Sharing Memories, Imagining Futures: Creative Representation Fieldwork in 2022
by Niki Black
Fieldwork and research undertaken in collaboration with Maggie Roe, Newcastle University, UK; Sara Nowreen, BUET and Shehzad Chowdhury, Independent Artist, Bangladesh; Tanh Nguyen, AGU; Hue Le and Ly Bui, VNU-CRES, Vietnam and the communities and sector professionals in each delta.
It was with much relief and delight that we were able to resume our fieldwork in 2022 and return to working with our colleagues in both Bangladesh and Vietnam in person. Here, we offer an update on our fieldwork and an overview of one of the approaches we are taking as we analyse the data gathered.
We are aiming to contribute to a mutual and better understanding of the cultural context of the deltas and the role that culture plays in resilience to climate change and in sustainable delta futures. This has grown to include the cultural aspects of delta livelihoods with specific concentration on honey-gathering and beekeeping, as well as creative cultures. Collaborating with colleagues across each delta region, and with partners from cultural and heritage sectors, we are working to understand how cultural practices and products, both tangible and intangible, can bring together memories and local ecological knowledge, alongside opportunities to share, contest and ‘dream’ of delta futures.
Fieldwork begins in the Bangladesh Sundarbans
Our fieldwork began in May 2022, in Munshiganj, Shyamnagar, in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. We collaborated with communities of forest honey-gatherers, performers, and audiences at a Bonbibi-Johuranama play, school children at Banasree Shikhha Niektan High School, and a multigenerational company of icon makers. Using film, traditional scroll-painting, storytelling and photography alongside focus groups and interviews, we also interviewed key figures in Dhaka from the arts and cultural sector including the Professor of Art at Dhaka University, the Director of the Islamic Heritage Centre and other professionals from museums, art galleries and the city’s developing contemporary art sector.
Bonbibi ‘Johuranama’ Performance, May 2022 (N Black)
Within the region, there are multiple creative representations related to honey gathering and livelihoods, which we discussed with our fieldwork participants. Centrally, is the belief in the goddess Bonbibi and her story, known as the Johuranama, which is shared as a performance in villages and at festivals, a practice which began before any written version of the story existed. We were honoured to attend one of these performances and observed first-hand how aspects of the story highlight the collective memories of the historical origins of the people (Bonbibi’s family originated from Mecca). The performance also featured aspects of different official faiths (Hinduism and Islam) and emphasised attitudes of respect and sustainable behaviour when entering the forest. These cultural forms function as ‘archives’ of the memories of these communities, reflecting how different identities and backgrounds have become entwined into new stories. At the same time, by their presentation in a communal setting, these memories and stories are shared and reshaped in response to contemporary issues.
Several days were spent with the honey-gathering community, who took us to visit their home village, which is precariously built on the banks of the river (they are traditionally land-less people). They guided us through the forest to see the environment first-hand and explained the issues they are facing from climatic changes, global and societal pressures, and problems in communicating with the authorities. We were lucky enough to be able to taste some delicious locally extracted honey and shared our own stories of beekeeping processes back in the UK. By speaking with the honey gatherers, and facilitating a focus group, we captured their memories of livelihood practices, and learnt about the adaptations being made in the face of the changing environment. We found that communal opportunities, such as rituals and performances which celebrate livelihood practices and contest the challenges, were of vital importance to the community.
Ajis Bai, honey-gatherer and his honey for sale, May 2022 (N Black)
Focus Group with Honey-gatherers, May 2022 (N Black)
Fieldwork in Vietnam
Later in September 2022, we conducted fieldwork in Vietnam, firstly in Ca Mau in the Mekong delta, then within several provinces of the Red River delta and finally Hanoi.
In Ca Mau we interviewed honey-gatherers at their homes in the Melaleuca Forest and joined them as they journeyed by boat to find nests of apis dorsata, the Giant Asian Honeybee, on specially constructed rafters in the forest. We held a focus group at the U Minh Ha National Forest office with the Director of the Centre for Forest Experiment, the representative from Forest Ecotourism and a Ca Mau based mangrove consultant. We made two further visits where we held discussions with eco-tourism centres on the edge of the National Forest. We also talked with the honey gatherers about the circumstances and background of their livelihoods and heard about the adaptations they are making, the challenges they are overcoming, and those which they are still facing.
Honey for tasting (note the appropriately named bottle!), Mekong Delta, September 2022 (N Black)
An apis dorsata nest on a rafter in the Melaleuca Forest, Mekong Delta, September 2022 (N Black)
The Culture of Water Puppetry
In the Red River delta, we concentrated primarily on fieldwork exploring the culture of Water Puppetry which originated in this region. We held interviews and visited water puppet troupes, puppet museums, and village ponds in the provinces and worked with museum and theatre professionals in Hanoi. At the National Puppet Theatre, we interviewed the Director and Head of International Engagement and following a rehearsal went backstage to talk with musicians and performers.
A dress rehearsal performance of a Water Puppet Show in Hanoi’s National Puppet Theatre, September 2022 (N Black)
Our research into the changing practices of water puppetry in the Red River revealed some contrasts between urban and rural representations, reflecting continuity or disruption in inherited memories and practices relating to traditions of puppet making. Particularly of interest was the impact this has on the incentive to produce this art form and how that may help or hinder its survival in the delta.
The practice of honey-gathering has disappeared in the Red River; however, we conducted fieldwork with beekeepers in several of the provinces, working with other Living Deltas colleagues who share a common interest in bee-related research and together, we interviewed a researcher at the National Bee Research Centre in Hanoi.
We will visit India for our fieldwork in March 2023
Towards a sustainable delta future?
So, what can we draw from our fieldwork with such diverse communities, from honey-gatherers and water puppeteers to forest officials and Bonbibi performers? And how might this contribute towards sustainable delta futures? Our fieldwork revealed that most of these cultural practices are produced and transmitted in a communal setting whether it’s the performance of the Bonbibi Johuranama plays, the staging of a water puppet show, the making of a puppet, or the journey into the forest to collect honey. None of these activities take place in isolation and they function, not just to entertain audiences, but also to educate them and act as intergenerational repositories of local knowledge. These cultural practices are a way of transferring cultural heritage; they reveal historical and contemporary relationships between the human inhabitants of the deltas and their delta environment. The social element provides a platform for sharing memories of these relationships, considering and debating contemporary change within a historical context, and offers opportunities to challenge current issues facing the region.
You might also like:
The blog: Oral history, mapping, and photography in the Bangladesh Sudarbans
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