Community Participatory Seminar on Traditional Systems of Rabha Community Change and Continuity

Vivekananda Kendra — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:12:36 +0000

Community Participatory Seminar on Traditional Systems of Rabha Community Change and Continuity Vivekananda Kendra Wed, 10/15/2025 - 19:42

Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture has long been involved in cultural research and preservation across Northeast India and now seeks to extend this mission to the Rabha people. In Collaboration with Bikali College, Dhupdhara to jointly organize the Community Participatory Seminar titled: "Traditional Systems of Rabha Community Change and Continuity" aims to explore the cultural, social, and economic transformations within the Rabha community, while also celebrating the rich traditional systems that continue to thrive. The seminar will bring together community members, researchers, students, and civil society to engage in meaningful dialogue and shared learning.

The Rabha community, predominantly inhabiting the Goalpara district of Assam, is one of the important indigenous communities of Northeast India with a distinct cultural heritage. Rich in both tangible and intangible traditions such as unique dances like Hanaghora, musical dramas like Bharigan, traditional crafts, and a rich oral tradition the community faces growing threats of cultural erosion due to modernization, migration, and acculturation. Language loss, declining ritual practices, and a disconnection between generations further compound the risk to Rabha identity.

This seminar, initiated by the Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture (VKIC), Guwahati, aims to undertake an extensive and detailed documentation of the customs and rituals of the Rabha community. As part of VKIC's broader mission to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, the seminar aspires to raise awareness, reinforce community self-confidence, and connect knowledgeable elders with the educated youth to preserve and revive cultural heritage.

The core objectives of the seminar are:

To document the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Rabha people through audio-visual means.
To assess the impact of acculturation and occupational shifts on traditional life ways.
To promote cultural continuity through community engagement.
To reconnect the elderly keepers of tradition with youth and scholars, fostering intergenerational knowledge transfer.

By engaging both practitioners and local youth, the seminar hopes to generate a sense of pride and ownership within the community about their cultural legacy. VKIC's previous success with similar documentation efforts among other Northeast communities provides a strong foundation for this initiative. In preserving Rabha heritage, this seminar envisions not only the safeguarding of traditions but also the empowerment of the community to evolve with confidence grounded in their identity and enriched by their cultural inheritance.