Alternative ways of living: “Buen vivir”, the lived knowledge of ancestral indigenous nations – Andes and the Amazon basin

Mateo Martínez Abarca (Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal) | Read the full paper here >> We are currently facing a crisis that threatens not only the survival of our civilisation and humans as a species, but that of life on our planet as a whole. At the same time, the exploitation-based approach to development is facing … Read more

Video | Honey gathering tribes assert their ancestral rights and way of life – Tamil Nadu & Karnataka

The Kattunayakans are a honey gathering community in the Gudalur valley. Over generations they have mastered the skills required to take honey out of hives. – Priyashri Mani (upload information 3 July 2012 on Youtube) | Credits: Adivasi Munnetra Sangam | Learn more >> “Don’t fund our eviction”: honey-collecting tribe pleads with US governmentJanuary 20, 2020 … Read more

“Woodsmoke and Leafcups”: A book that opens up the full joy of tribal life without romanticisation – Bastar

The natural wealth with which much of tribal India is endowed is also its bane. The erstwhile Bastar district, one of the largest in the country, was first divided into three, and later into seven parts, each with a separate administrative system. In the guise of bringing governance closer to the people – let us, … Read more

Tip | Tribal collections in India’s ethnographic & community museums

Museums have through the years been seen as institutions involved in the research, conservation and dissemination of information. India has eighteen Tribal Research and Training Institutes which run fourteen Ethnographic Museums with a combined collection of nearly 30,000 artefacts such as paintings, ornaments, costumes, hunting and agricultural implements, pottery, toys and religious objects; with each … Read more

“Ayurveda has evolved from the folk medicine”: Tribal medicinal practices and more – Medicine and Life Sciences in India (review)

Review: Medicine and Life Sciences in India. Subbarayappa, B. V. (Ed.) 2001. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Pp: 771. Price not given. by D.P. Agrawal & Lalit Tiwari Of late the West is veering round to the Alternative Medicine Systems, as allopathy has failed to cure the serious diseases afflicting mankind. No wonder … Read more