CHC awarded an Honorary Mention by Our World Heritage for 'Counter Stories: A case of Conservation Site Schools in Ahmedabad'
Center for Heritage Conservation (CHC) was awarded an Honorary Mention for their contribution toward the 'Call for Participation: Counter Stories', within Our World Heritage (OWH) Diversities and Genders Group. The essay and 15-minute short film entry, titled 'Counter Stories: A case of Conservation Site Schools in Ahmedabad', is authored by Jigna Desai, Nigar Shaikh, and Zeus Pithawalla. The entry discusses the narrative of the World Heritage City, the criteria within which the city is inscribed, and in turn the negligence toward presenting the city’s uncomfortable histories. This research presents the opportunity of using Conservation Site Schools in Ahmedabad to initiate processes of repair, restoration, and upgradation of the site while foregrounding voices of the local community that share narratives of marginalized histories excluded from world heritage. These ‘counter spaces’ within the site schools, like that in Tankshal ni Pol Masjid, give a voice to the marginalized histories of communal violence, segregation, and women’s access to praying spaces. The entry was presented at the Genders and Diversity Conference, during a virtual Roundtable on 30th March ‘21 and further, published in August ‘21 on Our World Heritage's Website. View the essay and short film below.