HaP International Spring School 2024
Kathmandu Valley
Organized by Dr. Monica Mottin, Dr. Monalisa Maharjan, and Binita Magaiya
In partnership with Echoes in the Valley
Bags prepared for participants in front of Jyapu Samaj. © Binita Magaiya.
From March 20 to 25, 2024, the research project Heritage as Placemaking: The Politics of Solidarity and Erasure in South Asia held an International Spring School in the Kathmandu Valley on performance, living heritage, and placemaking. Participants of the 6-day, intensive program were provided with theoretical and methodological tools to understand heritage as performance through experiential learning. The students had the opportunity to visit sites, participate in daily as well as special religious rituals, observe ritual and folk dances, and interact with the bearers of traditional knowledge from various communities, researchers and policymakers. The Spring School partnered with Echoes in the Valley Festival of Folk Music, offering a unique opportunity to consider the intersections of living heritage, placemaking, and folk music.
Living heritage refers to the knowledge, practices and expressions that are handed down from generation to generation in communities across the world. But what makes heritage ‘living’, and what are the challenges and contradictions that communities face in trying to maintain heritage’s living dynamics? During the HaP Spring School, we used performance theory as a lens through which to explore heritage-making and the elements that keep heritage ‘alive’. Looking at heritage as performance means regarding heritage as a process —produced, reproduced, invented, re-invented—and exploring the messy paths of cross- pollination from the streets to the stage.
Monalisa Maharjan with participants of the Spring School. © Binita Magaiya.
The setting for examining these questions was Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley. The urban design of the valley is intricately woven into the social and cultural lives of its denizens. For example, any traditional settlement maintains designated areas of worship and performance (e.g. a raised platform, called dabu or dabali) that are vital for living traditions to flourish. During our Spring School, case studies such as masked dances and charya dance were highlighted to investigate how performances are embedded in place, which explored not only through attending and observing performances but also by experiencing rituals in a guided context. Additionally, we considered heritage performances from outside the Kathmandu Valley. Over the course of six days, participants had the chance to explore events in Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, where two days of the Spring School were located within the Echos in the Valley Festival and benefited from collaborative activities in a community setting.
HIGHLIGHTS
Guided tour by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha (right) through Chhauni Museum with focus on repatriation. © Monalisa Maharjan.
Guided Tour On Repatriation
with Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha
through Chhauni Museum
Wednesday, March 20
The Spring School participants had the opportunity to visit the Chhauni Museum together with Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha.
The guided tour was mainly focused on the repatriation gallery and Swosti further elaborated on the process of reintegrating the repatriated objects back to the community. Other important points of discussion were the active role of the community in repatriation, the importance of documentation and how the inventory was done on the communal level.
Public Lecture On Newar Towns and Placemaking with Padma Sunder Joshi
Thursday, March 21
“Newar towns are magnificent examples of people and the planet prospering through partnership—the sustainability agenda the present world is embarking on. History is not to live but to learn, to learn from successes and from mistakes for our common future. My presentation will try to dig into some Newar practices of life, how they live, live together among themselves and their resource base—the planet—and how they partner with themselves and their ecosystem. The tangible settlements with intangible practices have three dimensions: a spatial dimension—the liveable city; a process dimension—the responsible city; and a governance dimension—the participating city. Creating places: making them livable and turning into a vibrant live orchestra where each of the members is compelled to participate, but only of their own free will.”
Workshop
“Understanding Charya as a Way of Life”
Friday, March 22
Participants of the Spring School engaged in a full day of learning about Charya dance and were introduced to Newa Buddhism. Charya dance is a form of remembering and keeping alive Buddhist philosophy, since the dance heavily features mudras to retell these stories. Binita Magaiya is a student of Charya dance herself and offered a performance for Spring School participants.
Performance by Mithileshwar Jhijhiya
Part of the Echoes in the Valley Festival of Folk Music
Saturday, March 23
Mithileshwar Jhijhiya is a cultural team from Mithileshwar Mauwahi village, Dhanusha district, Nepal. Besides performing in their own village during Dashain, the group has been performing in Janakpurdham, the capital city of Madhesh Province in Nepal and at several other cultural celebrations throughout the same area. The group perform regularly at the Cultural Village. Managed by Incredible Mithila Pvt. Ltd. and located at Puranda village, Mithila Bihari Municipality-3, the Cultural Village is a live museum providing accommodation, food, and cultural tour services to preserve the intangible heritage of Maithili region in Nepal and creating business opportunities for the native community. Every members of the team is from the same locality. The Jhjhiya performance has created a sustainable source of income for at least 15 households.
The Jhijhiya performers have traveled to the Kathmandu Valley to take part in the Echoes in the Valley music festival as part of Heritage as Placemaking’s Outreach and Engagement initiative.
Performance of Mask Dance in Harisiddhi
Sunday, March 24
The Harisiddhi Naach is performed twice every year in Harisiddhi and is considered one of the oldest masked dances of Nepal. It goes on for 18 hours and is performed by priests from the local temple. Spring School participants were able to observe parts of this intangible cultural heritage of Nepal.
“What keeps heritage alive?”
Throughout the Spring School, participants were asked to reflect on this question. In their final presentations, students focused on numerous different aspects of this question. Heritage can be kept alive through resistance and resilience, through community investment, but also through gender inclusive placemaking. It is alive in contestation, social memories and storytelling, but also in a living dynamic space.
Student Presentations
Monday, March 25
SPRING SCHOOL LEARNING OBJECTIVES
As a result of taking part in the HaP International Spring School 2024, participants are able to...
Challenge assumptions that ritual and traditional practices remain stable in time and space
Explore how traditions are constructed
Experience how ritual performances are embedded in daily life
Understand tangible-intangible interconnectedness through space
Appreciate cross-pollinations between folk-contemporary stage performances
Recognize the complex agency of local communities, the state and international organizations in maintaining ritual and folk performances
Sharpen one’s sense of how dimensions of space and place impact performance and living heritage
Recognize placemaking as a tool for creating and maintaining heritage
Expand awareness of repatriation of sacred objects as performance
The International Spring School ‘Living heritage, performance and placemaking’ is organized by Dr Monica Mottin (Heidelberg University), Dr Monalisa Maharjan (Social Science Baha) and Binita Magaiya (Social Science Baha). It is part of the research project Heritage as Placemaking: The Politics of Solidarity and Erasure in South Asia, a collaboration between Social Science Baha (Nepal), SOAS University of London (UK), South Asian University (India) and Heidelberg University (Germany). The HaP International Spring School is funded by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
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