“Silencing a voice nips in the bud the prospect of resolution”: A Santal educator’s case against the banning of a controversial book – Jharkhand

Discussion is the Need of the Hour, Not Banningby Boro Baski, Anandabazar Patrika , 8 September, 2017translated by Maroona Murmu, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s collection of stories The Adivasi Will Not Dance has been in the eye of the storm. On August 11, 2017 the Jharkhand government banned the … Read more

Arctic peoples treat a seemingly hostile environment with respect: Members of a “Fourth World” that unites indigenous minorities across North America and Eurasia

The Arctic, or circumpolar, peoples are the indigenous inhabitants of the northernmost regions of the world. For the most part, they live beyond the climatic limits of agriculture, drawing a subsistence from hunting, trapping, and fishing or from pastoralism. Thus climatic gradients, rather than simple latitude, determine the effective boundaries of the circumpolar region, and … Read more

eBook | Lessons from the Kattunayakan and Soliga tribal communities: Recent studies on better forest fire management – Tamil Nadu & Karnataka

Notes from the Other Side of a Forest Fire by Tarsh Thekaekara, Abi Tamim Vanak, Ankila J Hiremath, Nitin D Rai, Jayashree Ratnam, Raman Sukumar in Economic & Political Weekly, June 24, 2017Source: Courtesy Tarsh Thekaekara by email (18 July 2017) | To read the full text, click the download link Notes from the other side of a … Read more

“What if kings and kingdoms existed today?”: Matrilineal kingship among the Mannan tribal community of Idukki – Kerala

Basil Poulose, The Better India, 13 April 2017 | To view a series of photos and read the full article, click here >> Stories of kings, palaces and chariots from history books always manage capture our imagination. What if kings and kingdoms existed today? Deep in the forests of Idukki, a mountainous district in Kerala, there still lives … Read more

Pioneering community services for tribal communities in the Nilgiris: Adivasi Munnetra Sangam – Tamil Nadu

Excerpts from explanations in the illustrated calendar 2017 distributed by the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam (AMS) in Gudalur FRA Forest Rights Act Our forests are ours again. In 2006, the government finally accepted the historical injustice meted out to Adivasis and passed the Forest Rights Act thus recognizing our rights to forests. AMS is working hard to ensure that this … Read more