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

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

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

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

Pioneering community services for tribal communities in the Nilgiris: Adivasi Munnetra Sangam – Tamil Nadu

Excerpts from explanations in the illustrated calendar 2017 distributed by the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam (AMS) in Gudalur FRA Forest Rights Act Our forests are ours again. In 2006, the government finally accepted the historical injustice meted out to Adivasis and passed the Forest Rights Act thus recognizing our rights to forests. AMS is working hard to ensure that this … Read more

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

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