This project, documented on the Janastu Blog, set out to collect, visualise, and integrate data about the seasonal migratory routes of pastoralist communities across India. Pastoralism is a land-use practice that predates most administrative boundaries, yet pastoralists’ routes are increasingly disrupted by urbanisation, infrastructure projects, and policy changes.
The mapping work combined GIS tools with participatory research methods- an approach I also employed when mapping the history of cinema halls in Hyderabad- drawing on the knowledge of pastoralist communities themselves. The aim was not just to produce maps but to make visible a pattern of land use that is often invisible to planners- and to do so in a way that centres indigenous knowledge, much like the Climate Resource Center project did for agrarian practices in Bidar.
