Chenchu music: “Kinnera” stringed music instrument – Telangana

The instrument uses bamboo for the neck, dried and hollowed gourds for resonators, human hair or animal nerves for strings, and pangolin scales for frets which are fixed using honey-wax. According to Mr. Rao, visiting faculty at the Centre for Dalit and Adivasi Studies at the UoH, Chenchus lost the instrument half a century ago … 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

Recovering tribal culture from the misrepresentation of mainstream media: Papers presented for “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (National Conference)

Parallel session 1: Tribal Identity and Resistance Narratives (28th February 2017)Chaired by: Prof. Shreya Bhattacharji, CUJ, RanchiPaper Presenters: Violina Borah (JNU, New Delhi), Moumita Roy (Delhi University, New Delhi), Juhi R.V. Minz (JNU, New Delhi), Shabeena Kuttay (Govt. Degree College, Bemina-Srinagar).Violina Borah presented a paper titled “R/establishing Identity: Reading Violence through Mahasweta Devi’s The Hunt.” The paper explored … Read more

The nomadic Romany (“gypsy”) tribe: Credited with amazing contributions to the music and dance of many countries from antiquity to the present – Sind & Punjab

Many of the modern day gypsies can be traced back to the nomadic tribe called Roma. In Europe, they were referred to as the goddess-worshippers. This goddess was none other than Kali. They were later referred to as gypsy, as they believed that they came from Egypt before spreading to European countries. The tribe Roma … Read more