Apan Katha Apanei Bunechi (weaving oneтАЩs own story) is a campaign that promotes the inspirational and extraordinary stories of Dalit women. It reframes the experiences, memories, myths, folktales, and oral histories of Dalit women to become important sources of knowledge on caste diversity and inclusivity. This initiative is essential for the weaving of a new social narrative that hopes to usher a transformative and equitable future for everyone.
For far too long, society has turned a blind eye to critical, radical questions in favor of perpetuating caste and gender discrimination: Why is it that certain groups of people are forbidden to eat or drink with everyone else? On what basis can society dictate which groups of people deserve more love than others? Whose knowledge becomes canon, and whose shall be erased? The initiative is deeply conscious of the unequal power imbalance between people, and in a society that pays little to no heed to the experiences of Dalit women in particular, we at JFP believe that Apan Katha Apanei Bunechi can bring deeper understanding on the caste system through the perspective of these women. Through this initiative, we incorporate a sikne-sikaune (learning-teaching) ethos which does not only focus on teaching Dalit women, but also learning from and respecting the experiences they have to share.
As part of this initiative, we conducted the Narrative Lab, a pedagogical scheme designed to enhance critical thinking skills. This involved weekly readings and discussions on issues of caste, gender, and sexuality. The recent Narrative Lab conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on Madheshi Dalit women, and it served as a valuable case study where our fellows shared their perspectives, and learned to correlate existing scholarship with lived realities, after which they also learnt to write about them. The Lab also held important review sessions focused on seeking critical and constructive suggestions from peers and faculty members.
The Narrative Lab continues to foster an organic pedagogy in which we constantly adapt our methods to ensure our fellows and faculty members gain the most from their experiences. As such, the Lab has been successful in cultivating a wide range of creativity: some of our fellows wrote about their experiences while others drew pictures. Some of them even relied on mediums such as photographs, audio and video to tell their stories. In the recent Lab which supported Madheshi Dalit women, we got to listen to their incredible and humbling stories, and in turn our fellows were able to take suggestions from our team and faculty, and from each other. These back-and-forth discussions were essential in helping our fellows craft their stories to their satisfaction.
Throughout the process of Apan Katha Apnei Bunechi, new worlds of intersectionality and camaraderie opened for JFP and the fellows we supported. And like Apan Katha Apnei Bunechi, we continue working on new initiatives to find and use our voice to help share the creations we have presented here, even as new works continue to be created.
