“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
SARAH ELIZABETH WEBB, The Hindu, February 16, 2013 I have been patient — tolerant even — of the constant threat of sexual harassment that comes with travelling as a Western Woman. I anticipated it and took precautions by dressing conservatively and even wearing a fake wedding ring to ward off unwanted attention. I am conscious of … Read more
In 2007, Machu Picchu was declared one of the seven new wonders of the world. Today, the lives of uncontacted tribes in the same valley are threatened by gas and oil extraction. […] Every year, nearly 1 million tourists visit the Inca citadel. Perched high on a ridge in the eastern Andes overlooking the Urubamba … Read more
Excerpts from The Telegraph, Calcutta, Sunday , July 25 , 2010Death of a languageJad, a tribal language in Uttarakhand, is slowly going extinct. Hemchhaya Detravels to the tribe’s remote habitat and explains how many native languages around the world are dwindling under the onslaught of globalisationNarayan Singh Negi, leader of the Rong Ba tribe, in the … Read more
A HORTICULTURE technique, some 10,000 years old and forerunner to the systematic cultivation of food crops, is still practised by tribal societies living on hills and mountains the world over and the hill areas of Visakhapatnam are no exception. Known as slash-and-burn cultivation, or Podu in Visakhapatnam, it involves clearing the jungle on the hill … Read more
Survival for tribal peoples, 5 March 2013 India’s Supreme Court today reportedly reversed its previous ‘interim order’ to ban ‘human safaris’ in the Andaman Islands, dealing a major blow to the campaign against the controversial tours. […] Alarm bells also rang when the Court reportedly asked the Andaman authorities ‘whether they wanted the Jarawa to be kept … Read more