Recently I read an article "Turning the iconic Ghana Must Go bag into high fashion" in In Pictures section of the BBC News. I was struck how a bag can have multiple meanings and become a symbol of migration, identity, mobility as well as stereotyping. I'm familiar with such bags. We also use them in India but even in India not everyone uses such bags. We still have three of these bags. They're fairly sturdy bottomless pits usually with black or red border piping. I must admit that I too have a certain disdain toward these bags. They're not 'cool' but I've also learnt that there are advantages to using them. I've seen them in Old Delhi and at railway stations. I've seen people of certain regions in India use them. However, I doubt whether these bags have many takers among upper classes in urban India.

Do you have any stories or memory related with such woven matted bags? It would be interesting to hear your experiences. 

The article is written by Nduka Orjinmo, BBC News, Abuja (19 November 2020)

This post is part of the reflections of the first year MA students of Cultural Anthropology and Sociology at University of Mandalay from their field visits. This has to be located against the fact that teaching in Myanmar is still very traditional in its setting and out-dated in its references. We have been trynig to break this by adopting HaB methodology and pedagogy.

Located south of New Delhi, Mehrauli (from mehr-grace, auliya- saint) is one of the oldest continuously habited cities of Delhi. The Dramatic expansion of Mehrauli post independence has led to haphazard construction of built up spaces.

At the 6th Conference of the Asian Borderlands Network, held in Bishkek between 13-15 August, members of HaB held a double panel entitled Asian Rice-Scapes: Topographies, Tastes and Technologies.

A Humanities across Borders (HaB) Methodologies Workshop in Senegal organised by LASPAD, Gaston Berger University in association with Hahatay son Risas de Gandiol (Hahatay, the smile of Gandiol)