DIGITAL DHAROHAR - REIMAGINING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE FOR THE DIGITAL AGE

GROUP STRUCTURE: 4–5 students per group

Project Concept: Students will identify one traditional/indigenous knowledge system, cultural practice, craft, art form, food tradition, oral tradition, folk performance, healing practice, ecological practice, occupation or community tradition and transform it into a digital media story.

The objective is not simply to “make a video”. Students must explore: What is being lost? → Who keeps it alive? → What can digital media do? → How can young audiences reconnect with it?

THE BIG CHALLENGE: “Find something traditional that deserves to be remembered—and make the digital generation care about it.”

Students should choose something that is:

• disappearing
• misunderstood
• underrepresented
• practised by a small community
• passed down orally
• connected to a particular region
• threatened by modernisation
• interesting but unfamiliar to young people

WHAT CAN STUDENTS DOCUMENT? Students can choose ONE area.

Category	Possible Topics
🎭 Folk Arts	Powada, Tamasha, Lavani, Dashavatar, folk theatre
🎵 Music	Folk songs, traditional instruments, community music
🧵 Crafts	Warli art, Paithani, Kolhapuri craft, bamboo craft
🍲 Food	Traditional recipes, festival foods, community food practices
🌿 Ecology	Traditional water conservation, seed preservation, farming practices
🏠 Architecture	Traditional houses, village architecture, indigenous construction
👵 Oral Traditions	Folk tales, legends, proverbs, family histories
🧑‍🌾 Occupations	Traditional occupations and disappearing livelihoods
🪔 Festivals	Local rituals, community celebrations and their meanings
🧘 Knowledge Systems	Yoga traditions, Ayurveda-related traditional practices, local knowledge
🗣️ Language	Dialects, disappearing words, oral expressions
🎨 Regional Culture	Clothing, jewellery, visual traditions, symbols
🌊 Coastal Knowledge	Fishing traditions, boat-making, coastal practices
🌳 Tribal Knowledge	Forest knowledge, traditional ecological practices

 

Mumbai/Maharashtra possibilities: Students could explore:

• Koli community traditions
• Warli art
• Powada
• Lavani
• Maharashtrian folk theatre
• traditional food practices
• Parsi community traditions
• East Indian community culture
• traditional occupations in Mumbai
• Girgaon cultural traditions
• old neighbourhood stories
• traditional artisans and craftsmen
• disappearing Marathi words/expressions
• traditional fishing practices
• local architecture and heritage
• traditional festival practices

THE “DIGITAL DHAROHAR” FORMULA: Every group must answer these 5 questions:

1. WHAT?: What is the traditional knowledge/practice?

2. WHO?: Who possesses, practises or transmits this knowledge?

3. WHY?: Why is it culturally or socially important?

4. WHAT IS CHANGING?: Is the practice disappearing, changing or adapting?

5. WHAT CAN DIGITAL MEDIA DO?: Can YouTube, podcasts, Instagram, OTT or digital archives help preserve it?

CHOOSE YOUR DIGITAL FORMAT: Students can choose ONE primary format.

OPTION A – MINI DOCUMENTARY - Duration: 5–8 minutes

OPTION B – PODCAST: Duration: 8–12 minutes

OPTION C – SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN: Create a 7-day digital revival campaign.

OPTION D – DIGITAL ARCHIVE

OPTION E – “60-SECOND HERITAGE” SERIES: Create five 60-second videos. Each episode answers one question.

Episode 1: What is it?
Episode 2: Where did it come from?
Episode 3: Who keeps it alive?
Episode 4: Why is it disappearing?
Episode 5: Can Gen Z revive it?

 

DIGITAL FUTURE: How could digital media preserve/revive it?

For example: Grandmother's recipe book → family WhatsApp → Instagram Reel → YouTube archive

This makes the project directly connected to New Media.

THE “ONE PERSON, ONE STORY” RULE

To avoid generic internet-based projects: Every group must interact with at least ONE real knowledge-holder/practitioner.

Examples:

• artisan
• musician
• dancer
• storyteller
• craftsperson
• farmer
• fisherperson
• community elder
• traditional performer
• language expert
• cultural practitioner

Students must conduct an interview.

Minimum:,1 person + 5 meaningful questions + 1 recorded interview

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Students can use questions such as:

1. How did you learn this tradition?
2. Who taught you?
3. How has it changed over the years?
4. Do young people still practise it?
5. What is one thing outsiders commonly misunderstand about it?
6. What challenges does the tradition face?
7. What should young people know about it?
8. Can social media help preserve it?
9. Are you comfortable with your knowledge being digitally recorded?
10. What would you like future generations to remember?

 

THE “DIGITAL ETHICS” COMPONENT: This is an important part of the project. Students must understand: Not everything that can be recorded should automatically be uploaded.

Before recording: ASK → INFORM → CONSENT → RECORD → CREDIT → SHARE RESPONSIBLY

Students should consider:

• consent
• privacy
• cultural sensitivity
• copyright
• ownership of photographs
• ownership of traditional knowledge
• sacred/private practices
• commercial exploitation
• misrepresentation
• AI manipulation
• deepfakes
• inappropriate editing

“DIGITAL REVIVAL” CHALLENGE: Students must propose one realistic digital strategy for the tradition.

Examples: If documenting a disappearing craft:

YouTube: Documentary
Instagram: Reels
Podcast: Artisan stories
Google Drive/Website: Digital archive
QR Code: Link to archive
College exhibition: Physical display

Thus:

One tradition → Multiple digital platforms

THE 'DIGITAL TIME CAPSULE': Every group creates a digital time capsule titled:

“If Someone Finds This in 2050…”

Students record: “This is what we want future generations to know about ______.”

The time capsule should contain:

• 1 video
• 1 audio recording
• 5 photographs
• 1 interview
• 1 written account
• 1 message to the future

FINAL PROJECT SUBMISSION: Each group submits a Digital Dharohar Kit.

 

A. Research File: 1,000–1,500 words

Include:

1. Title
2. Introduction
3. Background of the tradition
4. Community/location
5. Knowledge-holder
6. Current status
7. Challenges
8. Role of digital media
9. Ethical considerations
10. Conclusion
11. References

B. Media Product: Choose ONE: Documentary, Podcast, Social media campaign, Digital archive OR Short video series

C. Digital Archive: Minimum:

• 5 photographs
• 1 interview
• 1 video/audio recording
• 1 written description
• source/credit information

D. Reflection Video: Each group submits a 2-minute reflection video answering:

“What did we understand about Indigenous Knowledge that we did not know before this project?”

 

THE “NO COPY-PASTE” RULE

Students cannot simply download information from Google and make a presentation.

At least 50% of the project must come from original documentation, such as:

• interviews
• photographs
• observations
• recordings
• field visits
• original narration
• original video
• original social media content

Secondary sources can be used for background research.

 

FOR EDUCATORS: 

ASSESSMENT RUBRIC – 50 MARKS

Criteria	Marks
Understanding of Indigenous Knowledge	8
Originality of topic & idea	6
Field research & interview	8
Storytelling	7
Use of digital media	6
Technical execution	5
Cultural sensitivity & ethics	5
Digital archive/Documentation	3
Reflection & learning	2
TOTAL	50

Important: Technical perfection is NOT the primary criterion.

A simple mobile-phone documentary with a powerful story can score better than a technically polished video with superficial research.

 

 

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

By completing this project, students should be able to:

1. Understand the importance of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS).
2. Explore how traditional knowledge is represented in documentaries and regional films.
3. Understand the role of YouTube, podcasts, OTT platforms and social media in digital preservation.
4. Conduct basic field research and interviews.
5. Record oral histories and community narratives.
6. Use mobile phones and digital tools for documentation.
7. Develop storytelling skills for new media.
8. Understand issues of cultural ownership, consent, authenticity and representation.
9. Convert traditional knowledge into engaging digital content.
10. Create a small digital archive that can potentially be preserved beyond the classroom.