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Bora Village Elder

November 2017

Avani Society

Avani Society
Berinag, India

Mr. Anh Singora, an elder in one Bora village, noted that there are three uses for hemp: seeds for consumption, the fibers for textiles, and the bud for smoking. Yet in the government's eyes, the third use was sufficient to ban the entire crop. Despite the villagers' anger, after the ban, hemp cultivation began to wane.

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  • Title: Bora Village Elder
  • Date Created: November 2017
  • Location: Uttarakhand, India
  • Type: Photograph
  • Photography: Emilie Thevenoz
  • Community: One of the primary communities Avani works with are the Bora Kuthaliya, a small caste based in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India. The Bora have a rich heritage and tradition of cultivating and weaving hemp to create bags, rugs, and mats. However, with the government's ban on hemp cultivation in the 1980s, this practice has all but disappeared. Today, with the help of Avani, Bora communities are reviving these traditional weaving skills through new art forms, enabling them to continue making a living in their Himalayan home.
Avani Society

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