FOLKLORE

What does Zoology got to do with folklore? Why would a college teacher of that subject enroll in a refresher course on Folkloristic and Semiotics here in the North Eastern Hill University?
“For years, the western world looked down on folk wisdom as mere myth and superstition, viewing from a myopic perspective,” Professor Prabodh Jhingan from NEHU’s department of culture and creative studies, says.
But, now the world’s focus has shifted and there’s a growing respect about folk wisdom’s applicability in finding solution to problems of the modern world, he stated.
In this context, Zoology lecturer L Muani Darnei from Kiang Nongbah Government College in Jaintia Hills, enrollment in a 20-day refresher course on folkloristic and semiotics, makes an interesting case study.
“All subjects are inter-disciplinary. I want to learn about folk wisdom on the ancient art of apiculture (bee-keeping) and sericulture,” she said adding, she wants to add that knowledge into “modern science.”
Darnei is joined by college lecturers of philosophy, linguistics and various other disciplines from all over the country in this unique first-of-its- kind refresher course being held in India.
Girija Gupte, a senior lecturer of Sociology from Mumbai’s Sathaye College wants to study about traditional herbal medicines that find mention extensively in Indian folklore. “People are rootless in Mumbai. Folklores are sources of knowledge, identities and unity,” she adds.
Eminent folklorists and personalities from all over the country would give guest lectures to the college teachers-turned-students for 20 days.
Jhingam adds this unique refresher course would throw light on interesting cases as to how Panini grammar and Vedic mathematics and ancient wisdom are being used in modern technologies.
“There has been a western bias to folk wisdom thinking that native literature, customs and practices were just not up to the mark.
The United Nations’ various agencies, however, are now slowly giving such ancient wisdom its due respect,” Dean of NEHU’s sociology department Nikhilesh Kumar said during inauguration of the University Grants Commission-sponsored course, here today.