engaging urban ethnic minority communities in heritage and environmental issues_coproduction 31...
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Engaging Urban Ethnic Minority Communities in Heritage and Environmental Issues:
British Raj in the Peak District National Park
Esme Cleall & Chamu Kuppuswamy
• Scope of the project• Methodology• Reflections
What are the links between India and the Peak District National Park?
• Textile links – cotton production• Edward Carpenter – and his writings on India
and the environment
Steering meetings
My fears
Workshops and skill-sharing
Excursions: Archwright’s Mill at Cromford (which span Indian cotton)
Excursions: Leek Embroidery Exhibition
Design Ajanta, c. 1884-89, based on ancient cave paintings in Western India. Tussur silk cloth hand-woven in India. Block-printed by Wardle & Co., dyed by T & A Wardle, both in Leek. (SMDC Collection)
Excursions: visit to Edward Carpenter’s House at Milthorpe
In the archives
Planning walks in the Peak District on site in the Moorland Discovery Centre
… and trying it out
Balancing different aims and changing aims
• Connecting the Community with ‘Heritage’ the ‘Natural Environment’.
• To think about Hindu teachings as espousing a ‘holistic’ approach to the world and the environment.
• To encourage ethnic minority groups to engage in the Peak District – not just as visitors but to have a sense of ownership.
• To building on MOSAIC’s work (which focuses on ‘wellbeing’) to move towards a position where the Indian Community can take a leadership position in environmental issues.
• To promote ‘inter-cultural thinking about the National Park and the environment’.
• To try to understand the legacies of the British Empire; how the overseas empire shaped what Britain is today.
What is ‘produced’?
• Funding requirements – to produce a particular kind of thing?
• Do we ‘need’ to be ‘original’? In what we find or how we find it?
• Are we trying to ‘produce’ something? Or to celebrate a process?