Tribal Identity Today

The Making of Tribal Identity Today

Tribal identity in contemporary India is not a survival of some ancient, unchanging essence. The forced incorporation of tribal communities into the mainstream — economically, socially, and politically — has reshaped their culture and society as profoundly as it has their economy. Identity today is formed through this interactional process with the non-tribal world, not from any primordial or original characteristics peculiar to tribes.

Because this interaction has generally been on terms unfavourable to tribal communities, many tribal identities today are centred on ideas of resistance and opposition to the overwhelming force of the non-tribal world. The very experience of marginalisation becomes the raw material for a new kind of collective self-awareness.

Successes and Continuing Struggles

The positive impact of some successes is real but moderated by continuing problems. The achievement of statehood for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, after long struggles, stands as a major milestone. Yet many states of the North-East, for example, have been living for decades under special laws that limit the civil liberties of citizens — a reminder that political recognition does not automatically bring full freedom.

The Rise of a Tribal Middle Class

A significant development in tribal empowerment is the gradual emergence of an educated middle class among tribal communities. This is most visible in the seven north-eastern states, but it is now beginning to appear in the rest of the country as well, particularly among members of the larger tribal communities.

Education, in conjunction with policies of reservation, is creating an urbanised professional class. As tribal societies become more differentiated — that is, as class and other divisions develop within them — different bases are growing for the assertion of tribal identity. The reasons why the middle classes within tribal societies assert their tribal identity may be very different from the reasons why poor and uneducated tribals join tribal movements.

Two Broad Sets of Issues Behind Tribal Movements

Two broad sets of issues have been most important in giving rise to tribal movements:

• Control over vital economic resources — especially land and forests.
• Matters of ethnic-cultural identity — questions of who they are, their traditions, and their place in the nation.

These two can often go together, but with the differentiation of tribal society they may also diverge. A middle-class tribal professional might be concerned with cultural recognition and a share in the benefits of modernity, while a landless tribal labourer might be fighting for survival itself.

The New Consciousness …