At a time when the recurring human-wildlife conflict posing a serious issue in Wayanad the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology has launched its second edition of Tierra – an eco-theatre performance workshop – to orient children towards the animal-human community and foster positive relations.
The Tierra series is designed to inculcate the idea of sustainability among children through theatre, says T.R. Suma, head of food systems, Hume Centre, said.
The era of climate change or the Anthropocene era is characterised by the “dual nature” of human-nature relations. It is widening the gap between each individual from their immediate environment while they suffer from the issues of the imbalanced nature as calamities, Dr. Suma said. Such experiences are varied for different individuals in different cultural and economic spheres of the society, she said.
The workshop is also trying to connect the bodies of the participants with the animal bodies around them.
The first edition of the workshop launched in the district last year was a huge success and it inspired us to launch the second edition in the selected schools in Wayanad and Kozhikode districts, she said.
At the foothills of ancient Thrissilery hills a group of forty students from different schools of Wayanad joined together to feel, understand and connect with the nature around them during the launching of the second edition recently.
“Eco theatre workshops are designed to reduce the gap between individual bodies to their immediate nature and to place them in a human-animal community with a multiplicity of relations,“ said actor and theatre researcher Devendranath Sankaranarayanan, who is the director of the workshop.
The series facilitates the collective imagination for an inter-cultural multi-species inclusive space for a better future. It is part of the long-term climate education programme that Hume Centre is conducting among the school children in the state, he said. The workshop tried to connect them to the agroecosystems through sensory elements of food such as touch, taste, memories, knowledge and experience of farmers, he said.
“Tierra helps me better understand the dynamics of climate change and how our careless actions contribute to global climate change,” said D. Eldose, a Class IX student of the school.
“I know how the life of dragonflies, rice farmers, elephants and food are connected and how the climate fluctuations challenge us as a community,” A. Jiya, a Class VI student of the Thrissilery government higher secondary school said.
