The Cholanaicken Basket Weaving Documentation Project is a 12-month community-based cultural heritage initiative focused on documenting, preserving, and promoting the traditional basket-weaving knowledge of the Cholanaickans, an indigenous forest-dwelling community of fewer than 250 people living in the Nilambur region of Kerala, India. Basket weaving has long played an important role in Cholanaickan life, serving practical, economic, cultural, and sacred functions while reflecting the community’s deep relationship with the forests on which they depend.
The project aims to safeguard knowledge that is increasingly at risk due to changing access to forest resources, shifting livelihoods, and the declining number of skilled practitioners. Working closely in collaboration with community members, the project will document the basket-weaving traditions maintained by approximately 10-12 key knowledge holders across settlements including Mancheeri, Alakkal, Myladipotti, Kuppamala, and other Cholanaicken habitations. Particular attention will be given to traditional basket forms, material selection and processing, weaving techniques, cultural meanings, contemporary adaptations that reflect changing environmental and social relaties and finally, a Cholanaicken language glossary of terms associated with the basket weaving processes.
The methodology combines participatory documentation, key informant interviews, group discussions, and hands-on demonstrations led by community practitioners. The project will also examine the social, ecological, economic, and cultural contexts that continue to sustain basket-weaving knowledge within a small but resilient community. Audio and visual recordings, along with field notes will capture the full basket-making process and document tools, materials, designs, and associated oral histories. Additional research will draw on museum collections, archival sources, and exitsing scholarship to contextualize Cholanaicken basketry within broader heritage and material culture traditions.
Project outputs will include a digital audio-visual archive, a Cholanaickan basketry glossary documenting local terminology, educational posters, publications, and a community-based exhibition that shares the documentation with both community members and wider audiences. By supporting the recording and transmission of knowledge between generations, the project seeks to contribute to the long-term preservation and recognition of Cholanaickan cultural heritage.
PI: Shawn Jacob Stephen
Collaborators: Vinod C; Merab Manu
Research Location: Mancheeri, Alakkal, Myladipotti, Kuppamala and other Cholanaickan habitations, Nilambur region, Malappuram District, Kerala, India.
Host Institution: Keystone Foundation
Top Banner Image: Collecting black dammer resin (cannarium strictum) in a traditional Cholanaickan basket. Photo credit: Vinayan C, 2025.