Throwback Thursday #4 | Watch 'Folklore and Oral Traditions in Classrooms' online | In Conversation with Savita Uday

Last week, under the series Throwback Thursdays with IFA, we were joined by Savita Uday and Antara Mukherjee. They were in conversation with Krishna Murthy TN, Senior Programme Officer, Arts Education, IFA.

Savita Uday is a researcher, educator, farmer and folklorist who runs a not-for-profit organisation called Buda Folklore located in the Uttara Kannada region in Karnataka. Antara Mukherjee is a visual artist/ illustrator at Buda Folklore. They have been working alongside the members of the tribal communities that reside in the Gokarna-Ankola region, Uttara Kannada, to document and revitalise the wealth of songs and stories that are part of their oral tradition. The project supported by IFA enabled her to extend this work by involving the students and teachers of the fifth, sixth and seventh standards of a Government Primary School located in the region.

Tune in to this conversation where you will hear Savita and Antara speak about the storytellers from the Halakki, Siddi and Kare Okkalu communities, stories that are grounded in the everyday practices of these communities, and their experience of working with students at the Angadibail Government Primary School. 

Savita Uday received a grant from IFA, under the Arts Education programme made possible with support from Citi India.

As part of the project supported by IFA, Savita conceptualised and facilitated storytelling sessions by bringing in members of the Halakki, Siddi and Kare Okkalu communities to the classrooms, storytelling competitions for the students by encouraging them to collect stories from their parents and grandparents, and along with Antara, created a storybook by compiling these stories with illustrations by the students.

(All Throwback Thursdays with IFA are available on our YouTube Channel. Click here to watch other sessions of the series.)