Romanticising ‘indigenous peoples’ in the West just as in urban India

The impulse to romanticise ‘indigenous peoples’ is still a powerful force in scholarship and public debate, and not only in the West but also in urban India, where ‘tribal’ (adivasi or ‘first-inhabitant’) textiles are fashionable, tribal dances grace government parades, and publishing on tribal cultures is big business. Most large-format photographic books of tribal life in India (Baldizonne 1999), for example, only perpetuate images of tribal people as guardians of static culture by conflating historical and contemporary contexts. Read more >>

Source: Tribal Transitions at SOAS – Research Description
Address : http://www.soas.ac.uk/tribaltransitions/description/
Date Visited: Thu Dec 20 2012 11:10:31 GMT+0100 (CET)

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Seminar on traditional self-governance – Jharkhand

The Telegraph, Calcutta, Thursday , June 21 , 2012 Ranchi, June 20: Tribal heads from across the state congregated on the premises of Raj Bhavan on Wednesday to take part in a first-of-its-kind daylong seminar on traditional self-governance that was organised at the behest of the governor. […] More than 400 Mankis, Mundas, Parha Rajas, Sohors, … Read more

Nurturing Oglala Lakota customs, language, and beliefs in South Dakota (USA) – National Geographic Magazine August 2012

In the Shadow of Wounded Knee After 150 years of broken promises, the Oglala Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota are nurturing their tribal customs, language, and beliefs. A rare, intimate portrait shows their resilience in the face of hardship. By Alexandra Fuller Photograph by Aaron Huey Read the full article … Read more

“Looking back into the future” by MS Prabhakara – Northeast India

Source: The Hindu : Arts / Books : In support of an obscure people in an obscure landAddress : http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article3704463.ece?homepage=trueDate Visited: Tue Jul 31 2012 19:18:01 GMT+0200 (CEST) While academic historians try to meaningfully understand how the past differs from the present, pseudo-historians want to realise the political ambition of projecting their version of the … Read more

Cultivation of flora and fauna from foreign lands – solar-powered super trees in Singapore

CNN video in YouTube Published on Jun 8, 2012 The colossal solar-powered supertrees are found in the Bay South garden, which opens to the public on June 29. It is part of a 250-acre landscaping project — Gardens by the Bay — that is an initiative from Singapore’s National Parks Board that will see the … Read more