Discover the newly awarded projects for 2024!

EMKP is delighted to announce that we have awarded 24 new grants! This brings the total number of EMKP Grants to over 100, with work now being supported in 55 different countries. Our 100th grant is also our first ever Legacy Digitisation Grant, which was awarded to Samantha Lauren, to digitise locally made objects within Montserrat’s National Museum.

This year we have awarded a total of 7 Large Grants, and 16 Small Grants. As with previous years, the competition was very high, with many excellent applications coming from across the globe. We want to congratulate the successful grantees and express our warmest gratitude to all the applicants and reviewers.

Among the diverse range of material practices that EMKP documents, the programme will see its first  projects in the Caribbean, documenting the palm thatch basket weaving, foodways, plant use, and agricultural practices of Black Seminole descendants of the Andros Island in the Bahamas, and the last locally crafted musical instrument, the Uke of Montserrat. An uptake in applications of dance and music has also enabled the first project in Malawi, documenting the Gule Wamkulu cultural dance, and the first project of Mozambique, documenting the Timbila, a xylophone of natural materials. The first funded project in the Federated States of Micronesia and Fiji will document traditional artificial island construction, whilst the first project in Guyana will document household tools that reproduce personhood. Other projects include string puppetry storytelling in India, wooden cradles for nomadic Mongolian infants, fuel stores made of ox and buffalo dung in India, and coral stone house construction in Kenya. An exciting year of projects, indeed.

The full list of projects is as follows:

LARGE GRANTS:

Documenting Indigenous Enset Food System of the Gamo People in Southern Ethiopia
PI: Addisu Fekadu Andeta
Location of Research: Gamo highlands of South Ethiopia

Coral Stone House Construction on the Swahili Coast
PI: Monika Baumanova
Location of Research: Lamu Town, Kenya

Resonating Mwenje: Documenting the Timbila Making Process and the Techniques of the Masters From Zavala, Mozambique
PI: Gianira Ferrara
Location of Research: Zavala, Mozambique

Lata Cultural Voyaging School Food Preparation and Preservation Techniques of Taumako
PI: Marianne George
Location of Research: Takulu Kainga and Taumako, Soloman Islands

Preserving Endangered Traditional Bamboo and Wooden Watermill of Minangkabau Culture Through Participatory Documentation Project
PI: Marjito Iskandar Tri Gunawan
Location of Research: Nagari Harau, Lima Puluh Kota Ragency and Nagari Tandikat, Padang Pariman Regency, Indonesia

Weaving Rivers and Connecting Communities
PI: William Milliken
Location of Research: The Wacchannha and Fuduuwaadunnha communities (Roraima State), Boa Vista, São Paulo (Brazil) and London (UK)

Traditions of Artificial-island Construction in the Western Pacific Islands
PI: Patrick Nunn
Location of Research: Federated States of Micronesia and the Fiji Islands

SMALL GRANTS:

Documenting the Craft of Creating Floating Dwellings in the Socio-ecological Landscape of Kashmir Valley, India
PI: Sayali Milind Athale
Location of Research: Srinagar, Kashmir

Nomadic Conical Tent Among Reindeer Herders of Mongolia: Documenting Skintaning, Birch Bark Crafting and Construction of Dwelling
PI: Donatas Brandisauskas
Location of Research: Khuvsgul, Mongolia

In Search of Bithooras. Documenting the Making and Unmaking of Decorated Cow-dung Fuel Stores in the Villages of South Delhi
PI: Andrew Burton
Location of Research: The villages of Ayanagar, Mandi and Ghitorni in south Delhi, India

Documenting the Endangered Mask-making Craft of the Gule Wamkulu Cultural Dance Among the Nyau Secret Societies of Malawi
PI: Anusa Daimon
Location of Research: Zomba and Dedza, Malawi

Preserving the Past: Documenting Endangered Knowledge of Traditional Mongolian Wooden Cradles for Nomadic Infants
PI: Gerelmaa Erdenechuluun
Location of Research: Buyant Sum, Bayan-Olgii Province, Mongolia

Documenting the Traditional Fishing Methods of Amvrakikos and Messolonghi/aetoliko Wetlands in Greece
PI: Maria Fotiadi
Location of Research: Amvrakikos Gulf and Messolonghi/Aetoliko Wetlands, Greece

Safeguarding the Lifecycle of the “jea”: Construction, Utilisation and Cosmology of an Indigenous Achuar House in the Central Western Amazon
PI: Luis Felipe Flores Garzon
Location of Research: Mashientz, Sharamentza, and Pumpuentsa, Ecuador

Rural Architecture of the Toros Mountains
PI: Alan M. Greaves
Location of Research: Çaltılar (Muğla), Balcı (Konya) and Kumluca (Antalya), Türkiye

Documenting Endangered Traditional Fishing Technologies Among the Kalapalo, Southern Amazon
PI: Antonio Roberto Guerreiro Júnior
Location of Research: Aiha village, Xingu Indigenous Territory, Brazil

Everyday Tools for Reproducing Personhood in Guyanese Amazonia
PI: Charlotte Hoskins
Location of Research: North Rupunun, Guyana

Kathputli Ka Khel: Preserving the Soul of Kathputli Through Documentation of Its Material Culture and Practices
PI: Vijay Kumar
Location of Research: Kathputli, India

The Uke – Montserrat’s Last Locally Crafted Musical Instrument
PI: Samantha Lauren
Location of Research: Montserrat

A Documentation of Weaving and Designs of aṣọ Òfì: Alápásá, Alábẹ, Jáwùú and Other Decorative Yorùbá Woven Fabrics
PI: Wale Ogunyale
Location of Research: Ìṣẹ́yìn, Ọ̀yọ́, and Ìbàdàn, Nigeria

Documenting Material Knowledge of Brass Adornments of the Ilongot (Bugkalot) of Northeastern Luzon, Philippines
PI: Analyn Salvador-Amores
Location of Research: Nueva Vizcaya, Northeast Luzon, Philippines

The Konso Agricultural Landscape: Documenting Traditional Terracing Systems in South-West Ethiopia
PI: Luisa Sernicola
Location of Research: Karata, Konso, Ethiopia

Endangered Inter-generational Knowledge and Practice for Black Seminole Descendants of Andros Island
PI: Meryl Shriver-Rice
Location of Research: Red Bays, Andros Island, The Bahamas

LEGACY DIGITISATION GRANTS:

Made in Montserrat – Legacy Digitization for Material Objects in the National Museum of Montserrat Collection
PI: Samantha Lauren
Location of Research: Montserrat

The EMKP Team would like to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone who responded to our call for applications, and once again congratulate the successful teams and their projects!

We can’t wait to work with the new cohort and support them on their EMKP journey.