“[I]ndigenous people in India also feel the claustrophobic confines of their identity which has been imposed on them by others, be it the colonial administrator, the colonial anthropologist.” – Santali poet, scholar and translator Ivy Imogene Hansdak in “Is tribal identity relevant in today’s world?”, Inaugural Speech, National Conference “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (2017)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=23032
We met adivasis who had been persecuted by the Naxalites, and other adivasis who had been tormented by the Salwa Judum vigilantes [i.e. “a strange, not to say bizarre, example of bipartisan co-operation“]. The situation of the community was poignantly captured by one tribal, who said […] “placed between the Maoists and the vigilantes, we … Read more
“We learnt how to make a story. We never gave importance to the story before, but now we do.” – Jyotiben, trainer “Even in the age of information overload, it is surprising that so little information is available on the tribals. So many histories- personal, political, oral, visual, gastronomic, medical, linguistic, are tucked away in little … Read more
In contemporary practice, the tribal memory is greatly undermined. There is general insistence that tribal children attend schools where non-tribal children attend schools, that they use medicines manufactured for others and that they adopt common agricultural practices. All because the world has very little time to listen patiently to the tribals, with their immense knowledge … Read more
Adivasis in Colonial India – Survival, Resistance and Negotiation by Biswamoy Pati (Orient BlackSwan, 2011) How do we define ‘adivasis’? A post-modernist approach will situate them as ‘colonial constructs’. However, as this book goes to show, tribals were not just a colonial creation. They were a part of south Asian reality at the time of India’s … Read more
Networking, respect for the culture nurtured by local communities and knowing the aspirations of modern tribal youth – these factors help rural children realize their full potential. In recent time, modernity has triggered tribal consciousness empathetically. Increasingly available facilities are pushing the educated and informed tribal groups to seek (new) identity among majority in the Indian society. […] So it is very … Read more