The Wancho Animation Workshop: Interpreting Local Folklore for Animation in North-East India.

This article examines the use of animation as a participatory media practice to represent and revitalize indigenous knowledge and cultural narratives of the Wancho community of North-East India. It details a collaborative research project involving Wancho elders, local youth, animators, and anthropologists, conducted through workshops at North-Eastern Hill University, aimed at documenting Wancho folktales and adapting them into animated films with community input. The project addresses challenges such as language translation, cultural authenticity, and balancing traditional storytelling with contemporary media forms, while emphasizing multidisciplinary engagement to decolonize indigenous representation. The initiative highlights animation's potential to engage younger generations, sustain endangered oral traditions, and foster intercultural understanding, proposing community-led media production as a means to preserve and communicate indigenous heritage in a respectful and ethically informed manner.