Bidesia Project

The international research and exhibition project Bidesia on Hindustani migration history and culture focuses on migration memory and stories of Hindustani people in Northern India, Suriname and the Netherlands. It questions and visualizes how tradition, cultural performances and language (Bhojpur) were (and still are) handed down from one generation to the next. Bhojpur is one of the official languages in Northern India; migrants who travelled to Suriname as indentured laborers brought this language with them, and their descendents in Suriname and the Netherlands still know it as their mother tongue, Sarnami. The Bidesia project analyses the impact of the Bidesia folk tradition for Hindustani people in terms of artistic creation (music, poetry), community development and cultural identities.
The meaning of the word Bidesia is twofold. It is an affectionate term for the Hindu migrants who have left their native land, mainly the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (formerly Hindustan). It also refers to a specific literary tradition. Migration still happens in Northern India, as it also happens between Suriname and the Netherlands. This migration experience is still represented in oral traditions, as in poetry, music and theatre. The exhibitions, cultural workshop and publications provide an opportunity to discuss the past and the importance of cultural links.

RESULTS
- Exhibition in Allahabad (open since August 2006), Amsterdam (open in November 2007) and Paramaribo (intended to open in January 2008)
- Collections for the museums involved (Objects, photographs, archives, songs)
- Research findings and (audio/visual) registration of songs, memories and cultural practices in three countries that relate to migration experiences and culture (as sources for further research
- Publications (2 volumes in Occasional papers Series published; Resource Book in preparation)
- International cultural workshop In Allahabad, with artists, poets, musicians, writers from the three countries concerned (January 2007)

See also:
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Bidesia is a phrase designating both the people who left their country and did not return, and the tradition of performing arts rooted in this migration. (Organisation)