Nikita Kaur Simpson

Gothchaala is a collaborative research project rooted in the lived experiences of the Gaddi community – an agropastoral tribe navigating rapid ecological and socio-cultural change in the Western Himalayas. Building on a decade-long collaboration between anthropologist, Nikita Simpson, Gaddi shepherd Shyam Lal and artist Soujanyaa Boruah, this project investigates how Gaddi people experience and theorize ecological distress in the context of livelihood change and environmental breakdown. It will do this through a participatory methodology called ‘Gothchaala’ – an immersive ethnographic journey modelled on the traditional shepherding route. On three 5 day treks across the Dhaula Dhar range, the research team will constitute a “nomadic research centre”—a living, moving space of inquiry embedded in the community’s migratory rhythms. To replicate this methodology, we will co-produce a toolkit that will be disseminated to other pastoral and tribal groups through existing partnerships with SOAS Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA). This research will foster anthropologically-informed dialogue about ecological distress through culturally-embedded and non-extractive practices. It contributes indigenous theories of ecological distress to wider debates in anthropology that speak back to colonial and medical understandings of ‘mind’ and ‘environment’ by prioritizing collaborative knowledge-making.