Tribal Heritage Of India Ethnicity Identity And Interaction

Through the present account the author has made several departures from the trend of thought related to ethnicity as set in the West. Instead of compehending the same primarily as the system of categorisation based on a set of fixed criteria where inter-relationship of the national mainstream with the so called ethnic minorities is considered important, in view of pluri-cultural realities, ethnicity has been perceived here as the strategy of interest alliance: a state of dynamic equilibrium. The nature of exposition of ethnicity under the circumstance depends to a major extent o the kind of stimulus, received by an individual or a group at a given point of time. Such a definition of ethnicity presupposes possible multiplicity of identities and inherent plural loyalties on social, political, cultural or other counts. Importance of boundary in the understanding of the problems of ethnicity, therefore, is considered very crucial. What is even more important at this stage is to accept the fact that ethnicity in its broader perspective manifests the apparent clash of cultural and political mechanisms of boundary maintenance that are basiccally unlik. Under the given constraints, expectations for the spirit of uniformity, as it appears, is required to be replaced by that of harmony acknowledging the distinctionsof those that are really different.

The book, Culture and Integration of Indian Tribes reveals the contemporary position of Indian tribes in respect of nature, degree of change and development on the one hand and their subsequent state of integration on the other. The processes involved therein are also analysed and interpreted in the book.

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