De- and re-tribalisation

“The guiding principle is that no person who was not a Scheduled Tribe by birth will be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Tribe merely because he or she has married a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe. Similarly a person who is a member of a Scheduled Tribe would continue to be a member of that Scheduled Tribe, even after his or her marriage with a person who does not belong to a Scheduled Tribes. However, status of the children born out of such marriages would depend on the particular caste status of the father.” – National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
https://www.ncst.gov.in
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=33998

Role models for members of “hill-tribes” forcibly brought down to the plains: Irulas in pursuit of higher education – Tamil Nadu

by

How Tamil Nadu’s Irula students are struggling to pursue higher education | To read the full story in the New Indian Express, click here >> As [the correspondent] travels across the northern districts of Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, and Tiruvannamalai, it becomes clear that hundreds of Irula students, like Dhanalakshmi, have been struggling without a community … Read more

India’s tribal citizens and the country’s urban mainstream: In search for schooling, work, food and dignity at home – Comment from New Delhi

by

Fragile lives, ferocious changes: The story of my Adivasi maidby Renuka Narayan An important position paper with policy recommendations on India’s tribal citizens is currently under consideration with Government. Its outcome interests me because though they don’t make them more ‘mainstream’ than I, my life as an urban gipsy startles friends who have lived in one house … Read more

The last frontier of Firkal martial art of Chotanagpur area – Jharkhand

by

Unique: ‘Firkal’ performanceNo mention has been made of it in ancient treatises, history books, traveller’s account or even in archaelogical records. | Read more >> Older than Kalaripayattu, and even those martial art forms that trace its origins to China and Japan, Firkal is still very much a living martial art-based dance form, performed mainly … Read more

A significant cultural moment among the Bodos: The literary rebirth of a compelling character in Indira Goswami’s novel “The Bronze Sword of Thengphakhri Tehsildar” – Assam

by

Indira Goswami’s novel on the legendary Bodo heroine Thengphakhri was not just about the life of a forgotten heroine, but also an attempt to reignite interest in an under-represented region of Assam’s history. I don’t remember exactly when Indira Goswami had announced to the Assamese media that she was orking on a novel about the … Read more

eBook | “We want the behavior of our children to be shaped by those values which are most esteemed in our culture”: First Nations Control of First Nations Education – Canada

by

To read, download or print the entire PDF-document (10 MB), click here >> STATEMENT OF VALUES “We want education to provide the setting in which our children can develop the fundamental attitudes and values which have an honored place in Indian tradition and culture. The values that we want to pass on to our children, values which … Read more