“Showing Budhani here has meant that young people who had not been exposed to these stories were able to hear this story.”

-Chabilal Kopila, Chair of the Tharu Language and Culture Preservation Forum

Bangaon is a historical location for Dangaura Tharu literature.

ENGAGING IN LOCAL RESOURCES: CONNECTING WITH THE PAST TO MOVE TO THE FUTURE

The workshops we engaged in Bangaon were structured for +2 students of education and teachers to explore approaches that allow young people to construct their learning through low cost local resources. Srijanalaya worked with Actor’s Studio to perform Budhani in this Tharu community. The story had originally been collected from this area by Krishna Sarvahari and opened the teachers and +2 students to possibilities for learning in local expressive forms. The workshops that followed continued this line of thinking. These workshops were grouped in terms of the visual arts, theatre, movement, mural-making, and spoken word poetry. Srijanalaya and the Bookbus worked together for this edition. The response was the need for continuity for these kinds of workshops that support teachers’ own creative development.