Dr. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in
Adaptive Ecologies & Climate Extremes -
Decolonising the Anthropocene
The development trajectories of the Panchagangavali riverine region is a narrative of colonial and post-independence thought and action. In recent years, the rich wet region of Panchagangavali (‘confluence of 5 rivers’) has been facing dramatic transitions – climate change-related events, intense infrastructural development and conflicts over land and resources, while local craft and livelihood practices that respect nature-culture relations are fast disappearing / being erased.
The research is oriented towards working in soaking ecologies and engage with the human and more-than-human communities that dwell in them, through practice research (or praxis). Here, we unravel narratives of relationalities and kinships across the diverse terrains of wetness, as well as the relational, or corresponding, practices and situated knowledges of place through spatial, material, temporal and sentient engagements.
Situated across the Panchagangavali River region, this project responds to contemporary environmental conflicts, of climate change, loss of material knowledge and increasing development pressures, through transdisciplinary approaches and situated creative practices, in order to re enliven cultural practices and local knowledge that hold nature-culture correspondences. The project hopes to initiate a paradigm shift in engaging in these sensitive places through art and design research towards sustainable and resilient futures, and will drive change on the ground by deep engagement and collaborations with community partners, initiating new eco-pedagogies, policy propositions, and art and design interventions. The mission is to advance current understandings and generate new knowledge and relations, within and beyond the fields of environment, conservation, planning and policy design.