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- Convenors:
-
Peter B. Andersen
(University of Copenhagen)
Amit Prakash (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
- Location:
- C408
- Start time:
- 28 July, 2012 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
The panel addresses the study of the interface between state and tribal identity. Papers may address developments in identity, redistributive justice and/versus recognition, the notion of civil society, NGOs, the politicisation of cultural, religious and linguistic issues, and other relevant themes.
Long Abstract:
The modern liberal state, premised as it is on individual rights, has always struggled to find adequate responses to group claims articulated by the political process, premised on a variety of socio-cultural thematics. Without revisiting the myth of ethno-cultural neutrality of the state, most modern states have adopted a variety of policy measures − from constitutionally mandated socio-cultural rights, through policies of multiculturalism to policies of assimilation.
In South Asia a number of tribal groups have been recognised; in some cases, the Constitutions have granted them rights to sustain their cultural, religious, and linguistic characteristics while not in others. Besides, even when such formal rights are granted, education, migration, industrialisation and urbanisation change the conditions for the tribal groups.
Further, the state creates a policy environment in which a complex relationship emerges between formal rights, socio-economic change and political articulation premised on socio-economic distinctiveness. This process also impacts the premises of articulation of claims by identities, as also their self definition. Furthermore, this process while framed by statist processes and structures, is mediated by a variety of actors − social, economic and political; at various levels.
The proposed panel invites empirical investigations as well as theoretical approaches to the study of such complex state identity interface. Papers may address developments in identity and ethnicity theory, redistributive justice and/versus recognition, the notion of civil society, NGOs, the politicisation of cultural, religious and linguistic issues, how the states utilise NGOs in social and cultural development as well as other relevant themes.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Shailaja Fennell (University of Cambridge)
Paper short abstract:
The state view of how law affects group identity and the inequalities that they have undergone is markedly instrumental in its orientation. The use of social markers such as ethnicity and class have been consciously drawn on by independent nation states. The possibility that group identity could provide a socially acceptable basis for pursuing an equitable political solution could provide a way forward for remedying inequalities that persist with regard to tribal community. The ready justice of social equity provides the foundations of such transformative legal structures. This paper will examine why these approaches have been so slow in coming forth in relation to the study of South Asian societies.
Paper long abstract:
The laws of social justice were devised to remove social obstacles that hindered the economic progress of the individual. The pursuit of possible liberties by individual were subordinated in to confronting the denial of certain rights to an individuals from tribal and other marginalised groups has been slow to emerge. The dominant account of social attributes associated with membership of a disadvantaged or subordinated group has not furthered these legal rights of such marginalised people. The strongly enunciated need, in national constitutions and other legal documents, regarding the matter of negative liberties far outweighed the valuation of positive liberties. The granting of negative liberties provides a focus on historical social injustices as were meted out on groups. The primary emphasis on negative rather than positive liberties could be regarded as the first phase of economic development. Conversely, it also raises the interesting matter of whether the pursuit of positive liberties should be as much a matter that falls within the jurisdiction of the law as has been the case of ensuring negative liberties to marginalised and peripheral groups with regard to natural resource use and management as well as the broader terrain of ensuring economic development.
Blandine Ripert (CNRS-EHESS)
Paper short abstract:
The paper focuses on a tribal identity redefinition of one of the recognised « indigenous tribe » of Central Nepal, in the context of the writing of the new constitution for the country, in which is discussed the possibility of a federal state based on ethnic recognition.
Paper long abstract:
The political current context in Nepal is very specific, as the new constitution of the very young republic is under writing. One of the major issue, still in discussion, is to define a federal state structure of ethnic territories, giving great autonomy to the different nationalities which have been officially recognized by the state in 1995. This is the major claim of the numerous ethnic minorities (or tribes, or indigenous people or janajati, or more recently 'nations', as called in Nepal). It often thought to be a kind of compensation for historical injustices that Hindo-Nepalese castes and state have imposed on the 'Mongol groups', as they themselves called them.
I will take the example of the Tamangs, analysing their various claims in this context, from remote villagers to urban activists to show how different can be the state and society interface, among the same group but within various economic, social and political dynamics.
The case study of Nepal is interesting, as the situation of the minorities is historically quite different compared to India. The « indigenous people » being almost 30 % of the Nepalese society, their current claims are not a marginal movement affecting the least populated part of the country.
Marine Carrin (Université de Toulouse Jean Jaures)
Paper short abstract:
The politics of representation staged by indigenous people aim at suggesting particular representations of culture, sociality and sometimes territory.I shall question how theAdivasi in Jharkhand and in Orissa succeed in staging different politics which are able to adress gthe State while articulating political rights.
Paper long abstract:
The Santal stage different versions of authentic "adivasi culture through different kinds of practices and performances. The practices concern the reinvention of Adivasi pasts through litterature and commemorations, invention of a script and religious movements. The Santal have sustained their identity by promoting the return to the sacred grove, a movement which articulates religious ideas, indigenous knowledge and environmental politics. These performances aim at breaking the imbalances and biases in post-colonial historiography, or more generally in cultural representation by outsiders.Are the Adivasis able to adress the state while articulating their political rights?
Markus Schleiter (University of Tübingen)
Paper short abstract:
In the paper I will explore in which ways claims on entitlements and cultural recognition of Santals, forwarded to and negotiated with the state, based on being a "tribe", impact the emerging of VCD circulation of popular Santali films and thereby, shape connected mediations of a Santal belonging.
Paper long abstract:
The categories "tribe" or Adivasi (Hindi: first people) are crucial to Santals in claiming entitlements from the state. The same denotification Adivasi - then reassassed as migratory group - had reversely been the base of ethnic struggles against Santals in Assam; and thereby again re-enforced Santal politics on the basis of being a "tribe". The appearance of VCD production of popular Santali films with a high circulation among Santals can be regarded to reflect the above by spreading a hybrid "Bollywood" version of Santal identity through displaying "traditional" costumes and houses, but also jeans and guitars.
In the paper I will argue on the basis of field studies, including members of Santals in Assam, West-Bengal and Odisha that, indeed, the state and its differing actors being the arena of forwarding political claims based on a "tribal" status, have left their imprint in triggering patterns of identity articulations, like a widespread focus on cultural associations as institutions of preserving "tradition". As a consequence, these practices of preserving Santal "tradition" have become part of mediating a belonging through Santali films. For instance, film watchers discuss effects of films on Santals, and thereby, paradoxically, reconfirm the need of Santal "traditions" by disavowing modernizing effects of the films. Juxtaposing differing audience settings, I will then, however, argue, that film watchers articulate very diverse ideas of a Santal belonging, and such mediations are profoundly shaped by (differing) practices of preserving "traditions", which, in some cases are strongly inspired by state practices of evaluating cultural "traditions".
Lea Schulte-Droesch (Groningen University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper outlines the dynamics of a hunting ritual in Eastern India – a contested event between the local Santal population and the state. My paper shall use this ritual to both explore its indigenous meanings as well as the stage it presents for the negotiation and performance of tradition vis-à-vis the Indian state.
Paper long abstract:
Based on recent long-term fieldwork in 2011/12 this paper explores the dynamics of an annual hunting ritual in Eastern India. For the indigenous Santal population of South-Eastern Jharkhand it is an age-old tradition marking a distinct tribal identity. Since the hunting takes place in forest declared as wildlife sanctuary by the state, conflicts have arisen in recent years around the prohibition to hunt. This has led Santal activists to emphasize the religious background of this festival. By adhering to the formal right to practice one's religion they seek to gain permission to continue this "ancient ritual". As a result of the state's discourse on the environment, the activists have learned to emphasize the compatibility of their tradition and culture with this discourse.
My exploration shall be two-fold: In addition to introducing the ritual's historic and contemporary meanings in the cultural logic of the Santal, I shall use it as a case study for the negotiation as well as performance of tradition vis-à-vis the Indian state. The politicization of this annual hunting ritual will be embedded in the larger context of Santal activism urging the government to protect sacred groves, implement the Santal script Ol Chiki in school curricula and formally recognize Santal religion as one of the religions of India. The very confident use of "culture" in all these cases points to Sahlins' concept of culturalism, which shall be used to grasp the ongoing formation of Santal identity.
Amit Prakash (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Paper short abstract:
Governmentality of participation in the tribal Jharkhand, India will be analysed in light of continuing politics of recognition and redistribution. Panchayats as new sites of contestation; transforming the political economy of conflict will be examined with the help of recent empirical material.
Paper long abstract:
The liberal state has struggled with policy responses to a variety of identity claims such as those from tribal identities in India. Such policy responses cover a wide spectrum - from co-option to repression and the entire range in between. However, premised on individual rights, liberal states often interpret identity claims in terms of a development-deficit, which has important implications for the self-definition of the identities themselves. The identity claims have on other the other hand, demand various forms of autonomy - with a sovereign state and symbolic recognition as two extremities.
Given the mélange of issues, conflict and often, violence has been a central feature of contestation in tribal areas. Matters get complicated owing to resource-rich nature of geographies inhabited by the tribal communities. The complex politics of recognition and redistribution that thus emerge have often been seen to create a political economy of conflict, interlocking various societal and state actors.
This apparently intractable situation is compounded by lack of structural innovations to accommodate these claims. However, some recent changes, namely, creation of local bodies in rural areas seem to have sparked off a politics of participation. Empirical evidence from Jharkhand suggests that the recent election to these local bodies, Panchayats, is creating new sites of conflict and contestation. The paper will examine some of these new patterns in light of age-old patterns of conflict along three thematics: (a) raison d'état; (b) emerging contests over justice in both its redistributive and recognition dimensions; and, (c) governmentality of participation that straddles both the above.