The Apatani Way of Life: Practices of Architecture Through Bamboo, Cane, and Land Use

This book celebrates the heritage of the distinctive Apatani community of the north-eastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. It explores the fascinating indigenous knowledge of field and forest and a uniquely sustainable and enduring way of life that continues to evolve in the modern context. The book tells the story of how a material culture was shaped around bamboo and cane resources and nurtured by a strong community spirit and spirituality that transcended the human world and maintained an unbroken ethos of conservation through time. It highlights the eco-sensitive lifestyle of this unique community and presents an in-depth analysis of the Apatani tradition of the exemplary use of natural resources.

Through this engrossing detailed study, the author observes how bamboo houses are built in three days, fish cultivated in a rice field and a single river used for millennia to feed an entire community. She highlights the triumph of the human spirit in engineering a cultural landscape out of a swamp, and how peaceful co-existence with nature can withstand the trials of time.

Part autobiographical and powerfully personal, this book is a primer on sustainable living as practice. It will be of interest to researchers and students of tribal and Himalayan vernacular architecture, traditional bamboo-cane craft, urban ecology and geography, cultural studies, and sustainability. It will also attract general readership while being academically useful for anthropologists, sociologists, botanists, ecologists and environmentalists.

Ritu-Ngapnon Varuni is a trained architect and designer, who wears many hats that extend from craft and furniture design, writing, poetry to creative, design and ethical learning, and Natural Himalayan farming. After completing her research thesis in Nagaland in the nineties, she was based in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam for 6 years working on researching and developing the use of bamboo in housing and craft along with other grassroots work. Her design work under her studio name of ’E’thaan’, has centered around traditional Indian craft design and skill development for most of her working life and has been exhibited in India and internationally. She has written many articles for books and journals.

Currently based in Himachal Pradesh, she is the Founder-Director of The Himalayan Rilung Foundation which is focused on developing a hands-on skill-based learning programme called Mountainwind.