Reconstructing
Identities: Tribes, Agro-pastoralists
and Environment in Western India
By-
Nandini Sinha Kapur
This
monograph brings together essays on the marginal and elite social groups from
early medieval times to the colonial period. It looks at tribal and
agro-pastoral groups in Gujarat and Rajasthan such as the Bhils, Meenas and
Bishnois in interactions with rural societies
and their participation in the processes of state formation; their changing identities and self-
perceptions, control of natural resources, environmental changes in the context of forests, agricultural expansion and water resources.
and their participation in the processes of state formation; their changing identities and self-
perceptions, control of natural resources, environmental changes in the context of forests, agricultural expansion and water resources.
Tribe-societal-state
interactions meant long drawn-out negotiatins involving alliances and
conflicts leading to gradual marginalization of tribal groups as limited ‘peasantization’ and ‘integration’ went on. As a result, marginal communities reconstructed identities, made shifts in self-perceptions through adaptations from the Rajput/Brahmanical world and contested histories with ruling elite in the late medieval and early colonial times.
conflicts leading to gradual marginalization of tribal groups as limited ‘peasantization’ and ‘integration’ went on. As a result, marginal communities reconstructed identities, made shifts in self-perceptions through adaptations from the Rajput/Brahmanical world and contested histories with ruling elite in the late medieval and early colonial times.
The
case studies of southern Rajasthan reveal that construction of water works in
Jaisalmer area and control over environmental resources helped rural and ruling
elite in maintaining a distinction for themselves in both early and late
medieval times. On the other hand, common folk of the Thar desert, the Bishnoi
agro-pastoralists carved out a special niche for themselves as
‘Conservationists’ by preaching a popular religion and socio-economic ethos of
preserving the natural resources in an ecology of ‘uncertainty’.
Nandini
Sinha Kapur
is Reader in History at PGDAV College, University of Delhi and has been
associated with the postgraduate teaching of Ancient Indian History in
University of Delhi. A former Homi Bhabha Fellow and a recipient of fellowships
in India and abroad, she has published widely both nationally and internationally.
ISBN 81-7304-769-3 2008 202p. Rs.520/ Pounds 40
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