Anthropology

“[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

Arctic peoples treat a seemingly hostile environment with respect: Members of a “Fourth World” that unites indigenous minorities across North America and Eurasia

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The Arctic, or circumpolar, peoples are the indigenous inhabitants of the northernmost regions of the world. For the most part, they live beyond the climatic limits of agriculture, drawing a subsistence from hunting, trapping, and fishing or from pastoralism. Thus climatic gradients, rather than simple latitude, determine the effective boundaries of the circumpolar region, and … Read more

Video | The Baikho festival of the Rabha tribe: “A wonderful legacy of vibrant culture, traditions and rituals” – Assam

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Assam: Baikho festival highlights vibrant culture of Rabha tribe in Goalpara | To view the Times of India video, click here >> The rich tribal culture of India’s northeast region carries a wonderful legacy of vibrant culture, traditions and rituals. The tribes from different states have their own unique lifestyle, colorful customs, languages that stands out exceptional to … Read more

“What if kings and kingdoms existed today?”: Matrilineal kingship among the Mannan tribal community of Idukki – Kerala

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Basil Poulose, The Better India, 13 April 2017 | To view a series of photos and read the full article, click here >> Stories of kings, palaces and chariots from history books always manage capture our imagination. What if kings and kingdoms existed today? Deep in the forests of Idukki, a mountainous district in Kerala, there still lives … Read more

eBook | “Learning to love the city in Northeast India” – IIAS Newsletter

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The Newsletter 77 Summer 2017 Learning to love the city in Northeast India The rapid urbanization of India’s Northeast frontier1 is one of the most crucial transformations the area has witnessed, yet it remains relatively understudied. In just a few decades a large number of the inhabitants have become urban dwellers in one of the frontier … Read more

Another India: Explorations and Expressions of Indigenous South Asia (Exhibition Catalogue 2017) – UK

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Cambridge: MAA & Kolkata: Adivaani/One of Us. Exhibition Catalogue: 136pp; Full Colour; ISBN 978-0-947595-24-1 Written by Mark Elliott, Senior Curator (Anthropology), Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge; Foreward by Nicholas Thomas; Afterward by Ruby Hembrom >> Over one hundred artefacts, paintings and photographs from the collections of MAA, many of which have never been exhibited before, … Read more