Anusha Yadav creator of the Inidan Memory Project interacting with attendees of the presentation on Wednesday. Photo: Liesl Frankson
Wits hosted a presentation on the Indian Memory Project on Wednesday as part of the 2013 Indiafrica Festival that took place this week.
The project is an online, curated, visual and oral history archive that traces the personal history of the Indian subcontinent, its people, cultures, developments and much more. This is done with the help of contributors who send images and letters from family archives.
The event was an interactive session with the creator of the Indian Memory Project Anusha Yadav and members from the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa. Yadav presented a selection from the project, along with the narratives as an example of what the project has been able to bring to light.
The Indian Memory Project and Indian History
Yadav believes this initiative is able to offer a more precise history of the subcontinent, because these stories are the missing links in the history that has been taught. Many things have been left out of the history books or added in and looking at ordinary pictures offers a comprehensive insight into people’s lives.
“It traces the history of the country, by tracing the history of families,” said Yadav. According to Yadav this project can help people resolve their past and live with a little more pride.
“I believe India suffers from very low self esteem about itself and when I started Indian Memory Project I worked to show pride.”
The Indian Memory Project and Africa
The section of the project presented was made up of many stories of people who had ties not only to India but also to Africa. The organizers of the event and the entire Indiafrica initiative felt that India and Africa share similar histories and they are connected by similar hopes and aspirations.
With this in mind “The Indian Memory Project helps us to understand this past and the better we know the past the faster the future can develop” said Yadav.
The project is not only made up of pictures of people’s family lives, but contributors have also sent in pictures of their college lives, work lives, the start of businesses and pictures of other things they feel has a place in history or a story to tell.
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