University on July 18. The Committee consisting Helen Giri, Kishore Bhattacharjee, Nongthombam Premchand and M.D. Muthukumaraswamy met in the office of the Folklore Research Department, Gauhati University, Assam, to interview candidates on July 28.

NFSC NEWS

Our newest collaborator is the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. We will be assisting them in scholarly study of the lost-wax technique of bronze casting practiced by the artisans of Swamimalai, Tamil Nadu. Read more…

In an attempt to reach out to other audiences, we organized a lecture in the Issues in Arts and Humanities Today series at Kalakshetra Foundation, Thiruvanmiyur. S.A.K. Durga, Director, Centre for Ethnomusicology, mesmerized an audience of students and teachers at the Foundation with her lecture on “Transformation of Folk Tunes into Classical Music Ragas,” peppering her scholarly address with masterful renditions of ragas and folk tunes. More information here…

EVENTS CALENDAR

Friends in Chennai, please do make time to participate in our events to promote folk arts and contribute to discourse on folklore in the city!

A Madhubani workshop was inaugurated at Stella Maris on July 31 and would conclude on Wednesday, August 6.

We would be screening Assamese film “Kaihatir Dhulia” on Kamrupiya Dhulia, a folk art form that was revived by the troupe the film is named for, on Tuesday, August 12, at 6 p.m. at the NFSC. Conceived, scripted and directed by Hemanta Das, the film has won the National Award for best Anthropological or Ethnographic film.

National Folklore Support Centre (NFSC) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation, registered in Chennai, dedicated to the promotion of Indian folklore research, education, training, networking, and publications. The aim of the Centre is to integrate scholarship with activism, aesthetic appreciation with community development, comparative folklore studies with cultural diversities and identities, dissemination of information with multi-disciplinary dialogues, folklore fieldwork with developmental issues and folklore advocacy with public programming events. Folklore is a tradition based on any expressive behaviour that brings a group together, creates a convention and commits it to cultural memory. NFSC aims to achieve its goals through cooperative and experimental activities at various levels. NFSC is supported by grants from the Ford Foundation and the Tata Education Trust.

For information on the NFSC Board of Trustees, staff, Annual Audit Reports and details of programme development, click here.

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, mail info@indianfolklore.org. You can also give feedback, suggestions or criticism at info@indianfolklore.org

NFSC, 508, Fifth Floor, “Kaveri Complex”, 96, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam,
Chennai- 600034, Tamilnadu, India

Ph.:044-28229192, 044- 42138410, 044-28212706

www.indianfolklofe.org

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Location: NFSC SCHOOL

Description: Assamese film Kaihatir Dhulia on Kamrupiya Dhulia

Start Time: 6:00 p.m

Date: 2008-08-12

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NFSC Press intends to bring a world of publications and announcements from India’s National Folklore Support Centre to the use and benefit of scholars and lay public.

This site is under construction. Please wait for the publications in the near future.

With the best wishes,

M.D.Muthukumaraswamy

Director

National Folklore Support Centre, Chennai, India

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