Story Mapping Lavasa, A Digital Humanities Initiative

On 16 th January, 2024 CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Pune Lavasa witnessed the launch of the pilot project titled “Story Mapping Lavasa, A Digital Humanities Initiative”. The event sought to bring to light the stories of Lavasa curated by the students of the Masters in English with Digital Humanities Programme, Department of Languages. The event was graced by Dr. Shobana P Mathews, Head of the Department of English and Cultural Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Bangalore who joined online. The event highlighted the importance of this DH project that is an intersection of technology and humanities. The aim of this project is to digitally narrate and archive the untold stories of Lavasa, focusing on people of various socio-economic positions who have migrated to Lavasa for different reasons. It’s an endeavour to explore the town’s rich history and cultural fabric through the art of storytelling. The event commenced with Kareena Elizabeth Mathew sharing captivating tales from the project, with accounts of the people, now residing in Lavasa. These included the story of Manisha Khopre, once a farmer in Lavasa, who now works at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa. She has witnessed the city’s evolution firsthand, having lived here for almost two decades. They narrated the story of Honey Aunty aka Kawaljit Singh, a former software engineer and Abu Dhabi police staff, who now runs “Honey’s Gourmet”, serving homemade meals to students. The story of Poonam and Pradeep Seal, an entrepreneurial Bengali couple, who left Mumbai to open “Rhea’s Café” in Lavasa, offering authentic Bengali cuisine to their customers, was also narrated through pictures. This was followed by Digangana Chanda’s analysis of the project that employs digital technologies and platforms such as KnightLab for story mapping, focusing on archiving the narratives of Lavasa’s residents. Its a new way to experience and memorialize the city, often perceived as a failed private city in a forgotten corner of the world. The project adopts a qualitative approach, interviewing migrants and natives to understand their perceptions of home, belonging, and community. KnightLab’s tools are used to create an engaging digital storytelling platform and extend the experience beyond just stories. The user-friendly features of KnightLab have helped in archiving and presenting these narratives effectively. The initiative strives to connect Lavasa’s residents with a broader audience, highlighting their experiences and challenges in the process of migration and finding livelihood in a new place. On a larger scale, the project aims to preserve these stories for future reference, that offer insights into Lavasa’s vibrant history and evolution. Future prospects for the project, include collaborations and workshops across departments and disciplines in order to expand the project’s reach and impact beyond Lavasa. The event concluded with a message from Dr. Shobana P Mathews about the importance of storytelling in understanding the human aspect of places like Lavasa. This project is a step towards appreciating and connecting with the journeys of Lavasa’s residents. The event ended with an invitation to the attendees to follow these intriguing journeys on Lavasa's residents. The event ended with an invitation to the attendees to follow these intriguing journeys on Instagram.

Report Prepared by: Digangana Chanda                               

Approved by: Elizabeth Varkey

OUTCOME

Outcome 1: Demonstrate the use of story mapping tools and techniques for recording individual narratives

Outcome 2: Creation of a digital archive of the town for tourists, historians, ethnographers and place-based researchers