This book provides comprehensive information on enlargement of methodological and empirical choices in a multidisciplinary perspective by breaking down the monopoly of possessing tribal studies in the confinement of conventional disciplinary boundaries. Focusing on anyone of the core themes of history, archaeology or anthropology, the chapters are suggestive of grand theories of tribal interaction over time and space within a frame of composite understanding of human civilization. With distinct cross-disciplinary analytical frames, the chapters maximize reader insights into the emerging trend of perspective shifts in tribal studies, thus mapping multi-dimensional growth of knowledge in the field and providing a road-map of empirical and theoretical understanding of tribal issues in contemporary academics. This book will be useful for researchers and scholars of anthropology, ethnohistory ethnoarchaeology and of allied subjects like sociology, social work, geography who are interested in tribal studies. Finally, the book can also prove useful to policy makers to better understand the historical context of tribal societies for whom new policies are being created and implemented.

This book brings together multidisciplinarity, desirability and possibility of consilience of borderline studies which are topically diverse and methodologically innovative. It includes contemporary tribal issues within anthropology and other disciplines. In addition, the chapters underline the analytical sophistication, theoretical soundness and empirical grounding in the area of emerging core perspectives in tribal studies. The volume alludes to the emergence of tribal studies as an independent academic discipline of its own rights. It offers the opportunity to consider the entire intellectual enterprise of understanding disciplinary and interdisciplinary dualism, to move beyond interdisciplinarity of the science-humanities divide and to conceptualise a core of theoretical perspectives in tribal studies. The book proves an indispensable reference point for those interested in studying tribes in general and who are engaged in the process of developing tribal studies as a discipline in particular.

India has witnessed a sea change in its social structure and political culture since Independence. Despite the developmental model that the country opted for, the hangover of the Raj continued to encourage fissiparous tendencies dividing the Indian populace on the basis of religion, ethnicity and caste hierarchy. This book argues for the need to develop a fresh approach to dismantling the stereotypes that have boxed the study of India’s tribal communities. It underlines the significance of region-specific strategies in place of an overarching umbrella scheme for all Indian tribes. The author studies tribes in the context of changing political and social identity, gender, extremism, caste dimensions, development issues, and offers a new perspective on tribes to accommodate the diversity and transformations within culture over time and through globalization. Lucid, accessible and rooted in contemporary realities, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology and social anthropology, tribal studies, subaltern and third world studies, and politics.

The Book Global Perception Of Tribal Research In India Is Edited Research Volume Containing Twelve Chapters On Various Research Themes Pertaining To Tribal People Of India.Basically The Book Is A Joint Venture Of Both Indian Social Scientists Including Anthropologists And Ethnologist To Make A Research Volume Out Of A Dozen Of Research Papers On Tribal People And Their Various Problems. They Also Provide Viable Propositions Towards Their Amelioration.

Annada Charan Bhagabati, b. 1939, Indian anthropologist; contributed articles.

This book discusses the colonial history of Tribe-British relations in India. It analyses colonial literature, as well as cultural and relational issues of pre-literate communities. It interrogates disciplinary epistemology through multidisciplinary engagement. It presents the temporal and spatial dimensions of tribal studies. The chapters critically examine colonial ideology and administration and civilization of tribes of India. Each paper introduces a unique context of Tribe-British interactions and provides an innovative approach, theoretical foundation, analytical tool and methodological insights in the emerging discipline of tribal studies. The book is of interest to researchers and scholars engaged in topics related to tribes.

Tribal communities in western India, as elsewhere in the country, have been facing increasing marginalisation and poverty. This is so despite a relatively better record of social movements and work by civil society organisations among them and their political inclusion. Further, the existing literature on tribals focuses more on their socio-cultural situation and less on their economic and human development. Addressing this gap in scholarship, this volume details the processes of tribal development and associated challenges in Gujarat, often viewed as a high-growth economy. Rich in interdisciplinary, empirical analyses, the book comprehensively addresses three important aspects of tribal development — human development, economic opportunities and governance. It critiques recent policy diagnoses and interventions, rather than evaluate policy-outcomes. The volume traces the genesis of continued marginalisation of tribals in the country, and contributes to the ongoing discourse on integrative tribal development. The work will interest scholars and students of development studies, tribal studies, economics, sociology, social work, as also policy-makers, activists, and governmental and non-governmental organisations in the field.

India has two key social formations, the castes and the tribes. Both groups can be studied from the perspective of society (samaj) and culture (sanskriti). However, studies on castes largely deal with social structure and less on culture, while studies on tribes focus more on culture than on social structure. What has resulted from this bias is a general misunderstanding that tribes have a rich culture but lack social structure. This volume emerges out of an in-depth empirical study of the social structure of five Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Gujarat, western India, viz., Gamit, Vasava, Chaudhari, Kukana and Warli. It analyses and compares their internal social organisation consisting of institutions of household, family, lineage, clan, kinship rules and marriage networks. The book also deals with changes taking place in the social structure of contemporary tribal societies. While the focus is mainly on the data from tribes of western India, the issues are relevant to pan-Indian tribes. An important contribution to the studies on tribes of India, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, demography, history, tribal studies, social work, public policy and law. It will also be of interest to professionals working with NGOs and civil society, programme and policy formulating authorities and bureaucrats.