The Heroes Project

Natural Justice on an annual basis collaborates with the University of York on various policy-related projects, this year we are looking into the South African work around the Khoi and San peoples, which involves firstly, reviewing the impact of the Amendment 2014 to the Land Restitution Act on the Khoi and San peoples land rights, and secondly building on the Heroes Project through an identity workshop with youth from the Khoi, San and other South African communities. Through The Heroes Project, Natural Justice, the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, and the Law, Environment and Design Laboratory (LEDLab) explores psychosocial approaches to the law.

LED Lab interviewed for Tactical Technology Collective

Arpitha Kodiveri of Natural Justice was featured in the micro magazine that was published as a part of the evidence and influence conference organized by the Tactical Technology Collective in June, 2013. The magazine features interviews of environmental activists from across the world who have attempted to use creative techniques for intervention. The interview highlights the role of design in the communication of law, an approach which is being experimented with at the Law,  Environment and Design Lab. The LED Lab is an innovative space set up collaboratively between the Srishti School of Art, Technology and Design and Natural Justice. This interview features its pioneering efforts to create a board game on a progressive law in India called the Forest Rights Act, 2006 as well as a paralegal toolkit that uses puppet theater to speak about this law and its importance. The interview is available for viewing here.

LED Lab Mapping in Sariska Tiger Reserve

The team from the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab, a new partnership between Natural Justice and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, visited three villages in the core area of the Sariska Tiger Reserve to begin a resource mapping process with the Gujjar community. The team was accompanied by KRAPAVIS, a local NGO. The team worked with the community on a cognitive mapping exercise where different groups gathered to fill the chart paper with their understanding of the space they lived in. These cognitive maps became an effective tool to document the injustices caused by the denial of their rights to access the forest after its declaration as a tiger reserve. The LED Lab team conducted meetings with the Gram Sabha in each village to understand the status of implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and through this determined that knowledge of the Act was limited. The design students accordingly decided to develop a graphic novel that chronicles the different provisions of the Act and describes its interaction with potentially conflicting laws like the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The team also visited relocated villages where communities are still struggling with the dramatic transition and heard of the lack of community consultation through the relocation process. The LED team will now work towards creating a simple relocation chart that will detail options available along with experiences and challenges faced by other villages. 

Read more about the visit to Sariska Tiger Reserve here. Learn more about the LED Lab here.

LED Lab Projects Presented

From 7-8 January 2013, the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab hosted presentations on projects being offered to the design students of the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology for the coming semester. Around 40 students participated in the presentations from diverse backgrounds ranging from filmmakers to textile designers. The students will be working on two projects. One will be with the Gujjar community in Alwar, living in the Sariska Tiger reserve. The other will be with the Maldhari camel breeders in Kuttchh. 

The students will embark on their first field visit from 27 January - 3 February where they will work with community members on a participatory resource mapping process with the objective of presenting it as legal evidence and as a tool for future negotiations with external stakeholders. The students will also be looking at other outcomes from this experience. At the presentations, some proposed making a documentary on the entire experience. Others suggested the creation of cognitive maps to breakdown the rights and claims over the space that they occupy. The LED Lab will commence project work on 11 January with an immersion class introducing the students to the local context. The class will be taught by Kabir Bavikatte and Arpitha Kodiveri of Natural Justice and Deepta Sateesh  from Srishti.

More information on the projects and the presentation can be found here.

Law, Environment and Design Workshop - Bangalore

Natural Justice and the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology co-hosted a workshop entitled “Engendering Dialogue among Law, Environment and Design” at Srishti's campus in Bangalore, India on 7 December, 2012. The workshop sought to share the visions of participants, discuss ways of working together, and explore possible intersections between law, environment and design. The workshop also saw the launch of the website of Natural Justice and Srishti’s exciting new joint project, the Law, Environment and Design (LED) Lab (opening January, 2013). Representatives from the Global Environments Summer Academy, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment also participated in the workshop. 

While the LED website is not yet fully populated, it can be accessed here.

ALF Presentation on Creative Media and the Law

Namita Malhotra of the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) presented on her experiences using different forms of media to communicate the law at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology on 3 October, 2012. The presentation introduced faculty from Srishti and the Natural Justice India team to the use of different media forms and some of their potential challenges. ALF has used these different forms as tools to intervene on a variety of issues ranging from piracy to censorship. Their work continues to highlight the need for experimental modes of communicating the law, with an emphasis on exploring how the law can be deconstructed and understood through a multidisciplinary lens. This presentation will help to inform Natural Justice and Srishti’s work in setting up a lab to focused on exploring how design can be used to flesh out legal problems.