Tribal identity
“While benefiting from affirmative action in some cases, Adivasis or indigenous people in India also feel the claustrophobic confines of their identity which has been imposed on them by others, be it the colonial administrator, the colonial anthropologist, the missionary or the neo-liberal, neo-imperialist forces that rule global economy today.” – Santali poet, scholar and translator Ivy Imogene Hansdak in “Is tribal identity relevant in today’s world?”, Inaugural Speech, National Conference “Tribes In Transition-II: Reaffirming Indigenous Identity Through Narrative” (2017)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=23032
Tips | Nature, wildlife and more
Gandhi believed that giving more importance, value and relevance to practical skills, and applying traditional knowledge to solving day-to-day problems were essential for the development of rural India. – Bunker Roy, the founder of Barefoot College, which helps rural communities becomes self-sufficient
Understanding the forest the way city kids understand traffic lights and zebra crossings – ActionAid’s schools team
Guest blogger Mari Marcel Thekaekara is a human rights activist and writer based in Gudalur, Tamil Nadu. She co-founded ACCORD (Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development) in 1985 to work with Adivasi people of Chembakolli, Tamil Nadu, southern India. “I was with the ACCORD team in 1988 when the Adivasi people from Chembakolli decided they … Read more
Nandalal Bose painting “Village Huts” – National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi)
Bengali literature celebrated the natural, healthy Santal way of living, the black lissome Santal women providing a counterpoint to the pale cloistered ladies of urban Calcutta. Source: Partha Mitter. The Triumph of Modernism: India’s Artists and the Avant-garde, 1922–1947, p. 29
Jointly creating storybooks in familiar languages for first-generation learners: Suchana, Pratham Books and StoryWeaver – West Bengal
Books take tribal kids back to school Calcutta: Churki Hansda remembers standing on the road instead of going to school on most days of the week because she was too scared. “I wouldn’t understand anything. The lessons were all in Bengali and I knew only Santhali,” she said. Now 28, Churki translates stories from Bengali … Read more