The Power of Self-Interpretation: Ideas on Starting a Community Museum

[…] To appreciate the potential of the community museum, consider the challenges local communities, especially disadvantaged ones, face today. The effects of globalization include persistent poverty, loss of cultural identity, accelerated migration, and disintegration of the bonds of unity and solidarity within local communities. In this context, the community museum is not a luxury, and … Read more

Video | “This land is mine. I will get it back: The struggle of women from the Rana Tharu community – Uttarakhand

Many Adivasis have lost their land in Uttarakhand. But Kamla Devi of Pindari village and Mangola Singh of Nandpur are resisting usury, fraud and gender prejudice to get back their farmland and secure their rights | Read the full story on PARI: People’s Archive of Rural India >> From the earth that Kamla Devi toils … Read more

From Adivasi and Scheduled Tribes to Indigenous Peoples: “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (National Conference)

Parallel Session 3: The ‘Tribe’ defined in Social SciencesChaired by: Prof. Bipin Jojo, TISS, MumbaiPaper Presenters: Shreya Jessica Dhan (JNU, New Delhi), Anu Krishnan (TISS, Mumbai), Pradyumna Bag (JMI, New Delhi), Evy Mehzabeen (JNU, New Delhi). Shreya Jessica Dhan, in her paper “Defining the ‘Tribe’ in State Discourse: From Adivasi and Scheduled Tribe to Indigenous Peoples”, … Read more

Methods of education that create enthusiasm for learning and reduce the school dropout rate: A success story – West Bengal

Challenges The issues in tribal education are the conflict between the state’s policy of assimilating minorities into the mainstream culture and the tribal people’s reluctance to abandon and insistence on maintaining their identity. Rural tribal children face a severe dilemma when they are forced to reject their own culture and accept the schools’ middle-class values. … Read more

Nagpuri harvest songs and instrumental music – Maharashtra

The men of the Nagpuri community and Southern cultures perform the Mardani Jhumur dance after the harvest. The musical accompaniments include the Shenai, Dhol, Kara, Nakara, Jhanj and Kartal. Like the Paika Dance, the Mardana Jhumur Dance is also a semi martial art form. The dance movements and the accompanying music are martial in character … Read more