Representing Tribe

Contemporary indigenous identity assertion contests denial both material as well as epistemic and claims rightful space in the mainstream episteme. Intervening in the debate Representing Tribe seeks to understand in the context of the Ho of Singhbhum why they still continue to remain the most epistemically benighted. The book argues that the over-dependence of researchers on the statist sources preserved at the national and state capitals have more or less committed colonial and post-colonial writings to the colonial imaging of tribe. This work puts this representation under scanner by questioning the broad and unscientific generalizations this rested on and by deploying besides the oft-used statist sources, the untapped village and district-level papers, seeks to remantle the very notion of indigeneity as shaped by the intervention of historical forces. The work in a way initiates the reconstruction of Ho history by underlining new issues which were critical for Ho, rather tribal life in general. Thus Representing Tribe may perhaps lay claim to tread newer furrows by strategising the reinterpretation of colonial rule at work among the tribe and adding substance to socio-economic history by studying such relevant issues as social stratification, gender empowerment and labour migration.