247. TRIBES: CONCEPTS AND REALITIES
247.
Panel Title : TRIBES: CONCEPTS AND REALITIES
Chair : Ravi Shankar Sahay
Participants :
Lintje H. Pellu
Paper Title : Those Who Remained After the Exile: Relation Between Original Inhabitants
and Later Arrivals in Landu, Eastern Roti, Indonesia
Abstract :
In 1756 the Rotinese domain of Landu was attacked by forces of the Dutch East India Company. Under the leadership of Dutch Commissioner and Chief Merchant, Paravicini, the military force raised the settlement and took over 1000 people into slavery, the majority destined for service in the Dutch capital Batavia. These tragic events left Landu in ruins and substantially depopulated with the remnant indigenous population reduced to limited areas in the central region of the domain. Over the ensuing centuries, the landscape of Landu has been gradually re-populated by people from neighbouring domains in eastern Rote. Attracted by fertile soils for fox-tail millet cultivation and opportunities for in-shore fishing, people from neighbouring such as Ringgou settled in eastern parts Landu, while those of Korbafo settled in the western lowlands. Other newcomers include people from more distant Rotinese areas such as Termanu, Thie, Dengka and even the nearby islands of Ndao and Timor. People in Landu make a distinction between ‘true Landu (orang asli Landu/manamai maulu) and the newcomers (pendatang/manamai mabui). Landu's unique history and physical conditions have had a direct impact on its social configuration. As an almost empty land, people from other domains have moved in to find agriculture land. Some went to the area for fishing. These landless people, however could endure to become landowners and later settled permanently in Landu. The transition from landlessness to landownership made the outsiders gradually become part of the local community (Breman 1988:15). The outsiders mostly occupied the eastern part of Landu. It is due to foxtail millet cultivation. The option to become integrated with Landu people was offered by Landu ruler after Indonesian Independence around 1950s. Some of the Ringgou people, moved back to Ringgou but the most chose to stay in Landu and settle in Daiama village. This village become a Ringgou enclave in Landu land. People in this village speak in Ringgou dialect, which is different dialect from two other villages in Landu. Unlike other domains of Rote Island Landu is not associated with one language community of long standing, but rather, a composite of insider/outsider that reflects the consequences of the areas brutal history. The ongoing tension between ‘true Landu' and the new comer, between insider and outsiders, permeates both social relations and social structure within the domain. This label suits with Meadow (1967) description on social and ethic boundaries within community that create the sense of inclusion and exclusion, belonging and non-belonging complex of identity. In this case, I would add that topographical conditions that have hindered people's movement for many years have contributed to the development of separate identities among the people who are living in the same region. The feeling of being different is expressed in many ways. In this paper, I explore the dynamic relationship that has developed between Landu origin groups and settlers drawing upon historical accounts of the punitive Dutch action and the significance of precedence in ordering social relations.
Rahul Ashok Kamble
Paper Title : Colonialism, Anthropology and Defining Tribes in Contemporary India
Abstract :
Indian society is a highly stratified society. As Xaxa (2003) opines that the Indian society is marked by considerable heterogeneity and has been perceived more in differences than similarities and the major social categories are religion, territory, language and caste. These categories were latter reinforced through the decennial enumeration and classification of the population into the groups and categories. One of the major intellectual and administrative pre-occupations of the colonial state and to these existing categories, a new category was added during this period. This was the category of 'tribe'. In a sense the term 'tribe' is a colonial construct but not the notion of 'tribe'. In 1871 the first census in British India was initiated and it added the category 'tribe' with no definition. In fact in each decennial census of colonial India the term 'tribe' was equated with different nomenclatures without a proper definition, which is continued till date. This term was further institutionalized in Indian society through ethnographic and anthropological accounts written on them along with the usage of heuristic tools like race, photography and anthropometric measurements. This term was then institutionalized in the constitution as 'Schedule Tribes'. For studying tribes in colonial and postcolonial India, anthropologists undertake three different models. One is colonial model which perceived 'tribes' as isolates and noble savages. The second model assumes 'tribes' as a sub-system of Hindu social order and third model sees 'tribes' as indigenous communities. The colonial model has a heavy influence in postcolonial India, in terms of framing policies for tribal development and also in identifying 'tribes', whereas in academic sphere the term 'tribe' is not much used and taken as a derogatory term. Thus lays a vacuum in the administrative accounts and in academic literature. The matter of fact is it is easier to identify 'tribes' but difficult to define 'tribes' in contemporary India. It is in this context the application of the term 'indigenous' becomes debatable. 'Tribes' in India are stilled viewed within the colonial framework where as there has been a lot of social and economic change within the tribal communities. A person from a tribal community can be 'fashionable' or 'modern' but he or she stills carries his or her ethnic identity. This process of transition remains some undocumented. The article tries to explore the above theme and the pros and cons of the term 'indigenous' in the Indian context. The article tries to come to a conclusion that 'tribes' in India are 'indigenous' communities, if one tries to analyze this issue from a micro regional level perspective.
Vibha Arora
Paper Title : Framing Indigeneity and Environmentalism Among the Lepchas of Sikkim,
India
Abstract :
The self-reflexive representation of Lepchas as the indigenous and primordial environmentalists of the Eastern Himalayas in the contemporary period can be traced to some images circulated in the 19th century and early 20th Century. In 1975, the former Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim was merged into India, and in 1978 the Lepchas were granted Scheduled Tribe status by the Indian Constitution. The historic image of Lepcha as a forest-dweller, nature worshipper and as an indigenous architect (as seen in their skills of house and bridge construction) were perpetuated in photographic collections of British Political Officers to Sikkim, some monographs on Lepchas (Gorer 1938) and traveller's accounts (Hooker 1891). Influenced by global discourses of alternative development these images are currently being used to refashion Lepcha self-images as primordial environmentalists. This paper relates the photographs taken by some British Political Officers of Sikkim and travellers in the 19th and 20th century with the contemporary representations including an ethnographic film "Lepcha and their Soamm (bridges)" made by the Lepchas in 2002. An analysis of these representations traces the continuities and discontinuities in the imaging and imagining of the Lepchas.
Ravi Shankar Sahay
Paper Title : Jharkand: A Study In Cultural Paradigms
Abstract :
Jharkhand , the land of forest, geologically belongs to Gondwana rocks of Jurassic period and Achaean system , which are one of the oldest rocks of the earth. Numerous stone tools and several rock paintings of the old stone age, scattered all over the area, suggest that human activities must have taken place since time immemorial. Some of the sticking features of the area are cultural diversity and its continuity to the present day. Twenty nine tribal communities having distinct identities, languages, traditions and faiths. inhibit together in the region. They collectively represent a fascinating picture of the distinct cultures, separate identity, languages and economic background. They vary from hunting and food gathering economy to that of intensive agriculturalists, using modern technology and equipments, including of cyber culture among an elite tribal group. In between these extremes, there exists, all the stages of economic and material progression in the living form, through which the human civilization has coursed. They seem to present a spectacle of texture, where telescoping of cultures or their coalescing has taken place. In simple words different cultures exist almost juxtaposed. The evolution of human civilization could be appraised by the study of the tribal culture of the area. The objective of the paper is to discuss nature of cultural configuration in Jharkhand. Besides, the plausible causes for the continuity of pre-historic land commune system would be discussed. The paper gives rise to the following hypotheses. 1. Inaccessible hills and Plenty of food grain provided self-sufficiency and independent growth of culture. 2. The divergent ecological and geographical conditions in the region have impact in making divergent tribal culture and traditions. 3. Their allegiance to the clan is a factor for continuity of the tribal culture and tradition to the present age. 4. The evolution of human civilization could be appraised by the study of the tribal culture of the area.
