Video | “Nations don’t make us human – languages make us human”: Ganesh Devy – People’s Linguistic Survey of India

The census of India says the country is losing languages at an alarming rate. But the People’s Linguistic Survey of India seems to say there’s more to it than meets the eye. Wherever the colonial power was played the local languages were destroyed completely: in Australia, in United States, in Canada. In this country so … Read more

eJournal | Launching a New Scholarly Journal on “Music and Minorities” – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Music and Minorities Research Center, mdw –University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria | Correspondence: hemetek@mdw.ac.at The study of music in relation to minority communities has grown into a substantial field of research in ethnomusicology and adjacent disciplines in the social sciences and humanities over the past decades. Indeed, the roots of music and … Read more

“Who is Indian, and what makes a person an Indian?”: Questions debated among members of 565 recognized American Indian tribes

My answer? There are many definitions of who is an Indian. As a starting point, “Indian” is a misguided label that spread through Europe after 1492. Native people have always associated themselves with their tribe(s) and referenced their tribal names in their tribal languages. Explorers and colonists from Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, and Russia, … Read more

“Not a lack of knowledge but loss of land”: How forced dependence on distribution system shatters self-sustained communities – Kerala

The tribes in Attappady are classified into three categories; Kurumba, Irula and Muduga. Kurumbas live deep inside the forests in 19 settlements of Pudur. Whereas, most of the Irula and Muduga populations live on revenue lands of Pudur, Agaly and Sholayur. A few among the settlements of Irula and Muduga are in forest lands. […]  There are 149 … Read more

India’s tribal cultural heritage – Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh, recognized as one of the hotspots of biodiversity is home to a range of economically important plants. Some of these plant species have found use in the preparation of natural dyes. Natural dyes are colourants having several applications in textiles, inks, cosmetics, etc. Nature has gifted us more than 500 dye-yielding plant species. … Read more