DUTCH IN CHINSURAH
A digital resource for histories between the 17-19th century in Chinsurah
AN INITIATIVE BY
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COMMUNITY MENTAL MAPPING OF CHINSURAH
The first workshop for community engagement was conducted for the School Children in the age group of five to twenty in the form of a painting competition on the theme of "Heritage of Chinsurah". To have a wider audience reach this was organised as part of the local "Durga Puja" festival which is one of the most important festival of Chinsurah and attended by almost everyone in the community. This was envisaged as a mental mapping project, where the children drew what they defined as the most important landmarks within the town. Forty three children participated in the competition held on the 29th & 30th September 2014 as a part of the ‘Tola Phatak Sarvajanik Durga Puja Committee’ & 'Upasana' - Antarbagan Chuchura Durga Puja respectively.
The community survey had indicated that most children were unaware of the history of the Dutch in Chinsurah and thus a brief was prepared which was given out to the children giving them a brief narrative of the history of the town. Based on the brief, the children were asked to use their imagination to draw and illustrate the themes from the history of Chinsurah. Out of forty three children who participated in this competition the best illustrations were selected and have been compiled in the form of a children's story book of the Dutch in Chinsurah, this bilingual book in English and Bengali is available for download from the website.
Read more: Paintings made by the Children which includes a list of participants