Teaching Santal children by Boro Baski

Though India is hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, our small cluster of two Adivasi villages in West Bengal has not suffered infections yet. We do feel the economic impacts of course. […] Farm work has continued quietly. To many Santals, one lesson of the pandemic has been that agriculture provides the safest livelihoods. It … Read more

India’s tribal cultural heritage – Andhra Pradesh

“There cannot be a mere developmental/economistic solution to the Adivasi ‘problem’. But that has been the dominant approach to mitigating their condition. […] Adivasis cannot be equal citizens until they are considered holistically as a part of cultural and ecospheres with unique customs and practices, and not just as welfare recipients receiving doles. Further, there … Read more

ePaper | Writing and teaching Santali in different alphabets: A success story calling for a stronger sense of self-confidence – West Bengal

Santali is one of India’s many Adivasi languages. Today, seven different alphabets are used to write in it. Some argue that this great variety does not help the community’s development. | Read the full article by Boro Baski (3,3 MB) >> Among South Asian Adivasis, we are the largest homogenous group. More than 10 million … Read more

Tribal Arts in India: The National Inventory of Tribal Museums – an invitation for researchers and institutions engaged in conservation of tribal culture

This Inventory, if not an exhaustive listing of the rich diversity of the materials, is nonetheless a definite invitation for researchers and institutions engaged in conservation of tribal culture for a future exploration. The present volume is the base-line inventory and, it is hoped, will be followed by supplementary volumes in the future.

eBooks | Adivasi literature, a “distinct theme with many new voices”: Bhasha Research and Publication Centre – Gujarat

Bhasha is not an acronym. The term ‘bhasha’ means in most Indian languages, ‘language’, ‘speech’, ‘definition’ or ‘voice’. Bhasha Research and Publication Centre was founded in 1996 for study, documentation and conservation of Non Scheduled languages not protected by the Constitution of India. In the initial years, Bhasha focused on languages of Adivasi and Nomadic communities, many … Read more