The Power of Self-Interpretation: Ideas on Starting a Community Museum

[…] To appreciate the potential of the community museum, consider the challenges local communities, especially disadvantaged ones, face today. The effects of globalization include persistent poverty, loss of cultural identity, accelerated migration, and disintegration of the bonds of unity and solidarity within local communities. In this context, the community museum is not a luxury, and … Read more

Video | “This land is mine. I will get it back: The struggle of women from the Rana Tharu community – Uttarakhand

Many Adivasis have lost their land in Uttarakhand. But Kamla Devi of Pindari village and Mangola Singh of Nandpur are resisting usury, fraud and gender prejudice to get back their farmland and secure their rights | Read the full story on PARI: People’s Archive of Rural India >> From the earth that Kamla Devi toils … Read more

Cultural values of “the world’s largest tribal population”: Focus on crafts, linguistic diversity and the missing link in India’s development story – Akshara

India is a colourful country comprising a staggering variety of cultures and communities. Each section has its own needs and requirements and among all, we tend to forget the most sidelined community – the tribals. […] India has the world’s largest tribal population and it is also the most economically underprivileged in our country. One … Read more

Promoting social enterprises based on value addition of local, natural resources, especially bamboo, the “green gold”: A Wayanad-based NGO Uravu – Kerala

URAVU is a non-government organization working with people, governments and businesses to implement programs for sustainable employment and income generation in rural areas. Uravu is a non-profit trust, established in 1996, registered under the Indian Trusts Act. Uravu promotes social enterprises based on value addition of local, natural resources, especially bamboo, the “green gold”. Uravu implements integrated, … Read more

Absence of a dowry-system, divorce by mutual consent, and widow-re-marriage: On the high status of women in Badaga communities (Nilgiri) – Tamil Nadu

The Badagas are a unique community living mainly in the Nilgiris District in Tamil nadu in South India. They are also the single largest community of the Nilgiris. Though classified backward, a significant factor is the high status of their women says Indu K Malla, a Badaga writer of distinction, in her article ” The myth … Read more