Download I Granai della Memoria, 24/10/10, 10 am, Sala G

I Granai della Memoria, 24/10/10, 10 am, Sala G
Reported by Anna Feldman
The main focus of the Terra Madre conference “The Granaries of Memory” were two
projects that have responded in their own way to the anthropological emergency of
disappearing traditional oral knowledge and memory. One was the presentation by
Vandana Shiva of the Manifesto on the Future of Knowledge Systems, the most recent
addition to the International Commission on the Future of Food’s collection of
manifestoes. The second was the introduction of the multimedia audio-visual project
“The Granaries of Memory” created by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in
collaboration with the region of Piedmont and various other entities and actors to collect,
preserve and protect the valuable immaterial heritage that is the wisdom and traditions of
our ancestors. Sharing the podium with Shiva was Carlo Petrini, along with Piercarlo
Grimaldi, cultural anthropology professor at UNISG, and other anthropologists and
researchers who are involved in the Granaries of Memory project. The name of the
project was inspired by the writings of French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, who wrote
that memory is the world’s heritage and that we must build the granaries that will set
aside the knowledge of the past to see us through the dark times ahead. We are most
certainly in a time of crisis and the granaries, interpreted in this context as a sort of audio
visual anthropological library, will undoubtedly be useful to us in the future as points of
reference and information. Petrini echoed that sentiment in his speech, stating that
traditional knowledge is a fundamental element in facing the great challenges that lie
ahead of us. He pointed out that the paradigm of Terra Madre tells us, and especially
young people, to preserve memory and to make good use of traditional wisdom, while
also taking advantage of new audio visual technologies that offer us a great hand in
documenting that knowledge. Technology, in coexistence with traditional knowledge,
should be democratic and available to all. One of Petrini’s biggest dreams is to give each
attendee of Terra Madre a small video camera to take back with them to their
communities. If that happened, he says, of course the videos would not be perfect or
professional, but the granaries would be full to the brim. Speaking after Petrini, Vandana
Shiva, biologist and activist, naturally and passionately shifted the conversation towards
science. We must change our mode of thinking about the world, she said, especially in
the scientific sphere. To solve the problems we face today, we cannot resort to the same
systems of thinking that created those difficulties. We must move from a reductionist and
mechanical approach to knowledge to a more holistic and fluid consideration of the world
around us, taking into account its complex, interconnected and ever changing nature. This
new Manifesto, she affirmed, is a call to the resurrection and re-inclusion of the
previously marginalized knowledge systems of indigenous peoples, of women, of elders,
of artisans, farmers and food producers that was once the richness of human culture.
Libraries and granaries are both places where the memories of the earth find their place.
The grains inside the granary are the books on the library shelves, full of culture, history
and know how. The Granaries of Memory library will hopefully become a replicable
system adopted by other researchers, anthropologists and groups to document traditional
wisdom and in so doing, start filling the granaries of the world for use tomorrow. As
Vandana Shiva said in closing, “Memory is not about the past. It is an informed shaping
of the future using everything we have been handed down through our cultures.”