About the Talk

The seas connect rather than divide us. Can maps and digital technology help craft new ways of telling coastal stories and doing history? This interactive talk discusses how maps and digital technology can center fisher stories in the urban history of Chennai. We will explore aspects of fisher science of the seas with S Palayam, fisher elder, Urur Kuppam (Chennai) and discuss how fisher understandings of weather derived from inter-generational artisanal work, knowledge and craft chart relationships to a place, Urur, that urban residents call, Besant Nagar beach. We will then share a collaborative digital story map created by a team of researchers, students, artists with S. Palayam. In the process, we ask what kinds of histories emerge and what do these histories teach us?

About the Speakers

S Palayam, Fisher elder, Urur Kuppam, Chennai. S Palayam has been recording weather, wind, and ocean currents since 2018. He combines these with traditional fisher knowledge to understand changing marine conditions and their impact on fishing. Palayam’s work is part of a broader effort to share “Fisher Science,” a term used to describe the knowledge and practices of artisanal fishers. For more on the science of the seas and his collaboration with Nityanand Jayaraman: https://science.thewire.in/science-of-the-seas/

Dr Bhavani Raman is Associate Professor, Department of History at the University of Toronto. A historian of law and the state, Raman has been researching coastal environmental histories to understand the layered and fragile histories of the coastal commons which are under renewed threat all over the Indian Ocean littoral. For more see, https://science.thewire.in/society/urban/curious-disappearance-ennore-creek/