2 - Co-creation as care: Engaging with the Creole languages of the Indian Ocean

Monday, July 29, 2024

16:15 – 18:00 (GMT+7)

Presentation Abstract
This paper has two main objectives. Firstly, it attempts to think about the narratives of caring for a habitat beyond environmentalist terms. Secondly, it aims to challenge the notions of purity and authenticity associated with preservation. To do so, the paper engages with the example of the promotion of a Creole language in an Indian Ocean archipelago. Jeseri, the language of the Lakshadweep islands of India, is a creole of Malayalam, Tamil, Arabic, Gujarati, Urdu, and more. Being a creole and spoken language, Jeseri does not have an official status in India. But it is a unique language with roots representing the history of sea routes connected to this archipelago. The debates on conservation in the islands revolve around the dominant scientific practices of care during climate change, coral bleaching, and sea level rise. Parallel to the ongoing discussions on habitat destruction, the islanders are increasingly involved in promoting the Jeseri language to protect their islander identities. They write novels, conduct literary fests, and demand an official status for their language. At this juncture, the paper asks, can care be multiple and involve collective co-creation? Finally, the paper describes a collaborative project (‘The Sea Lexicon for Lakshadweep’) that aims at unraveling the history of connections across the Indian Ocean littoral worlds and the rich human and non-human relations through words related to the sea. Through this, the paper aims to engage with Humanities Across Borders methodologically.

Presenter(s)

LP

Lakshmi Pradeep
International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Netherlands