Indian Tribes in Transition The need for reorientation

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.

Introduction. 1. Anthropology: Today and Tomorrow 2. Defining ‘Tribe’ : A Conceptual Crisis 3. Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Development 4. Issues in Tribal Development 5. Social Science Inputs in Man and Biosphere Programme: MAB in UNESCO and MAN in MAB 6. Sustainable Rural and Tribal Development 7. Reorienting Tribal Studies 8. March of Tribal Women 9. Concern for Indigenous Knowledge 10. Tribal Unrest, State Politics, and Empowerment in Contemporary India 11. Youth in Asia: an Anthropological Perspective 12. Ethics in Research and Research in Ethics 13. Anthropology and the Future of Mankind Index

Yogesh Atal is Professor Emeritus at the Madhya Pradesh Institute of Social Science Research, Ujjain, and member of the Indian National Commission for Co-operation with UNESCO, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. He was appointed by UNESCO as its Regional Adviser for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific and retired as Principal Director in 1997.