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The Archives of Maritime Traditions was initiated in 2012, beginning with Dr. Lotika Varadarajan's research collection comprising photographs, research notes, manuscripts and published papers created during her ethnographic research on maritime communities, traditions and technologies in India.
The Conference on Maritime Traditions of the Indian and Pacific Ocean was held 22-24 March 2018 at Kochi, to connect this collection with current knowledge on nautical and maritime traditions in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and to begin the process of creating a database of coastal sites on maritime routes, sites and oral traditions for collectively narrating the cultural and natural linkages across the Ocean world.
Tools used for sewing the boats at Lakshadweep. 2008 <Maritime Communities>
Traditional method for beaching at Beypur. Kerala. 1987 <Maritime Communities>
Fishing in the fishing canoes at Carnicobar <Maritime Communities>
Tools used for sewing the boats at Lakshadweep. 2008 <Maritime Communities>
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This research collection is donated to Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), managed at Centre for Community Knowledge. The digitisation and annotation of the collection is supported by Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation and Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The Conference and the Archive of Maritime Traditions of Indian and Pacific Oceans was supported by Project Mausam, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts and Kerala Tourism, in collaboration with Muziris Heritage Project.
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Moving outward from littoral communities of Indian Ocean and the islands, this archive is the starting point of an exercise to identify and draw interconnections between maritime practices and traditions in the dynamic prehistoric eastern Ocean, that combines the Pacific with the Indian Oceans. The archive draws attention to the links and practices that existed between societies from East Africa through South and Southeast Asia to the islands of the western Pacific, prior to the development of the better documented trade of later colonial periods.
THE LOTIKA VARADARAJAN
RESEARCH COLLECTION : 1960 - 2017
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The Maritime Traditions Archive was initiated in 2012, through Dr. Lotika Varadarajan's research collection comprising digitized photographs, research notes, manuscripts and published papers created during her ethnographic research on maritime communities in India, traces her work from different geographical regions and seafaring communities. The contents of the collection are accessible online here>
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Archive created by the Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University Delhi with the support of the Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
Dr. Lotika Varadarajan
(1934-2017)
ARCHIVES OF MARITIME TRADITIONS INDIAN AND PACIFIC OCEANS
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The Conference on Maritime Traditions of the Indian and Pacific Ocean recognizes the maritime traditions of the two regions as a compendium of knowledge based on seafaring experiences from a number of countries and regions. It locates the inter-connections and cross fertilisation of ideas from the perspective of scholars and professionals from the region. This conference is being organised to bring together a network of people working on maritime pasts from the Indian and Pacific ocean region, who could help in putting together content for the proposed new maritime museum at Muziris in Kerala. The conversation around knowledge exchanges, traditions and technologies along maritime routes from the Ocean littoral to countries in Australasia, South, South East, East and West Asia and Africa are being organised here>
Archive created by the Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University Delhi with the support of Project Mausam, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
As a visitor, you could browse the following themes and contents of the archive under the tab 'Collections' in the main menu bar.
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COLLECTIONS
All rights belong to Dr. Lotika Vardarajan Research Collection and Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University Delhi, unless otherwise specified. 2018.
ARCHIVES OF INDIAN MARITIME COMMUNITY TRADITIONS
Archive created by the Centre for Community Knowledge, Ambedkar University Delhi
with the support of
Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation, and
Project Mausam, Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts
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