Modernity

“Our vital traditions are being lost. They are bing ‘modernized’.” – A tribal mother’s concerns (interviewed for Survival International) in “Factory Schools: Destroying Indigenous People in the Name of Education” (accessed 28 March 2021)
https://www.survivalinternational.org/about/factoryschools
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=34514

Visual anthropological records of the adivasi communities’ lives and traditions: A project facilitated by Video Volunteers – Gujarat

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“We learnt how to make a story. We never gave importance to the story before, but now we do.” – Jyotiben, trainer “Even in the age of information overload, it is surprising that so little information is available on the tribals. So many histories- personal, political, oral, visual, gastronomic, medical, linguistic, are tucked away in little … Read more

Reduce the trust deficit between the administration and the tribals in India’s “rurban” country: Former Minister for Rural Development

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Source: “Cities and Migration”, UN-HabitatURL: https://unhabitat.org/gccm-cities-and-migrationDate Visited: 22 August 2023 Most Indian cities—of which 59 have populations of over a million people—lack adequate housing, sanitation, clean water, health care, education, public transport, trees and shade. According to the UN, in 2020 roughly half of India’s urban households lived in slums. This is a huge problem. … Read more

Listen patiently to the tribals, with their immense knowledge and creativity: The key to preserving nature while ending widespread exploitation and stigmatization of women

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In contemporary practice, the tribal memory is greatly undermined. There is general insistence that tribal children attend schools where non-tribal children attend schools, that they use medicines manufactured for others and that they adopt common agricultural practices. All because the world has very little time to listen patiently to the tribals, with their immense knowledge … Read more

Audio | “We can affect the future by what we do today”: Canadian science communicator David Suzuki on the importance of preserving ecosystems

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Listen to David Suzuki’s Survival Guide | Naked Ape to Superspecies >> “Forget it […] even if we could bring all the species back to life we don’t know enough about the ecosystems to bring them back together – it would be like unscrambling an egg blindfolded, with a spoon.” – Biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and … Read more

A holistic view of the world of adivasis under the British: Understanding the encroaching colonial ideals and intentions in the name of development and civilization

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Adivasis in Colonial India – Survival, Resistance and Negotiation by Biswamoy Pati (Orient BlackSwan, 2011) How do we define ‘adivasis’? A post-modernist approach will situate them as ‘colonial constructs’. However, as this book goes to show, tribals were not just a colonial creation. They were a part of south Asian reality at the time of India’s … Read more