[Last modified: October, 24 2024 10:26 PM]
- Themes – idea of home, ancient wisdom of the home culture, oral traditions, objects from home
The idea stems from the personal urge to find home, a place one claims to belong. Having lived in multiple places and observed Punjabi locals and the diaspora within India but outside of Punjab, I am curious to see what the Punjabi diaspora is like in London/somewhere in the UK. What is the idea of home for them? If at all they relate to their ancestral land, what is it that they think they carry of it, I will see what traits or factors or threads I can pick from my observations which they might be subconsciously carrying along (tangible or intangible). Understanding the idea of Punjab from different generations can reveal how the oral history, ideas, and interpretations of this geographic place have evolved. Ethnographic – to know how people today in south hall interpret it and what’s the religion, caste, and class mix, how much part of nature influences their idea of home (since the concept of the land leans strongly on the five rivers, their fertile basin and the name Panj-ab (five rivers) is a testimony of it). After this paragraph is a draft of perspectives I feel, at this moment, are crucial aspects of the Punjabiyat (Punjabi identity). More often, In the second-week blog onwards, I will also consciously be using phonetically correct spelling – Panjab, in my effort to decolonize some irrelevant colonial baggage we carry. The proximity to one of the largest Punjabi diaspora communities in the vicinity of West London, in South Hall could be a good place to start, and I intend to spend time with a Punjabi family here (maybe of both Pakistani and Indian origin) to gauge their idea of home.
