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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.”