February 2025
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Ecological kinships serve as one of the several ecologically and emotionally sustainable pedagogical practices of Gujarat's Afro-Indian diaspora communities, popularly known as the Siddis. The Siddis arrived in Gujarat in the 13th century with the Islamic invaders from different parts of eastern Africa as slaves, palace guards, harem keepers, and musicians. They gradually settled in Gujarat and embraced Afro-Sufi cultural practices like Zikr songs, Dhamaal dances, and Urs celebrations. These practices have enabled the Siddis to preserve their ancestral knowledge values as well as curate community-based teaching-learning practices. The musical and dance performances of their knowledge values serve as an effective teaching-learning practice and enable the Siddi communities to remember and re-member their multi-rooted and multi-routed histories. This chapter will discuss how the Afro-Indian cultural practices of the Siddis unfold alternate, radical pedagogies of ecological kinship.