A Journey of Learning Laz Language from Plants

October 2023 – August 2024
ARTVIN

The project aims to offer teenagers who do not know their mother tongue a kickstart in learning, understanding and speaking their language through plants, proving that recognizing Laz people’s traditional plant wisdom is a very fluent and permanent way to have a grasp of the Laz language and culture. In addition, it will contribute to the establishment of a communication bridge between the elderly and the young, as well as the young generation’s recognition, protection and revitalization of the plants used by the Laz and the multiple relations with their languages and cultures.

The audio and video recordings from the ethnobotanical research “Plant Wisdom of the Laz,” which reveals the relations of the Laz with wild plants and their environment in the villages where they live in the province of Artvin in 2019, will be edited as a 25-minute documentary and delivered particularly to young generations through screening sessions to be held in the districts of Artvin. The documentary will tell the journey of a Laz cultural ecologist and ethnobotanical researcher (Ceren Kazancı Oruç), who had been away from her native language of Laz and its ancient lands, to learn about the cultural keystone plant species while getting more familiar to her native language and people. The documentary will emphasize that the intergenerational transfer of knowledge and experience about plants, which were once one of the basic livelihoods of peoples, can be among the most effective ways to learn a language.

Documentary screenings and interviews will be an encouraging source of inspiration for many people who wish to learn and understand the traditional lifestyle associated with the Laz language and culture, its relations with nature, and its world of emotion and thought. It will therefore help to recognize and revive the Laz language and other endangered languages and cultures, and contribute to the preservation and continuity of biocultural diversity in the world.

Ceren Kazancı Oruç

She is an ethnobotany expert and ecologist who focuses on the relationship of Caucasian peoples, particularly highlanders, with plants. In 2021, she received her PhD in ecology with her thesis titled “Distribution of knowledge of wild highland plants in the Georgia-Turkey border region.” She works as a researcher in ethnobotany projects and studies on conservation of biocultural heritage. She contemplates on socio-ecological systems in the Caucasus region and carries out ecocultural tourism-oriented activities in said region.

She works with a team which creates documentaries on traditional plant wisdom. She prepares written and visual ethnographic-anthropological resources using the interviews she has recorded during her research activities, and tries to share them with a broad audience in the society. On the other hand, she produces natural oils, soaps and ointments from wild plants under the name Şifa Heybesi (Healing Sack) and organizes practical trainings in municipalities, non-governmental organizations and universities for everyone to prepare and use such products at home.

Since 2020, she has been engaged in horticulture in Arhavi, on the Black Sea coast on the Georgian border. She follows the traditional ecological knowledge of the Laz in an effort to contribute to the preservation and revitalization of the traditional ecological knowledge of the ancient Colchic lands.

This page is published on 8 December 2023.