Paper short abstract:

The Wanchos are farmers and storytellers. Residing in the most remote corner of India the society is on the cusp of monumental change. In a rapidly transforming environment how do we interpret the stories and reflect on the integrative meanings of moderation and restraint, sharing and resilience?

Paper long abstract:

The Wancho people are a community residing at the periphery, where India meets the international border with Myanmar. It is an area that is mostly unknown to the outside world. The oral storytelling traditions are recollected and transmitted by the elder people in the upper Wancho villages: these are myths, folktales and remembered histories that speak of humankind’s relationships to a more-than-human world. The pre-Christian Wancho tradition was the communion in rituals and sacrifice. In this sense, the entire landscape is vital and generative; geographical features are stories, and it was said that the violation of a sacred bamboo grove in Nyinu village would have severe environmental consequences.

The Wancho Story of the Gourd is the narrative that has been chosen to be adapted as a short animated film by a mixed group of students, artists and storytellers in India. The project is the entry for younger people to become interested and take part in the cultural heritage of the Wancho traditions. The story is the imagined space of supernatural origins, that then outlines the history of the Wanchos from livelihoods as hunters and gatherers to agriculturalists, inscribing the political and social order of the Wangham who was the Chief, who it was said had emerged from a gourd in the garden. The stories have kept the community together and safeguarded its wellbeing. The traditional way of life in the Wancho village is at the cusp of monumental change and the younger people are paying attention to new narratives that introduce the ambitions for modern education and employment. In the rapidly transforming environment, how do we read the stories and reflect on the integrative meanings of moderation and restraint, sharing and resilience?