Commentary

“Unless we affirm our culture and right and language, we won’t live. Our colour is good, our language is good, our art is good, our way of living is good. If we can respect your religion and your practices, why can’t you respect ours?” – G. Thenadikulam from Wayanad District (Survival International, accessed 21 September 2022)
http://notprimitive.in/not-primitive-info
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22274

“We have to write our own stories, about our issues, from our own perspectives”: Remembering Abhay Xaxa, a Fiercely Unapologetic Adivasi Scholar-Activist – Chhattisgarh & Jharkhand

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A champion for Adivasi rights, Xaxa played an active part in anti-displacement movements in central India. […] Xaxa passed away because of a heart attack. A native of the Jashpur district of northern Chhattisgarh, Xaxa had completed his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after receiving his masters in social anthropology from the University of … Read more

Audio, eBook & Video | “A good storyteller brings hope, hilarity, comfort, inspiration and peace”: Indigenous ways of connecting through books, digital communities and games – Canada, Australia & New Zealand

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“We faced pandemics before. […] A good storyteller brings hope, hilarity, comfort, inspiration and peace.” – Dene writer, Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytellin , CBC Radio Unreserved,  26 February 2021 It has been almost one year since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic. Its effects are still being determined, but one thing … Read more

eBook | The vulnerability of tribal populations: Tribes of India

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The vulnerability of tribal populations to exploitation by minor government officials, as well as moneylenders, landlords, and other agents of vested interests, can largely be traced to their illiteracy and general ignorance of the world outside the narrow confines of their traditional environment. Their inability to cope with the many novel forces impinging nowadays on … Read more

“Indigenous people are at the forefront of the struggle to save the planet”: Defending the guardians of nature

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On a very small scale compared to the widely promoted homogenising mega-schools, [alternative schools] respect diversity and are sensitive to the socio-cultural and political context of the children. […] The National Education Policy of 2020 is silent on the crucial question of integrating Adivasi knowledge. It appears to encourage multilingual education but calls for ‘philanthropic’ … Read more

A constitution which guarantees: “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen” – The Sovereign Republic of India

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Did the Constitution of India borrow ideas and many of its stand out features from the constitutions of other countries? Yes, after intense scrutiny, it turns out that our founding fathers liberally chose what features to embed into our Constitution and in many cases remoulded them to suit diverse local realities. “There is nothing to … Read more