Gender and Intersectionality on India and its Diaspora's (GRID) Heritage

Valuing and conserving our diverse heritage is an important endeavour for our presents and our futures. Recognising how certain aspects of heritage are prized over others, and how such imbalances can be mitigated are equally significant. In an adaptation of George Orwell's famous lines from his book, 1984, those who control the past control the future, and those who control the present control the past. Experiences and practices of discrimination and inequity in the current era has repercussions for whose, and which kind of heritage continues for future generations.

Our vision is to develop and consolidate a UK-India network that highlights and deepens a framework of analysis that is conscious of social and institutional discrimination when it comes to valuing heritage. Our framework is informed by gender and intersectionality on Indian and Diasporic (GRID) heritage so as those people and practices discriminated along the intersecting lines of gender, caste, class and/or ethnicity along with their heritage work are fully appreciated, engaged and supported at the national and transnational level.

We plan to consolidate the GRID Heritage network through the organising of two workshops, linked exhibitions and musical performances in New Delhi and London, a project website with an online exhibition of case studies and digitised archive along with other more long-term strategies. The network will include academics, researchers, curators, heritage practitioners, managers and other specialists in three main areas:
(i) Craft: paintings, illustrations and three dimensional objects (co-ordinated by Parul Dave-Mukherji, Principal Investigator, India),
(ii) Threads: embroidery and textiles (co-ordinated by Raminder Kaur, Principal Investigator, UK),
(iii) Echoes: music and performance (co-ordinated by Navtej Purewal, Co-Investigator, UK).

Each of these components will be developed by network participants, and supported by free public events in New Delhi and London to which the general public including local Asian, heritage, arts and youth groups will be invited.

We encourage network participants to apply a gender and intersectionality lens to heritage issues and cases by asking the following questions:
- How do we develop a context-specific understanding of gender and intersectionality as they apply to Indian and Diasporic heritage? In what ways have practitioners felt discrimination with respect to their identity and heritage? What are the implications of this for the individual and the community/ies with which they self-identify in changing contexts?
- To what extent is the value assigned to forms of heritage used to include some groups and the devaluation of other forms of heritage used to exclude others? How are categories such as 'art' and 'craft', 'artisan' and 'artist' applied for work that draws upon an individual's heritage?
- How do we make sense of heritage objects and practice located across diverse caste-class, religio-ethnic and regional contexts? How does this influence an understanding of their various homes, whether they be in India or in UK?
- How can we use gender and intersectionality lenses to empower individuals and communities to build upon their heritage?
- How can we place what might be off-the-grid or hidden heritage associated with marginalised people on a platform where they can be valued now and in the future?

The network activities will lead to a project website with digitised case studies, visual and audio-visual recordings of public events, open access working papers, reports, a GRID Heritage roadmap including an executive summary to send to stakeholders, teaching material for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, interim and final network reports including a comprehensive evaluation report for participants' and partners' own networks. This final report will later inform the development of a firmer focus, aims, objectives and partners for further international research.

Who might benefit from this research? How might they benefit from this research?

(i) Heritage practitioners from marginalised backgrounds, discriminated on the intersectional basis of gender, caste, class and/or ethnicity, whose work, reputation and career will be enhanced.
(ii) Heritage specialists, networks and fora, particularly those concerned with how and which works engage publics (and media attention) in a compelling manner based on lessons learned from workshops and public events e.g. INTACH, Asian Heritage Foundation, British Library, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Brick Lane Circle (London).
(iii) Resource and campaign groups on issues to do with women and disadvantaged communities: who can be stimulated to develop novel modes of engaging public audiences with heritage issues e.g. Stepney Community Trust (London), Nari Chetona (London), Saheli Hub (Kingston), Sevya Handmade (Gujarat), Tagore Society for Rural Development (Sundarbans).
(iv) Wider audiences through website dissemination, web feedback and the public events including local community and youth groups who will be engaged to elicit feedback and impact by the Evaluation Consultant.
(v) Doctoral and postdoctoral communities, some of whom will be invited to help with the events and present their research so as to help develop their academic career.
(vi) Hundreds of undergraduate and postgraduate students taught by the three Investigators in their annual programme of teaching related to topics on heritage, gender, development and visual anthropology for which detailed case studies will prove invaluable.
(vii) Within the limits of the funding scheme, we will address an element of capacity building career development by recruiting a part-time Administrator from the doctoral and postdoctoral community at SOAS or the University of Sussex, which will help in augmenting their skills and expertise, and in turn contribute to public engagement.

The main pathways to impact are largely through invitations to workshops, public events, pre- and post-workshop meetings with research team and advisory board to develop a roadmap, and distribution of network reports including tailored, user-friendly information on network findings to stakeholders. Specifically, the GRID Heritage website will host: (i) the programme of activities and time-line; (ii) open access, working papers from the workshops; (iii) about 30 case studies focusing on heritage work and/or practitioners related to our main themes; (iv) visual and audio-visual recordings of exhibition for online exhibition; (v) sample recordings of public events and podcasts; (vi) GRID Heritage roadmap including an executive summary, (vii) network reports, and (vii) links to other relevant url sites, social media sites and user feedback contact information.
Workshops and public events in New Delhi and London will include (i) exhibitions of selected work, and (ii) musical performances, all of which will be free of charge and open to the public. The public events will be recorded visually and audio-visually for website upload, providing another platform for long-term impact. They will also be monitored by Evaluation Consultant along with venue staff for visitor numbers and feedback.

These pathways to impact will be ongoing: alongside and subsequent to the project end date, the PIs and CI will use their other research and knowledge exchange networks (SOAS South Asia Institute, Sussex Asia Centre, Centre for Migration Research Centre, Centre for Photography and Visual Studies, and Sussex Humanities Lab, Royal Society of the Arts etc.) and their academic presentations and research publications to further the legacy of the network by channelling the outcomes to other arenas and audiences.