MAINSTREAMING AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES: AN INTERGENERATIONAL CASE STUDY ON THE PANIYAS OF WAYANAD
A dissertation submitted to the University of Kerala in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK
Submitted by MARIA TERES SEBASTIAN
Candidate Code: 91518115014 Subject Code: SW 915 Exam Code: 91518401
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK LOYOLA COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES 2018-2020 Certification of Approval
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ―Mainstreaming and Indigenous Communities: An Intergenerational Case Study on the Paniyas of Wayanad‖, is a record of genuine work doneby Ms. Maria Teres Sebastian, Semester-IV Master of Social Work student of this college under my supervision and guidance and that it is hereby approved for submission.
Dr. Sonny Jose, Research Guide, Department of Social Work, Loyola College of Social Sciences, Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram Recommended for forwarding to the University of Kerala
Dr. Sonny Jose Head of the Department Of Social Work Loyola College of Social Sciences Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram
Recommended for forwarding to the University of Kerala
Dr. Saji P. Jacob Principal Loyola College of Social Science Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram
10 August 2020 Thiruvananthapuram
ii
Declaration
I, Maria Teres Sebastian, do hereby declare that the Dissertation Titled ―Mainstreaming and Indigenous Communities: An Intergenerational Case Study on the Paniyas of Wayanad‖ is based on the original work carried out by me and submitted to the University of Kerala during the year 2018-2020 towards partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Social Work Degree Examination. It has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship or other similar title of recognition before.
Ms. Maria Teres Sebastian
10 August 2020 Thiruvananthapuram
iii
Acknowledgement
Foremostly, praises and thanks to God Almighty; without the graces showered on me from above, this research would not have been.
I am sincerely grateful to Dr. Sonny Jose, Head of the Social Work Department, Loyola College of Social Sciences for diligently guiding me during the whole process. He was the leading spirit in my endeavour; motivating me in my times of my confusion, he stood for me, with me, encouraging me to do my best. At this juncture I extend my heartfelt respect and gratitude for all the pain that he had taken for the completion of my study.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Saji. P. Jacob, Principal Loyola College of Social Sciences, Dr. Sabu P. Thomas S.J., Dr. Jasmine Sarah Alexander, Dr. Francina P.X., Fr. Saji Joseph S.J. and Ms. Vandana Suresh, faculty members of the Department of Social Work for their help on various occasions during the course of this work. I express my sincere thanks to Dr. Sunil Kumar, Librarian and Mr. George Mathew assistant librarian, Loyola College of Social Sciences, for their kind support for the successful completion of my work so far.
My sincere gratitude to all the interviewees who have participated in the process of my data collection;I remember with immense gratitude, Smt. Ambika, fieldwork coordinator and Smt. Shyamala, tribal fieldworker, at Mahila Samakya Society, Wayanad for arranging and assisting me in the data collection process. This would be incomplete without mentioning the support of Ms. Prajitha S, who took so much time and effort to accompany me through the whole process of data collection and analysis. I could never conclude this without mentioning my dear seniors Ms. Archana Louis and Ms. Asheily S. James, and my dearest friend Ms. Ansu Jacob, whose whole-hearted support helped me present this before you.
It would not have been possible for me to successfully complete this work without the encouragement and support of my beloved family, who are my constant source of strength and encouragement.
- Maria Teres Sebastian
iv
Contents Certification of Approval ...... ii Declaration...... iii Acknowledgement ...... iv Contents ...... v List of Tables ...... vii Abstract...... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION...... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1.1 Indigenous People ...... 2 1.1.2 The Indian Scenario...... 3 1.1.3 Tribal Communities in Kerala...... 4 1.1.4 The Paniya Tribe...... 5 1.2 Background of the Study ...... 9 1.3 Statement of the Problem ...... 12 1.4 Significance of the Study ...... 13 1.5 Chapterisation ...... 13 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...... 14 2.1 Introduction ...... 14 2.2 Review of Literature ...... 16 2.1.1 Tribal communities ...... 16 2.2.2 Changes that have taken place in the tribal communities...... 18 2.2.3 Impact of Mainstream on the Indigenous communities ...... 24 2.2.4 Paniya Tribal Community ...... 29 2.3 Research Gap...... 33 2.4 Theoretical Framework ...... 34 2.4.1 Theory of Acculturation ...... 34 2.4.2 Cross-cultural Adaptation Theory ...... 35 2.4.3 Cultural Identity theory ...... 35 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY...... 37 3.1 Title of the Study ...... 39
v
3.2 Research Question ...... 39 3.3 Definition of Concepts ...... 39 3.4 Research Strategy ...... 40 3.5 Sampling Strategy ...... 40 3.6 Ethical Considerations...... 41 3.7 Limitations of the Study ...... 41 CHAPTER 4: CASE DISCUSSIONS ...... 43 Case 1 ...... 43 Case 2 ...... 56 Case 3 ...... 65 Key Informant 1 ...... 73 Key Informant 2 ...... 77 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...... 79 5.1 Socio-Cultural Changes ...... 79 5.1.1 Changes in oral communication ...... 81 5.1.2 Changes in occupation patterns ...... 86 5.1.3 Changes in infrastructure ...... 87 5.1.4 Changes in faith, religious practices and rituals ...... 88 5.1.5 Changes in food production and consumption...... 91 5.1.6 Changes in attire and ornaments...... 92 5.1.7 Changes in health practices...... 93 5.2 Community Perception...... 97 5.3 Theoretical Framework ...... 99 CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION ...... 102 6.1 Introduction ...... 102 6.2 Findings...... 103 6.3 Avenues for Social Work Interventions ...... 104 6.4 Scope for future studies ...... 106 6.5 Conclusion ...... 107 Bibliography ...... 108
vi
List of Tables
Table 1: Definition of Concepts ...... 40
Table 2: Perceptual changes noted within the paniya community ...... 95
vii
Abstract Indigenous people are considered to be the first inhabitants of any given nation. There are approximately 370 million indigenous peoples worldwide, in over 90 countries, and most of them if not all, have similar stories to say, of displacement and dispossession of their homelands. History gives accounts of the ‗civilised savages‘ driving out the ‗natives‘ and establishing ‗civilisations‘, or civilizing the natives by gifting them ‗development‘ unadulterated. However, studies have shown over the years that the real story is far different. World Bank reports that although they make up 5% of the global population, at present, the indigenous population account for about 15% of the extreme poor.
This study looks into one such group of indigenous people who lived on the Southwestern Malabar Coast of India, but displaced by settlers over the last few centuries. The paniya community of Kerala is the largest indigenous community in the state, and the study is focused in Wayanad district, which reports the highest population of paniyas in Kerala. The study explores the social changes encountered by the paniya tribal community as actors in responding to mainstreaming attempts at the macro level, with due consideration for intergenerational perspectives.
The research was qualitative and adopted a multiple case study design. Three families were purposively chosen, and the case studies take an intergenerational approach, recording the diverse views of individuals across generations. The study made use of focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and key informant interviews on various themes.
The study shows that as a result of mainstreaming, there are marked changes happening within the paniya community in relation with oral communication, infrastructure, faith and religious practices. attire, health practices, occupation and food habits. To strictly group these into beneficial and adverse, would be unreasonable, as only time will tell which changes benefited them and impacted them negatively, though the community seems to be caught between the two worlds of their native existence and the mainstream ways.
Keywords: Indigenous people, paniyas, social changes, mainstreaming
viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
“See how your world has cracked.
Why aren‟t you here? Where are you? Come back.
Is history deaf there, across the oceans?”
- “A Pastoral”, by Agha Shahid Ali
The heartfelt lament for a lost past, ―A Pastoral‖ was Agha Shahid Ali‘s ode to his motherland Kashmir. Both the poet and his Land were caught between two worlds; settling in the United States at the prime of his life, Ali‘s heart never left Kashmir, the land itself being stripped of its honour, between conflicts that threatened to destroy its people, its polity and their beautiful culture. The pain of constantly living in the midst of unrest and strife, losing peace and identity; caught between the need to survive and the vain hopes of upholding one‘s legacy constantly haunts the sub consciousness of anyone who has been deprived of their land.
1.1 Introduction
To lose the land beneath one‘s feet, to be driven out of the place one has called home for centuries; to be enslaved and stripped of one‘s right to oneself… this is a fate none of us would want to live through. Yet, this is precisely what indigenous people around the globe have been going through for centuries. As a collective, indigenous people remain a group of people, who never staked claim on anything to be ‗their own‘: ―We belong to the land; the land does not belong to us‖ (Reconciliation Australia, n.d.) is what they keep on subtly hinting the ‗civilised savages‘ in us, even now. Yet the conquerors, the newcomers, who established themselves as the settlers of nations, displaced these communities, labelling them as ‗natives‘ (aboriginals), who had no right to the land they had lived on for centuries, much before the inception of nation states of civilisation.
This is an attempt to understand the story of one such group of indigenous people -the paniya community of Kerala- who lived on the southwestern Malabar Coast of India, who were robbed and dispossessed of everything they had, and left to restart their lives from scratch.
1
1.1.1 Indigenous People
Indigenous is defined as ―born or produced naturally in a land or region; native or belonging natural‖ in the Oxford English Dictionary (1999).The United Nations defines the indigenous people as ―spread across the world from the Arctic to the South Pacific, indigenous people are the descendants - according to a common definition - of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. The new arrivals later became dominant through conquest, occupation, settlement or other means‖ (United Nations, 2007).
The World Bank records Indigenous People as ―culturally distinct societies and communities for whom, the land on which they live and the natural resources on which they depend are inextricably linked to their identities, cultures, livelihoods, as well as their physical and spiritual well-being (The World Bank, 2019).
Considering the diversity of indigenous people, an official definition of ―indigenous‖ has not been adopted by any UN-system body. Instead the system has developed a modern understanding of this term based on the following:
• Self- identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member • Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies • Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources • Distinct social, economic or political systems • Distinct language, culture and beliefs • Form non-dominant groups of society • Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities (United Nations, 2000)
According to the UN, the most fruitful approach is to identify, rather than define indigenous peoples. This is based on the fundamental criterion of self-identification as underlined in a number of Human Rights documents. The term ―indigenous‖ has prevailed as a generic term for many years. In some countries, there may be preference for other terms including tribes, first peoples/nations, aboriginals, ethnic groups, adivasi
2 or janajati. Occupational and geographical terms like hunter-gatherers, nomads, peasants, hill people, etc., also exist and can be used interchangeably with ‗indigenous people‘.
In many cases, the notion of being termed ―indigenous‖ has negative connotations and some people may choose not to reveal or define their ‗origin‘. Others must respect such choices, while at the same time, working against the discrimination of indigenous peoples. (United Nations, 2007)
There are approximately 370 million indigenous peoples worldwide, in over 90 countries (United Nations, 2000). China is the country with the biggest indigenous population in absolute terms. Almost 112 million indigenous people – Tibetans, Uyghurs, Zhuang and 52 other recognized groups – still make up only 8.5 percent of the total population. Greenland is considered the territory with the most indigenous people as a share of the total population. Almost 90 percent of the population is Greenlandic Inuit who call themselves Kalaallit and their homeland Kalaallit Nunaát. The population, as of 2018, was 89.6 % Greenlandic Inuit out of a total of 57,691 of inhabitants (Buchholz, 2019; Berger, 2019).
1.1.2 The Indian Scenario
India has the second largest population of indigenous people in the world. The Indian Constitution classifies them as the Scheduled Tribes (S.T.s). In Central India, the y are called adivasi; the term is derived from the Sanskrit word 'adi' which connotes of earliest times or from the beginning and 'vasi' meaning inhabitant or resident. This term hinting at the Latin word ab-origin, was coined in the 1930s, largely a consequence of a political movement to forge a sense of identity among the various indigenous peoples of India (Minority Rights Group International, 2008).
Unlike the international practice of self-identification of indigenous people, the legally essential characteristics, first laid down by the Lokur Committee, for a community to be identified as Scheduled Tribes in India are
● indications of primitive traits ● distinctive culture
3
● shyness of contact with the community at large ● geographical isolation ● backwardness (Saroha, 2017)
As per 2011 census, India is home to 705 tribal groups across 30 States/UTs. With an estimated population of 104 million, they comprise 8.6% of the total population. Out of the total Scheduled Tribes, 89.97% live in rural areas and 10.03% in urban areas. The highest number of ST groups are in Odisha [62], followed by Karnataka [50], Maharashtra [47] and Madhya Pradesh [46] (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2013). Many more ethnic groups are unofficially considered eligible for the status of Scheduled Tribes, but don‘t qualify under the afore-mentioned criteria; as a result, estimates of the total number of tribal groups are higher than the official figures (Saprina, 2019).
Tribal communities in India reside in different ecological and geo-climatic conditions ranging from plains and forests to hills and inaccessible areas. They are at various levels of social, economic and educational development. Some of these tribal communities have adopted mainstream way of life, but at the other end of the spectrum there are certain Scheduled Tribes, (75 in number) known as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) earlier named as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs), who are characterised by pre- agriculture level of technology, stagnant or declining population, extremely low level of literacy and subsistence level of economy. (Saprina, 2019)
1.1.3 Tribal Communities in Kerala
Total Scheduled Tribal population in Kerala composes 1.5 percent of the total population (2011 Census). Most of the tribal people of Kerala live in the forests and mountains of Western Ghats, bordering Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Of over the 35 tribal groups which inhabit the state, Cholanaikkans, Kurumbas, Kattunaikans, Kadars and Koragas are the five primitive tribal groups in Kerala. which are included in the central government‘s list of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). They constitute nearly 5% of the total tribal population in the State. Cholanaikkans can be said as the most primitive of them and found only in the Malappuram District. Kattunaikans, another lower-hill community related to
4
Cholanaikkans, are mainly seen in Wayanad district and some in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. The Kadar population is found in Thrissur and Palakkad districts. Kurumbas are living in the Attappady Block of Palakkad district. The Koraga habitat is in the plain areas of Kasaragod district.
Among the 14 districts in Kerala, Wayanad has the highest number of tribals (1,36,062) followed by Idukki (50,973) and Palakkad (39,665) districts. The tribal communities of Wayanad are socio-economically and culturally diverse and include paniyan (44.7 %), Adiyan (7.1 %), Kattunayakan (9.9 %), Kurichian (17.4 %), Mullukuruman (17.5%) and Uralikuruman (2.7 %) (Menon 2010).Kurichiyas and Mullu Kurumans own land and practice settled agriculture; paniyas and Adiyans are mainly wage labourers with a few who own land; Kattunayakans depend on forest labour for their livelihood. Occasional forest labour and collection of non-timber forest produce contributes to their income. The Urali Kurumans were traditionally artisans, and today most of them are agricultural labourers. The landholding pattern and the nature of occupation are also different among these Tribal groups (Isac, 2014).
1.1.4 The Paniya Tribe
The Paniya (Paniyar/ Paniyan) are the largest of the 35 major tribes in Kerala. The tribe is found in Wayanad, Kannur, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala, and adjoining districts of Coorg in Karnataka and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. Majority o f the entire paniya population of South India can be found in Wayanad district of Kerala. According to the Census of 2011, there are 15,876 families of paniya in Wayanad, contributing to a population of 69,116.
The name of the tribe (Paniya/ Paniyan/ Paniyar) is supposed to have originated from the social standing; the term pani means work, and the term paniyan thus, means ‗someone who does work‘ or ‗labourer‘. Historically, paniyas have been slaves who worked in the agricultural field of the janmis or landlords (Krishnan, 2019).
Regarding the exact history of the paniya tribe, there are several stories existing among the community and the local population. The community consider themselves to be the descendents of a couple who lived in ‗Ippimala‘, the location of which they are not aware
5 of, but is supposed to be a mountain near the Banasura hill in West Wayanad. This couple, known as Ippimala Muthassi and Ippimala Muthappe, were supposed to be siblings above their torso, and different individuals below the torso. No evidence to support this tale has been found, and hence the story remains a legend revered and repeated by the paniyas among themselves (Krishnan, 2019).
European historians believe the paniyas are of African origin. Edgar Thurston, a British administrator who documented the history of people of South India in the early part of twentieth century, suggested that their short stature, black colour, curly hair, cephalic and nasal indices have evident resemblance to the Negroes of Africa and can be regarded as a tribe having African roots (Krishnan, 2019; Figaredo, 2014).
Another story narrates that the landlords of the Chetti group trapped these forest dwellers using nets, and domesticated them to work as agricultural labourers. A similar story exists with a Gounder land owner in place of the Chetti landlord. According to another local belief, centuries back they were brought to Wayanad by the local Raja and when the Raja's family was massacred by his enemies, the paniyas accepted the Chettis as their masters and started working for them. Though the story of their origins remains vague, there are traces in history that prove that paniyas were slaves, bought and sold with the land they worked on (Kurup & Burman, 1961).
According to the oral tradition, the king of the Kuruman Tribal community in Wayanad was defeated by the Kottayam and Kurumbanad kings and Wayanad came under their rule. The Rajas of Kottayam introduced a settled form of government in Wayanad and brought several Nair families from the coastal land; the area was further divided into nads (small divisions) and the Nairs took up administration. They treated Tribals as inferior beings and used them for hard manual labour. Even though Tribals were enslaved by the migrants, they were free to use forest land and its resources by giving a minimal rent in the form of forest produce to the Nair landlords. (Logan, 1951; Mundakkayam, 2002; Nair, 1911)
After Hyder Ali invaded Wayanad in 1766 AD and brought it under his rule, the migration of Muslims to Wayanad, which had started in the 16th century, accelerated;
6 during this period, large areas of forests were mortgaged by the Nair landlords to certain Muslim merchants who exercised the rights of the original proprietors. This further affected the customary rights of tribal people and curtailed their access to agricultural and forest lands. (Isac, 2014)
The paniyas had never owned land and had considered the land as common property and moved about freely. They thus became the greatest victims of the socio-political situations as they lost all the land which they considered a common property, to the landlords. As a result of this they had to work for the latter to earn their living.
In the 20th century, another bout of migration took place to Wayanad from the erstwhile kingdom of Travancore, the present-day central Kerala. Some records claim that the paniya labourers were sold with the land to the new owners; other sources say they were chased away by the landlords but were later employed by the migrants as they proved to be excellent agricultural workforce (Kunhaman, 1949; Mathew & Shah, 2018).
This second migration further aggravated the bonded labour situation of these tribals. ―The settlers and Adivasis lived poles apart culturally and economically, and even socially. The settlers eventually thrived with organized religion and educational institutions. But the tribals continued to internalize the ‗bonded-psyche‘‖ (Mathew & Shah, 2018, p. 114).
The arrival of the British merely changed the ownership of lands from the landlords to the government, and the state of these bonded labourers remained more or less the same. During the British rule, the paniyas remained agrestic slaves (Isac, 2014).
Independence also brought not much relief to this community; Sarin (2003) criticises the state forest policies as well as the constitution of the Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) by the Supreme Court which views all lands with trees as forest and the reinforcement of its management responsibility to the Forest Department (FD), the biggest institutional landlord in the country. The Kerala state‘s Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was also discriminatory towards these already disadvantaged groups, and displaced the landless tribals from their forest areas by declaring those areas as forest reserves.
7
Further, it has been reported that even after the abolition of bonded labour by Kerala in 1963, different forms of slavery existed among the paniyas, in the form of annual engagements to work for a farmer who gave the labourer a lumpsum advance. According to the government report till 1983, 823 bonded Tribal labourers were identified in Kerala and since then no further cases have been reported (Aiyappan, 1992). The destruction of paddy fields in the following decades, and which continues to this day, is also a major blow to the paniya community as these fields were the reservoirs of their food and employment.
The situation today is that neither political parties nor the nongovernmental organisations are found to be supporting the tribal communities in retrieving either their alienated land or lost culture (Isac, 2014). Displaced from the forest that was a natural abode, and the land they once inhabited and worked in, the paniyas are confined to smaller tracts of land on the fringes of the society, which amounts to not more than 10 cents for a family. Being predominantly landless, they now live in colonies (as the government labels their settlements) in houses the government has built for them, struggling to find jobs and money to sustain them.
The identity of belonging to the slave caste from pre-colonial times has placed the paniya community on the lowest rung among the tribal community itself, and also in the hierarchy of the caste and class structures. The traditional practice of untouchability kept a paniyan20 meters away from the others even during the early period of independence. Now living in colonies in peripheral areas, they rarely interact socially outside their own colony (Isac, 2014).
Thomas, Taylor, &Bareh in their book Tribal Awakening (1965) points out that, as far back as the 1960s, many of the tribals who were in isolation till the few decades back, had been brought into mainstream through modern developments and they are undergoing all kinds of changes in social, cultural, economic and political spheres; the paniya community is no exception.
8
1.2 Background of the Study
Julian Huxley, renowned British evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, and internationalist, in his introduction to his book African View writes, ―Shall we be able to preserve the savour of difference, to fuse our culture and theirs [native tribes and races] into an autochthonous civilization, to use local difference as the basis for a natural diversity of development?‖ (p. 7). If he was speaking from a global viewpoint that included the fate of indigenous people all around the globe, in India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, voiced a similar concern in his foreword to Verrier Elwin‘s Philosophy for NEFA.
I am not at all sure which is the better way of living, the tribal or own. In some respects, I am quite certain theirs is better. Therefore, it is grossly presumptuous on our part to approach them with an air of superiority, to tell them how to behave or what to do and what not to do. There is no point in trying to make them a second-rate copy of ourselves… In fact, there would be more peace in the world if people were to desist from imposing their way of living on other people. (p. vi)
The constitution also took an equal stance on the topic, giving them the special status of Scheduled Tribes, and including provisions for the protection and development of their social, economic and cultural life. The constitutional measures for the Scheduled Tribes in India include Educational, Economic, Public Employment and Political safeguards, and an agency (National Commission for Scheduled Tribe) to monitor the same (Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 2017).
The government of India, since the first five year plan, thus formulated policies pertaining to tribal welfare; this was strongly guided by Nehru‘s insistence on tribals being able to ―enjoy the advantages of modern medicine, education, agriculture and economic growth, but certainly not at the cost of the rare and precious values of their life‖ (Rath, 2006, p. xiv). These special strategies have registered quantifiable improvement in the socio-economic status of Scheduled Tribes. However, the progress made by them could not bring them much closer to mainstream society as the wider gap in the socio-economic status persists (Lal, 2019).
9
The Kerala story is not much different. With its ‗Kerala Model of Development‘ being praised in the national and international circles, the statistics that compare to the European and Scandinavian standards seems to have left these tribal populations behind. If one compares the tribals on the socio-economic or quality of life indicators, it is true that the tribal groups from Kerala will appear to be far better than many other states, but when they are compared with the rest of the Kerala society it is interesting that they left as the least developed within the state. The model, for instance, was severely criticised when there were starvation and hunger deaths reported from the adivasi colonies of Wayanad and Palakkad districts and questions were raised regarding ‗where does the Adivasi of Kerala, as a community, fit in this whole process?‘. Despite a variety of programs, especially in the education and agricultural sectors, being introduced and updated for tribal welfare by the state government in recent years, the anticipated beneficiaries are still suffering with poor development outcomes.
After 2004, the government, on record, has given land to more than ten thousand families under different programmes and missions; despite this, the number of landless tribals has only increased in the state. Kerala is known for the highest literacy rate in the country (93.91%) but as per 2011 census, the literacy rate for the tribals in the state is a mere 72.77%. More than 77680 tribal individuals in the age group between 15 and 59 are unemployed. Poverty rates are also high; about 2402 families take meals one time in a day, and amongst them half are agricultural laborers. Only 34,092 families have two meals a day and the number of family members who are malnourished is 13,960 (Khan, 2012).
The paniya tribe, with their history of slavery, is at an even disadvantaged position within the tribal community. Being historically landless, and considered by even other tribal groups as ‗untouchables‘, the paniya tribe are discriminated against even in the present times. Landlessness and irregular employment place the paniya families in a vicious cycle of poverty. They are educationally backward compared to other tribal communities like the Kurichiyas (Isac, 2014). The same study reports that the paniya children are discriminated against in schools by both teachers and fellow students.
10
Mohindra et al (2010) records the following about the general status of the paniya community in the present times:
Colonies have poor transportation linkages and are particularly vulnerable to flooding during monsoons. They have poor housing and living conditions; for example, 50% of households have no sanitation facilities. paniyas have low levels of education; 57% of women and 46% of men have never been to school. They spend a significant proportion of their household income on alcohol and tobacco, which represent 17% of total expenditure on food consumption. Hygienic practices common in Kerala are not universally adopted; over a quarter of the households do not systematically boil their drinking water. Their health needs are great (e.g. 60% are underweight, 15% are anaemic, and 11% have goitre). The paniyas have low rates of health care utilization; among those who had experienced a severe episode of illness, 30% did not use any health service. Although there are special tribal schemes and programs, the paniyas are less likely to avail themselves of these, compared to other tribal groups (p. 2).
Perhaps, echoing the same sentiment regarding the plight of these indigenous people are the observations by Mathew and Shah: ―On a larger canvas, paniyas are perhaps the most backward of the tribal communities in the state of Kerala‖ (Mathew & Shah, 2018, p. 114).
Several studies point towards the fact that the cultural practices of the paniyas have also changed drastically over the years. There have been reported changes in their housing, language, art forms, customs and practices, and even their core belief systems. Their frequently get together at the moopan‘s house, the happy noises of musical instruments that could be heard from their settlements during the evenings, the colourful celebrations that decorated their faith practices, the hand-crafted ornament-making… the list of losses are very long. The joint families disintegrating into nuclear families, the decreased usage of their native paniyabhasha, the drastic change from the traditional attire to the mainstream dressing patterns, the slow drift away from age-old customs and practices… the changes are endless (Isac, 2014; Varghese, 2010).
11
On the whole, though living on the fringes of the society, the community has come into contact with the mainstream culture due to increased opportunities in education and occupational sectors. But not only have they not attained the development envisioned by Pandit Nehru or the architects of the constitution, they have also lost the cultural heritage they had preserved over the centuries. What Somashekhar (1997) pointed out two decades ago remains true in this age too, that the socio-cultural life of the tribals in India has undergone several changes during the past five decades, but improved only to a limited extent.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
The indigenous communities, described by the United Nations as ‗keepers of knowledge‘, have been facing discrimination world over; their cultures are threatened with extinction (United Nations, 2000). Similar to many other communities around the globe, the paniya tribal community of Wayanad district in Kerala has a long history of discrimination; a history that may possibly have been more discriminatory in nature than many other tribes in the Indian subcontinent. The paniyas, described by the renowned Indian anthropologist, A. Ayyappan as an ‗ex-slave tribe‘, had been a landless community, forced into bonded labour by the landlords in Wayanad for centuries. The British rule aggravated their condition, and independence too did not bring them any consolation. The much acclaimed ‗Kerala Model of Development‘ has if not ignored, also failed to include this community in its race to achieve quality of life at par with global standards.
In spite of the developmental measures initiated by the State and Central governments, the community has failed to develop beyond a particular point, and the community wallows in a state of abject poverty and underdevelopment. Added to this, there have also been reports of their cultural richness – customs and practices, traditional attire and art forms, unity and oneness of the tribe – being lost over the years. This tribal community has been unwilling forced to embrace changes, over the years, under the pretext of unsolicited development, largely imposed by Governments with their agenda and perception regarding the paradigms of development. This study attempts to travel, trace and document these unsolicited changes that have dominated their lives over different
12 generations, and also attempts to look at these changes from the perspective of the Paniyas; in a way it tries to do justice to the insiders‘ perspective- an emic - to the whole story.
1.4 Significance of the Study
This study tries to look at the changes in the paniya tribal community from the perspective of the community members themselves. Understanding the changes, they have undergone as a community and their reaction to it from their own perspective is expected to bring out the reality of the situation; especially regarding their awareness as to the changes taking place within them. A clear picture as to the current state of affairs will be significant for the governmental and non-governmental agencies in understanding the key areas that need to be addressed and accordingly develop the strategies and approaches while they draft the action plans for programmes and policies. Concrete data, on the community‘s level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding their present state of existence, will help these agencies understand what kind of programs or projects are required to address the issues they are facing. This might also be helpful for the community itself in understanding the need to preserve and uphold their culture.
1.5 Chapterisation
Chapter 1- Introduction
Chapter 2- Literature review
Chapter 3- Methodology
Chapter 4- Case presentations
Chapter 5- Data analysis and Interpretation
Chapter 6- Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion
13
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
Indigenous people are considered to be the first inhabitants of any given nation. They are a group/community who believed that the land did not belong to them but they belonged to the land, that nature was not a property passed down from the previous generation but was a loan from the future generation that life was not about conquering but sharing… But as conquerors from distant lands came in and claimed ownership over land, these communities were chased off from the lands they had inhabited for generations and centuries; they became the ‗primitives‘ and ‗natives‘ who were too uncivilized for these settlers who claimed dominion over their newfound lands. As the settlers cleared lands and built civilizations, these original inhabitants became forest dwellers. As the civilizations gave way to borders and nations, these forests were also claimed as government property, leaving these people at the mercy of the governmental systems that ‗protect and provide‘ for them with reservations and incentives that are in fact theirs by right.
The World Bank (2019) reports, there are approximately 370 million Indigenous Peoples worldwide in over 90 countries. Although they make up 5% of the global population, the indigenous population account for about 15% of the extreme poor. In this context, it is worthy to note the World Bank observation that while Indigenous Peoples own, occupy, or use only a quarter of the world‘s surface area, they safeguard 80 percent of the world‘s remaining biodiversity. They hold vital ancestral knowledge and expertise on how to adapt, mitigate, and reduce climate and disaster risks. The report continues to state that given this scenario, it is quite ironic that though much of the land occupied by Indigenous Peoples is under indigenous customary ownership, many governments recognize only a fraction of this land as formally or legally belonging to Indigenous People.
State of the World‟s Indigenous People (2009) affirms the previous source; it points out that, indigenous peoples are custodians of some of the most biologically diverse territories in the world. They are also responsible for a great deal of the world‘s linguistic
14 and cultural diversity, and their traditional knowledge has been and continues to be ―an invaluable resource‖ that benefits all of mankind. Yet, indigenous peoples continue to suffer discrimination, marginalization, extreme poverty and conflict. Some are being dispossessed of their traditional lands as their livelihoods are being undermined. Meanwhile, their belief systems, cultures, languages and ways of life continue to be threatened, sometimes even by extinction.
In addition to removing them from their lands, everything that made them who they were - their distinct cultural practices, languages, spirituality - was outlawed, prohibited or erased. . . While at the schools the children were taught or forced to accept that they, their families and cultures were inferior to European culture and lifestyle. The children learned to be ashamed of their identity. It has been a struggle for many individuals and communities ever since to relearn, regain, and revitalize what was taken. (Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., 2019)
In the Indian scenario, the tribals are considered one of the most vulnerable sections of our society living in ―natural and unpolluted surroundings far away from civilization with their traditional values, customs and beliefs‖ (Pradhan, 2015). Globalisation and its effect on tribal development reads that tribals are ―part of the Indian society, at the same time they are different‖. The author goes on to point out displacement, land alienation, problems of indebtedness, endangering of intellectual property rights and extinction of primitive tribal culture as the major problems faced by the tribal communities in India today. The article points out that age old exploitation and repression of the tribals have not only cut them off from the main stream of socio-economic development of the country as a whole, but also affected their cultural heritage.
Among them, the paniya tribes are the largest of the tribal communities in Kerala, but remain one of the least developed and disadvantaged groups. They have a history of slavery and discrimination, and their social and cultural life has also undergone lots of changes.
15
2.2 Review of Literature
The plight of the indigenous population has been studied extensively over years, spanning a variety of topics from their material, economic losses to the loss of their culture and identity. There are several studies on different aspects of indigenous communities, their losses and changes in their lives, at the international, national and local levels. The following section explores a few such studies and their findings, focusing on the changes taken place within the tribal communities, and the effect of these changes on the communities.
2.1.1 Tribal communities
Semali & Kincheloe, (2011) outlines how the indigenous population of Africa valued their relationship with the natural environment and how they organized their folk knowledge of flora and fauna, cultural beliefs, and history to enhance their lives. The narrative reflects on different aspects of the tribal lifestyle.
One of the aspects discussed was the importance given by the tribe for their language; for them language was not a mere string of words. They believed that language has power and it carried lessons. ―The magic of language was reinforced through the games we played with words; riddles, proverbs and transpositions of syllables or songs‖ (p9). The lessons were readily illustrated in simple personal life stories, recollections, and memories, and this formed part of the indigenous education and history. These lessons provided them with a powerful sense of identity. Knowledge systems about the traditional institutions of customary law, land tenure systems, inheritance rights, and rituals, were guarded and preserved not through western writing systems but through stories, legends, folklore, fairy tales, trickster tales, and in some occasions, petrographic (rock) art.
The authors explain how the elders never missed an opportunity to teach their children about the different plants and herbs which were treatments for snake-bites, spider bites, and many other remedies for headache, stomach ache, and so on. They also warned their children to remember not to cut certain trees or shrubs for feeding the animals; they taught them how poisonous and deadly such grass would be to their livestock. All this
16 information was learned effortlessly and stored in memory as a way of survival in a wild and cruel terrain.
This shows how the tribal people guarded and protected nature as their own home, and passed on this knowledge across generations. The responsibility to safeguard nature and to ensure the transfer of this knowledge was passed on from generation to generation without any fault.
Abrokwaa, (2011) records that African traditional belief systems recognize that life on earth, particularly human life, is dependent on the resources provided by the environment. The Earth is constantly referred to as Mother Earth in all traditional African cultures. The spirit and presence of Mother Earth is the first to be invoked in all social, religious, and ceremonial gatherings. Specific songs are set aside to honour the Earth and the environment for providing the daily needs of human beings. They also serve as an educational resource for the youth in regard to environmental protection and preservation to ensure the perpetuation of life on earth.
This study in particular, focuses on the indigenous music pattern and styles which is orally passed on across generations. Consequently, Africans tend to rely on their memory, and are able to listen and then store detailed and complex information for very long periods of time.Their performance is in open air, symbolizing the free spiritedness of the African; and it takes place in an informal atmosphere because African music requires spontaneous participation from everyone present. The study, in particular, shows the difference between the African ethnic music and other mainstream music patterns.
Sied, (2014), in his study among the Nao People of Ethiopia writes that every ethnic group has its own indigenous language and most of it doesn‘t have any manuscript. They communicate with each other with the medium of their indigenous language and it is indifferent for the mainstream population.
Rai & Nath (2003) looks at the important role that the Indian tribal community has played in the conservation of the environment. The study notes that these people have in- depth knowledge on how to live, in harmony with nature; they possess traditional
17 knowledge which has been of vital importance in conservation, management and development of the environment.
Plants, for example, are conserved in natural habitat and is being worshipped as home of god and goddess; crop plants, wild fruits, seeds, bulb, roots and tubers are being conserved as source of food; plants are conserved in natural habitat in forest to be used as antidote of snake bite and scorpion- sting by tribal herbal healers, for setting bone fracture in orthopedic treatment and as medicinal herbs for curing wounds or arthritis, or as abortifacient (a drug causing abortion) and as cures for menstrual problems; in abandoned sites of shifting agriculture and in sacred groves of tribals, plants are conserved, contributing to the conservation of biodiversity. Some of the indigenous cultivars conserved by these ethnic people are even used in ‗Agricultural Cultivars Improvement Programmes‘ to increase productivity and incorporate traits for increasing resistance against different pests and diseases.
2.2.2 Changes that have taken place in the tribal communities
Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples points out that their relationship with their land had been, for the indigenous people, the foundation of who they were as a community; ―the land held their history‖. Over the centuries, not only were they physically removed from their lands, but everything that made them who they were - their distinct cultural practices, languages, spirituality - was outlawed, prohibited or erased. At the schools the children were taught or forced to accept that they, their families and cultures were inferior to European culture and lifestyle. ―The children learned to be ashamed of their identity.‖ (Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., 2019)
Semali & Kincheloe (2011) describes how, as the tribal groups started to mingle with the mainstream population, they were compelled to send the kids to school. The author recalls his own experience of learning the nature and the ways of his community from his tribe in his own mother tongue, and suddenly going to school one day where the medium of language was English; this transition somehow broke the children‘s harmony with the tribe. The language of education was no longer the language of their culture. The school considered English as the main determinant of a child‘s progress and it was counted as
18 one of the criteria for promotion to the next level of education. It literally affected the passing on of Oral literature in the tribe. But the people in time adjusted to these inevitable changes; they gave importance to learning and thus every child had two parallel curricula to learn: ―one that provides the skills to function in the traditional society and another one which imparts the skills to function in the global community‖ (p12).
Abrokwaa (2011) describes the major change that took place in the traditional culture, especially in the area of music. They were influenced by the colonial missionaries, who preached vigorously against indigenous African religions and music, particularly drumming, which they associated with pagan worship. Along with it, they aggressively promoted European musical art forms among the Africans. One of the reasons for the hostile attitude toward traditional African music by the colonialists stemmed from the fact that such music did not fit in the form of Christian worship to which the Europeans were accustomed, and this led to a
Sied (2014) studied the language shift among the Nao People of Ethiopia; this study clearly points out the changes that took place in the Nao community in terms of their language. The Decha district, where the Nao people reside comes under the governance of Keficho people; this played a high influence on them to learn the Keficho language (Kefinoono) in addition to their mother tongue. Most of the Nao tribal members have now become monolingual Kefinoono speakers. The other major factors that influenced the change in language were schooling (as the medium of instruction was Kefinoono) and the shift of religion from indigenous belief to Christianity (the churches used the mainstream languages for instruction).
Ekka (2013) studied the impact of modernisation on the religious customs and traditions of the tribals residing in Rourkela. The study was confined to the four major tribes, Kisan, Oraon, Kharia and Mundas, who reside in different settlements in Rourkela and explored the changes in their social life, and the tribals‘ own perception about these changes. The study found that tribal customs and traditions have come under pressure due to contact with the town culture; a consequent change in the attitudes of the tribals in Rourkela was also reported.
19
As a result of ‗progress‘, the tribals have gone through a variety of changes, in their relation with land and forests. They were very much dependent on forests for their day- to-day requirements, including food, shelter, equipment, medicine, and in some cases even clothes. As long as the tribes were in control of forest and open use of its produce, they had no difficulty meeting these needs; in return they had conserved the forest which was their life support system. Now though, it is difficult to find the tribes of Rourkela engaging in agriculture or cultivation; working in factories and corporate offices have become the trend. There are a few involved in small scale businesses, and some others have to be content with daily wage labour.
These tribes‘ indigenous languages have more or less been diluted with the Hindi and Odisha languages which are commonly used in the state; many tribal communities have lost their original tongue and today speak these two main languages of the state. They even encourage their children to abandon their mother tongue and learn Odiya. Those tribes that made the transition away from hunting and gathering and toward agriculture, usually as low-status labourers, also found their ancient religious forms in decay and their place filled by practices of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, or Buddhism.
The use of traditional crafts and equipment like pots, baskets, mats etc. are almost non- existent, and the use of herbal medicine is also on the decline; tribal dances though have been preserved by all the tribal communities; even the children are well versed in these art forms. There have been positive changes too, like the abolition of the practice of human sacrifices, and the introduction and encouragement of education.
Somashekhar (1997) and Shyamala (2003) studied the Sugali tribal community of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. The studies specifically looked at the changes that have taken place in the community, the factors responsible for this change and the impact of developmental measures on. Analysing primary and secondary data sources, their findings state that the socio-cultural life of these tribals underwent several changes during the past decades, but improved only to a limited extent.
The housing conditions of a majority of the sample households were poor; though 72% had landholdings a majority of the sample households were land-poor, with no proper
20 irrigation and fertile land. The occupational change indicated a shift from wage dependence to independent income earning, i.e., from agricultural labour to owner cultivation, business and service. Both studies showed that the community has shifted from joint family to nuclear families. ―A decline in the size of family and an increase in the age at marriage‖ is what the researcher has predominantly noticed in this respect. Shyamala reports that though there are an increasingly smaller number of joint families, the kinship ties among the family members are strong. The traditional power structure of the Sugalis has been weakened due to the introduction of the Panchayati Raj system.
The religious beliefs and customs of the Sugalis have also been undergoing a change whereby they have increasingly adopted certain elements of Hindu culture in terms of worship of deities, celebration of festivals and rituals relating to marriage and other ceremonies. In the rural areas, the parents prefer sons to daughters, though this discrimination is not found among Sugalis living in towns. The practice of marriage can be seen to be shifting to Hindu religious practices, followed by Sanskrit rituals like tying of tali and presence of a Brahmin priest. Economic conditions also play a major role as traditional marriages require a lot of money and most of the Sugalis feel that this type o f marriages is outdated and Hindus will degrade them. Traditionally the married women never wore thali, kumkum on the forehead or toe rings, but of late the Sugalimarried women have adopted all these Hindu customs. The changes in the marriage practices are also indicated by a shift from bride price to dowry system and a change in the type of ornament indicative of marriage worn by a woman. Divorce had been very common among the Sugalis; it was very easy to obtain divorce and no social stigma was attached to a divorced Sugali. Widow Remarriage and polygamy were said to have prevailed freely and it was customary for even divorced women to remarry during the lifetime of their husband. But the practice of Hindu religion, it seems, has influenced this liberty too.
Gurulingaiah (2016) studied the social mobility and the changes that are taking place among the KaduGollas in Tumkur district of Karnataka; four hundred sample households were interviewed with the help of interview schedule. The study concludes that the culture of the tribal group under study has changed drastically over the years; though a
21 few traditional practices have been retained, they are more or less, moving towards the mainstream trends.
Traditionally, this community lived in thatched houses made from locally available material such as coconut leaves; today majority of them have shifted tiled or concrete houses which are comfortable to live in; these houses are considered the indications of the inmates‘ status. Both extended and nuclear families are found among them but the traditional joint family system has been drastically declining. The traditional system of matrilineal family has been on the decline and patriarchal tendencies are emerging. KaduGollas in the past were of nomadic nature, wandering half-naked, wearing a piece of cloth round their waist; traditionally, women did not have the habit of wearing a blouse or upper garment. Now, their state of nudity has completely vanished, and they have adopted modern dressing from their neighbouring castes.
Their religious beliefs were characterized by ancestral worship and tribal deities; now, they have adopted the worship of several Hindu mythological Gods and Goddesses. The community festivals though are not on the decline. Worship of some animals were common among them, as they believe that these animals are holy and possess supernatural powers; cows and are still worshipped in the villages.
Marriage, even today, is rarely a private contract, but involves alliance between families. Contact with other dominant local caste people has brought in many of the dominant caste‘s rituals into their marriage rituals. A shift from the traditional practice of bride price to the dowry system is also noticeable. The marriage ceremonies have shifted from their settlements to the city halls, and are often presided over by Brahmin priests; few exceptions are found among the village dwellers. Widow Remarriage is not socially recognized and approved, but a widower can marry an unmarried girl after performing all rituals and ceremonies as observed during his first marriage. Among the city dwellers, adopting family planning methods is one of the growing tendencies among them though their culture prevents women from adopting family planning methods as they believe that prevention is against God‘s wishes.
22
Menarche was marked by a 21-day exile from the settlement; anyone going near the girl or even her shadow was deemed impure. Further, if girls attained puberty, she had to stop attending school or college. Today, due to spread of modern education and contact with other castes, the community has come to understand menstruation as a biological process and have abandoned these notions of impurity, though a few of these remain in lesser degrees, in the villages.
Traditionally, delivery had to take place outside the settlement -as they considered child birth to be an ‗evil happening‘- and the mother and child stayed there for three months till ‗purification‘. They never approached the doctor or cooperated with the health department in this respect, as a result of which infant mortality rate was high among them. Educational progress, occupational change, influence of neighbouring castes and efforts of the community leaders, has empowered educated couples to oppose these taboos, and the women‘s pollution period following childbirth is gradually decreasing. However, some of the elders still insist on following the old custom.
Most of their traditional system of education is undergoing a change; they are showing interest in formal schooling. Factors like poverty, lack of facility, bad performance, restrictions attached with attainment of puberty of girls, lack of guidance etc, are still the major impediments to spread of education.
From the hereditary occupations of sheep rearing and cattle tending, they have moved to cultivation of their own lands, followed by secondary occupations like petty business. Economic co-operation and collective endeavor in the form of community labour and ‗barter- exchange system‘ have almost vanished. Changes are also visible in their food habits; unlike in the past, when they depended on only ragi and also hunted animals, they now grow different kinds of food grains for consumption.
They have moved forward from superstitions, and attained progress in many ways, but have also ended up adopting many evil practices from the mainstream community they came into contact with. The loss of many cultural practices is one of the biggest losses; one which they are seemingly unaware of.
23
Zacharius P. Thundy‘s case study on the Kadar tribes of Kerala deals with the religious changes taking place within the community. The study gives an elaborate introduction on the loss of the tribal religion among the tribes of India. The article published in the Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine in 1981, explains how both Christian missionaries and Hindu reformers tried to ‗civilize‘ the tribes-people by assimilating them into their respective religions. In the beginning of the 1980s, the Muslim leaders from the Gulf countries had also started giving financial support for the purpose of assimilating the tribesmen into the Islamic community.
2.2.3 Impact of Mainstream on the Indigenous communities
Fordham (1998) suggests that because language is a vessel of culture, its loss can be harmful to the cultural heritage. Language loss compromises tribal uniqueness and sovereignty. Moreover, their cultural heritage and identity also gets separated from their children, preventing them from communicating with elders and from participating in their language community.
Speaking with reference to the Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people, Bridge (n.d.) elaborates how the loss of language threatens the indigenous community‘s own existence. ―Language identifies who we are and where we come from. We use the languages we speak to express all that we feel and know. When we lose a language, we lose the unique knowledge and perspectives of the people that speak it.‖ For these people who don‘t see themselves as ‗owning‘ land, animals, plants or nature, but rather belonging with these things as equal parts of creation, loss of their land, coupled with the loss of their language, is the greatest loss that eventually leads to a loss of identity.
Semali & Kincheloe, (2011), explains how the oral literature of the Chagga people of Tanzania (Swahili or Kichagga languages) stopped existing as the children adopted English as their medium of learning. The new stories and lessons taught in the school about foreign lands and culture appeared alien as against the traditional stories about land, mother earth, water sources, good behavior, respect for elders, environment and so on, which were passed on as life lessons in the tribal community. The introduction of fables into schools from outside intentionally interrupted indigenous knowledge. A euro-
24 centric knowledge system, therefore, attempted to replace local practices, history, language, and cultural values while claiming that such replacement was vital because many indigenous communities did not have written languages.
The author shares an incident,
Larry [author‘s childhood friend] was well versed in the oral indigenous knowledge of his community, he never got lost in the forest even at the age of six… he had extensive knowledge on the medicinal values of plants and roots… When he started going to school, he was labelled as dumb because he couldn‘t understand the language of instruction… ―How could an individual‖, I asked, ―be so smart in one context and be deemed so ‗dumb‘ in another?‖ (p14).
Incidents like this brought in lack of confidence and inferiority complex in the lives of tribal children and discouraged them from receiving education.
Stories, legends, folklore, fairy tales, trickster tales, and in some occasions, petrographic art were important devices which ensured the survival of the Chagga people and other societies for many years and it was affected through western education. The indigenous knowledge and life pattern of the tribal people was affected and manipulated through the changes brought in their lives by colonization and westernisation.
At the same time Community as Classroom: (Re) Valuing Indigenous Literacy, dealing with issues in the same community shows that as the children started to attend schools and explored the modernized pattern of lives, they learned to despise their own parents as they are old- fashioned and are not up to the level of civilization that they learn from the schools. The taboos they have received from their family system and the things that they learn at school confuses them. They don‘t find it important to learn about farming, and the jobs that were once done by their elders. The two-way education actually doesn‘t help the children to grow as both of it has drastic differences and leads the child to have no root in either of the systems (Semali, 2011).
Prakash (2011) reveals what the evolution of modern medicine has done to the set of traditional medicines and healing practices. The introduction of modern medicine into
25 traditional communities brought down the use of plants and herbs for different treatments. The narrative also points out how the modern agri-business sciences have destroyed the traditional soil or agricultural patterns.
Abrokwaa (2011) studies the impact that colonial invasion has brought about on the African music culture. The Christian religion which viewed their music as pagan resulted in the loss of this century-old music tradition. The changes in music that came over them through years of such mainstreaming and conversion also affected the identity, knowledge, skills and cultural heritage of these ethnic groups.
Sied (2014) writes on the Nao people‘s (Ethiopia) shift from their mother tongue to the dominant language. The Nao language system was influenced by the neighbourhood community which was the mainstream group. He states that because language socialization causes the language with the greater role or position to dominate the weaker minority language, the Nao language is slowly perishing and being replaced by the dominant mainstream language. The younger generation has started abandoning the use of their own language and maintenance of their culture. As a result, the Nao people, who are already intermixed with the local groups of Kefinoono speakers through intermarriage and other social practices, feel only a loose or insignificant attachment to their ethnic identity. Nao as a language and as a culture is no longer being transmitted to and no longer being absorbed by the next generations.
Ekka (2013) reports that the traditional features of tribal life is gradually changing from being deeply ingrained in tribal customs and traditions to something that is more modernised, in a developmental sense, due to adaptation of modern ways of living and altered life-style patterns. With increased contact with the ‗town culture‘, changes in the attitude of the people were also reported in the findings of the study.
But the study also points out the positive effects of this contact with the outside world; it has made education possible, and this education and literacy has helped the tribes to get themselves better living conditions and has also aided them from being exploited by the non-tribal groups. The increased number of women being educated and employed from the community is also proof to the positive impact of mainstreaming on this community.
26
But, as interested and eager as they are to educate their children, lack of income and other related facilities often become hindrances to achieve their dreams.
The people of the community want their culture to be preserved by the younger generations, but at the same time, want their children to be educated and literate, to be competent enough to be a part of the society. Though, with education, the young generation shows a common trend to move away from their culture and practices. Ekka records that ―a large number of youth belonging to these major tribes of Rourkela wanted to get modernised with total acceptance of the modern culture‖. This, she reports, is a sad predicament because ―they are leaving behind their own cultural heritage by adapting and accepting other cultures‖.
The study concludes that, ―In general only those tribes that remain geographically isolated in desert, hill, and forest regions or on islands are able to retain their traditional cultures and religions for longer periods. The developmental measures and policies supposedly aimed at ‗liberating‘ tribals have led over the years to their loss of cultural identity, ‗their relationship to land and forest‘ and to themselves.‖
Somashekhar (1997) and Shyamala (2003) record that the urban and industrial environment has brought about significant changes among the Sugali community of Andhra Pradesh, specifically in their material culture which has been observed to have undergone radical changes. The most significant change is their mode of dress; the younger women discarded their traditional dress and switched over to saree and blouse like the women belonging to other communities, however, the older women continue to wear their traditional dress. The unique feature of the traditional dress had been that one could make out the differences between married, unmarried and widower; the absence of which can be seen both from the positive and negative angles. Because of the impact of education, exposure to mass media and increased interaction with other communities, more and more Sugalis have learnt to speak in Telugu even in their routine conversation which used to be in their own language earlier. The recreation facilities of the Sugalis also underwent a marked change from gossipping, songs and dances, playing games and religious rituals to cinema, radio and television.
27
Positive changes in the community include adoption of family planning (65%), immunisation of children (33%), a change in the food habits- the main staple food has changed from lesser quality cereals such as ragi, jowar and bajra to rice- and also in the attitudes of the tribals towards education. Women have also begun to take active roles in decision making in the households.
The contact with the mainstream urban culture, in the Sugalis‘ case, has thus brought about both positive and negative repercussions in the community. The community has already travelled a long way from their traditional lifestyle and practices; some changes have liberated them from superstitions and some changes have left them rootless. One major drawback of both studies lay in the fact that the researchers look at the community with the assumed view of an expert, qualified enough to judge the changes the community has gone through; they fail to capture the community‘s own view of the changes they have undergone.
Pradhan (2015) traces the impact of globalization among different tribes in India. The study points out that, at the same rate that the culture is being lost to the tribal people, the market value of their culture is increasing in international circles.
Gone were the days of Shikai, Rita, Pulse powders (Sunni Pindi), neem twigs and Kumkum. Today they are replaced by shampoos, tiklis, and tooth brush and tooth paste of hundred and one brands which have swept into remote villages of Andhra Pradesh... Carrying mineral water bottles has become not merely a necessity but also a status symbol (p. 177).
On the other hand, ―the Orissa tribal culture became very popular, because of dance, handicrafts such as wooden and stone products and some other hand made products‖ which have high demand in the global market. The article clearly lays down both the upside and downside of the developmental process that inevitably brought the tribal communities in contact with the mainstream culture. The macro view shows the popularization of the tribal culture, giving a superficial idea that the tribals still savour and preserve their cultural heritage, when in reality a detailed study reveals how the tribal
28 community is grasping on the marketing of their culture as a last straw to survive in the competitive world.
Aboriginal Groups in India is a study on the Kadar tribes living on the borders of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The study concludes with the following opening lines: ―It is obvious that the Kadar live on the frontiers symbolically and psychologically as well as physically. They are caught between two worlds‖. The government's continued conversion of forests into teak plantations and farm lands has left them starving; the tubers and roots on which the Kadar people depended for food are getting scarce, there are fewer and fewer animals to hunt and additionally hunting is prohibited. Transition from their gathering lifestyle to agricultural practice is difficult without enough farmland and farming instructors. For rice and clothes, they must depend on the plains people, who have always exploited the gullibility and helplessness of these tribes-people.
For the Kadar, a complete return to the jungle would mean death from starvation. Integration into the larger society is their only choice for survival. In the hopes of this integration, the men keep going out to seek ‗jobs for which they are unprepared‘, the women try marrying plainsmen so that their children may have a better life. But they have repeatedly been found unable to cope. The government has built houses for them but survival becomes a question due to the lack of income.
Full-scale integration, the author says, would inevitably destroy the folk-ways, religion language, and mores of the aborigines, while the romantic notion of preserving prospering linguistic and racial enclaves is impractical. A balance must be found between the two, based on bilingual education for the tribes-people and intensive education of the larger population to appreciate the minority people among them.‖ (Thundy, 1981)
2.2.4 Paniya Tribal Community
Joseph (2004) explores the importance of folk music in the life of the paniyatribe. His findings explain how music brought them together and united them in a spiritual way. He records his observations on witnessing one of their performances: ―They were timid and shy in the beginning (of the performance) but they turned out to be free and out-spoken in the end. A group which was tensed and worried due to certain unwanted events became
29 relaxed and peaceful after the performance. They experienced community togetherness and companionship there.‖ He further points out that the paniya music culture is richer than those of Adiyas, Kurumbas and Kattunayikars. The music is simple in style but deeper in emotion, and is not only rejuvenating for the singers and dancers, but also for the observer or listener; it is a call for all to come out of their own cells and become one with nature.
Varghese (2010) explains how the life of the paniyatribe has changed with time.
The traditional language paniyabhasha was spoken widely among them. But now they have switched to speaking the regional languages which are Malayalam and Tamil. Especially the younger generation is not familiar with their indigenous language. The primary analysis reveals that only 33% of the people only speak paniyabhasha today.
They had gathered food from forest areas, eating millets, roots, wild fruits and nuts. The scenario changed as they mingled with the mainstream population; today most of them buy their food items from the market. Many of the younger generation are unaware of their traditional forest-based food items such as bamboo seeds, mushrooms, fungi, tubers, roots and leaves. They also started eating non vegetarian food items; there are only 28% of them who are vegetarians among them now.
Today, most of them depend on modern medicine and hospitals for medicines and proper treatments; the traditional knowledge of treatments and medicines has also started to vanish away. The younger generation is not willing to learn or practice it anymore. The traditional ornaments such as ole kammal, murula, mukkuthi, chootumani and beaded chain are not commonly used these days; only the elderly people find it attractive these days.
Traditionally in paniya religion there is very less worship of images, no extended rituals and sacrificial systems, no caste system, less knowledge of extended Hindu myths and philosophy. The study reports that now they are influenced by the religions of the surrounding communities, with many of them having converted to Hinduism, Christianity and few to Islam. Today many of them follow a paniya-Hindu religion; with the elements of both the religions. Traditionally paniyasbelieved in their own gods and goddesses such
30 as Kooli, Kuliyan, Kuttichathan, Malakkari, Mariyamma, Bhatha and KaduBhagavathi; now they also believe in most of the Hindu gods and goddesses like Krishna, Shiva, Rama, Vishnu, Kali and Ayyappan. paniyashave their own traditional festivals like Marikootu, Puttariunu, Kudukkachery, and ValliyurkavuUlsavam; along with it, they now celebrate several Hindu, Christian and Muslim festivals such as Onam, Vishu, Christmas, Ramzan etc. Thaiyyam (men dress up in the form of god) was a main item in all their festival celebrations, but these days it is not that visible. In the traditional villages they used to have ‗kulithara‘ as a worship place and these days, it has lost its importance.
Many of the traditional customs and rituals related to child birth are not practiced by the younger generations anymore. Most of the women go to hospital for the delivery, the place of atukari or pettukarathy (midwife women) are seen seldom. The ritual of attupundayattu (pre delivery ritual) is not observed by many of the people these days. The marriage ritual patterns have also changed. These days‘ people register their marriage based on the given rules and laws. Many conduct their marriage ceremonies in the nearby temples based on the Hindu rituals and beliefs. The age for marriage has also increased slightly, for both boys and girls. The dowry system has also been adapted by the tribe and 12.7% of them get married to other tribes, 10% of them get married to the non tribals. Earlier they were supposed to be married to their tribal people only.
The educational standard is found increasing. According to the analysis of primary data, 38% of the paniya, they have studied up to the primary level. The younger generation of the tribe is educated and they are very much concerned about family planning. They also adapted the mainstream law and rule system and they prefer going to the police station or local politician for the necessary matters and social problems instead of going to the tribal head ―Muppan‖. As they mingled with the mainstream population, even their choice of games has changed. The young ones are much more interested in playing volleyball, football and cricket instead of the traditional games ‗Gotikali‘ ‗Pathukali‘ ‗Kallukali‘ Kabadikali‘.
The occupational styles have also changed. People moved to paid jobs in public and private organizations. There are significant changes in their economic standards as a result of which they use modern instruments and implements, live in better houses. In
31 search of better avenues of job and developments many are found migrating to towns and cities.
The introduction of technology has helped the paniyatribal people to modernize their lives. They have started accommodating the lifestyle of the mainstream population as technology has helped them to have an easier life. The arrival of electricity into their settlement introduced a lot of electrical and electronic machines which replaced several of their traditional instruments. Now many of them are very much familiar with handling electrical mixers, grinder, heater, stove, T.V. and Radio in their homes. They also got used to the usage of telecommunication.
Ulahannan (2018) and Manojan (2018) explain the issues faced by the paniya children regarding the educational system currently in place.
The children face marked difficulty in understanding the language. The ―paniya‖ tribe has its own indigenous language and they are not familiar with other languages. The children find it difficult to understand the mainstream languages like Malayalam, English, and Hindi etc. As a result, a majority of the tribal students are not able to read and understand the text books and materials provided by the schools. The curriculum and syllabus in mainstream schools are framed mainly for non-tribal students. While tribal students are interested to have the indigenous knowledge in the curriculum, and are seen to participate more actively discussions on community related topics, the education system thus lacks in providing improved methods of teaching based on the mental and cultural standards of the ―paniya‖ tribe; this stops the children from attending school as they are not able to understand the teachings. If they join also, they lose interest in education as they are not able to relate to it.
The educational schedule, the school year, daily classes and holidays is organized with little understanding of tribal cultures. Tribal festivals and celebrations and the seasonal pursuit of agriculture and gathering are not taken into consideration in planning educational timetables. All too often teachers hold classes as they would do in cities or towns, ignoring the daily or seasonal habits of tribal pupils. The younger generation is confused with the new learning system and the existing traditional system, which makes
32 them unaware of their traditional and cultural forms and patterns. This also stands out as a major problem which stops children from attending school. Added to this, there is the parental worry that their children don‘t have the complete knowledge about their community. For them the indigenous knowledge and values have an exceptional standard in their lives and it is necessary for every child to be aware of it in order to preserve it and carry forward. But the younger generation is showing disinterest in learning those knowledge, practices and values.
Manojan writes extensively about the exclusion faced by these children at schools from the mainstream population as they are different in their caste, colour and language. This de-motivates the children from going to the school. Bullying and mocking in the name of the cultural differences, brings lack of confidence in the children and in most of the cases, the teachers don‘t show much interest in taking care of the tribal children in the classrooms. All these experiences and suppressions force the children to quit going to the school.
2.3 Research Gap
The studies discussed above have looked at the perceived impact on the community, as presented from the researchers‘ point of view. The above-mentioned studies on paniyacommunity especially make it clear that the community has undergone tremendous change in their economic, cultural and social aspects. But none of the above-mentioned studies have looked at these changes from the community‘s own point of view, specifically understanding how the people of the community, as actors in this process of change, perceive and understand these changes. This study aims to look at the changes in the paniya tribal community through the eyes of the community, over different generations, to understand how they perceive the changes taking place within and around themselves.
33
2.4 Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support the theory of a research study, i.e., it introduces and describes the theories that explain why the research problem under the study exists. The following is a brief description and outline of the important theories pertinent to this study.
2.4.1 Theory of Acculturation
BERRY’S ACCULTURATION MODEL
Yes It is Assimilation Integration considered to be of value to develop relations with the larger society No Marginalisation Separation
No Yes
It is considered to be of value to maintain one’s cultural heritage
Acculturation is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as ―cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture‖ (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). John Berry, in his four-fold acculturation model, introduces four themes, namely Assimilation, Integration, Marginalisation and Separation.
People who consider their culture of origin to not be important and who want to identify and interact mainly with the new culture are said to be using an assimilation strategy. People who value their heritage culture and do not want to learn about the new culture are adopting a separation strategy to acculturation. People who neither identifies with their heritage culture nor with the new culture are pursuing a marginalization acculturation strategy. People who seek to maintain their heritage culture and learn from and interact
34 with the new culture are considered to be using the acculturation strategy of integration, or bicultural strategy (Truong, 2016).
2.4.2 Cross-cultural Adaptation Theory
Cross-cultural adaptation refers to the process of internal change in individuals so as to be able to function in an unfamiliar culture. Newcomers learn to make adjustments in their original cultural habits and are able to attain a level of efficacy in the new environment. The process of adaptive change involves the deculturation of some of the original cultural habits and the acculturation of new ones. Both processes occur through communicative engagements between the individual and the host environment. Long-term and extensive experiences of cross-cultural adaptation may lead to the individual's assimilation into the mainstream culture of the host society.
The theory is framed by three boundary conditions:
● the strangers have had a primary socialization in one culture or subculture and have moved into a different and unfamiliar culture (or subculture),
● they are at least minimally dependent on the host environment for meeting their personal and social needs, and
● they are regularly engaged in firsthand communication experiences with that environment
By placing adaptation at the intersection of the person and the environment, the theory explains cross-cultural adaptation essentially as a process that occurs in and through communication activities. Underscored in this view is that communication is the necessary vehicle without which adaptation cannot take place, and that some degree of cross-cultural adaptation, no matter how minuscule, occurs as long as the individual remains engaged with the host environment (Kim, 2001: Kim, 2009).
2.4.3 Cultural Identity theory
Cultural identity is negotiated, co-created and reinforced in communication with others when we socially interact. They are manifestations of social reality, and reflect on our
35 unique personal life history and experience. Cultural identity becomes evident through social comparison. Speakers compare the status position of their own groups to those of other groups.
Two processes were found: avowal and ascription. Avowal is how one articulates or expresses his/her views about group identity. It is how one presents oneself to another. Ascription is how others perceive an individual. It is how one refers to others. Our identity is constructed as a result of how others view us and how we view ourselves. Therefore, both avowal and ascription are important (Communication Theory, n.d.).
36
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
Zacharius P. Thundy (1981), on studying the Kadar tribes of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, describes the tragic predicament of the tribals as ―caught between two worlds‖- the tragedy of having been forced to leave their forest homes, but not being able to integrate themselves into the mainstream society. The researcher, having reviewed a good amount of literature on similar issues, and in coming in contact with a few members of the tribal communities in Kerala, was intrigued by the seemingly drastic changes that have swept over these communities. Most of these available discourses though looked at these changes objectively; the researcher thus embarked on an attempt to understand not only these changes, but also the response of these communities to the said changes.
The paniyacommunity, records state, is the largest tribal community in Kerala and Wayanad district has the largest population of paniyas; slavery and landlessness had historically placed them at a bigger disadvantage even among the tribal communities, thus presumably accelerating this problem of being ―caught between the worlds‖. The researcher thus, decided to make this community her subject of study;after much deliberation, she decided on multiple case study design, and to better trace the changes over the years, decided to take an intergenerational approach, recording the diverse views of individuals across generations.
Case study is defined as ―an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-world context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident‖ (Yin, 2018). ―Multiple-case, collective case, cross-case or comparative case study, refers to case study research in which several instrumental bounded cases are selected to develop a more in-depth understanding of the phenomena than a single case can provide‖ (Mills, Durepos, &Wiebe, 2010). This study aims to examine three cases, i.e., three families, one from each paniyasettlement randomly selected from the available number of settlements in Mananthavadytaluk of Wayanad district.
The researcher decided to base her study in Mananthavady as it is the largest and one of the central towns in Wayanad. Three paniyasettlements were randomly selected, and one
37 family was interviewed from each settlement. The three selected paniyasettlements have a common history of displacement from the land they had inhabited for centuries. The selection of a single family from each settlement was based on an inclusion/exclusion criteria- the family should have members from a minimum of two generations, with the oldest interviewed individual being at least 50 years old (in order that they be able to provide relevant information on changes over at least half a century), and the youngest interviewed member being at least 12 years old (in order that their cognition is developed enough to look at a situation and give independent opinions).
In addition to the in-depth interviews with the selected cases, the researcher also uses observation and key informant interviews as tools for data collection.
A key informant is an individual who provides in-depth, expert information on elements of a culture, society, or social scene… What further separates key informants from other main types of interviewees is their potential involvement throughout the various phases of the research enterprise. Key informants and their expert knowledge and advice not only are a source of data but also can be used to develop more valid formal survey instruments, provide running commentaries on cultural events or scenes, aid in the interpretation of study results from more systematically collected data sources, and help in determining the validity and reliability of data, to mention a few (Johnson, 2007, pp. 537-538).
The researcher‘s guides in the field, a member of the paniyatribal community,currently pursuing Post-graduation in Sociology, and the tribal field worker in one of the areas of the study (not a member of the tribal community) were interviewed as key informants. Moreover, the researcher as a learner through her iterative journeys back and forth between the mainstream life (savage) and the indigenous abodes (civilisation) became aware of the divergence and the disconnect between the way in understanding the inside views. This is when the understanding on the difference between the etic and emic views became more conspicuous. The attempt to reach for the emic became a possibility with the engagement and discourse between her and her indigenous guide. The first perspective was what the insiders taught the researcher about their culture. This was documented in the way the researcher understood and subsequently reflected on and
38 discussed with the guide to negotiate a story closer to the inner reality. The analysis and discussions also feature these iterative discourses between the etic and emic constituents. Hence the deeper travel and inner search in this study.
3.1 Title of the Study
Mainstreaming and Indigenous Communities: An Inter-generational Case Study on the paniyas of Wayanad
3.2 Research Question
What are the social changes encountered by the paniya tribal community as actors in responding to mainstreaming attempts at the macro-level, with due consideration for intergenerational perspectives?
3.3 Definition of Concepts
Term Conceptual Definition Operational Definition
1. A group of people, often of Tribe, in the context of this related families, who live study, refers to the Paniya together, sharing the same community living in language, culture, and history, Nacholi, Arimala and especially those who do not live Kallara settlements in Tribe in towns or cities (Cambridge Mananthavady region of Dictionary, n.d.) Wayanad. (11.8014° N, 76.0044° E)
2. Social Change may be Social Change in the considered as any fundamental context of this research alteration in connotes the changes that (a) the structure of existing the paniya community has relationships of a society or parts gone through in terms of Social of a society community structure, (b) the processes or common institutions, practices, Change practices used in everyday life, values, lifestyle, livelihood (c) population composition (for and such other related factor
39
instance, the size of a society or that would evolve in course ethnic groups within a of the inquiry. community), and (d) the basic values, ideas, and ways of thinking that prevail in a society or its parts. In actuality, when significant alteration takes place in one of these aspects, it is accompanied by change in one or more other aspects (Parrillo & Naughton, 2008). 3. Mainstreaming: ―to incorporate In the context of this in the mainstream‖; research, mainstreaming is Mainstream: ―a prevailing the process by which an current or direction of activity or indigenous/tribal influence‖ (Merriam-Webster, community is being Mainstream- n.d.). absorbed into the ing mainstream society. Thus, mainstreaming can be generally viewed as incorporating into a prevailing current of activity or influence.
Table 1: Definition of Concepts 3.4 Research Strategy
The study is an attempt to dwell deeper into the emic perspectives of the indigenous people, in this case the paniyas, living in the Nacholi, Arimala and Kallara settlements, in Wayanad. The research was qualitative and adopted a multiple case study design.
3.5 Sampling Strategy
A family was considered as a unit of study. Three families were selected from among the paniya tribal community, living in Mananthavady region, in Wayanad. They were purposively chosen based on a definite criteria - the family chosen representatively was expected to have members from at least two generations, with one individual being at least 50 years old, and the youngest interviewed member being at least 12 years old, in order to facilitate intergenerational discourse about the changes in various themes
40 evolving during the course of the study. The study made use of focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and key informant interviews on various themes.
3.6 Ethical Considerations
The researcher met with the interviewees through and in the presence of the Guide, who herself is a member of the community, under study. The areas to be explored were discussed with the Guide, prior to the interviews, to ensure that the topics were presented in a cultural context, not in any manner that would not disturb or unsettle the interviewees in any way. The interviewees were informed about the study as being part working up to her dissertation; they were informed prior to the interview, that their identities would not be revealed, and that the interview would be voice recorded for the purpose of convenience but the recorded voice clip would not be shared with anyone else.
The researcher‘s intention is to understand the community‘s present state of transition in the context of mainstreaming, and the findings, she hopes, may benefit the community in understanding the need to and help them in working towards preserving their culture.
The researcher has tried to capture the voices of the people with all the emotions they held, and besides attempted to analyse their opinions with the help of an internal opinion, i.e., that of the Guide. The researcher has tried her best to avoid any random judgement or prejudice, and looked at the people with empathy and compassion, trying to understand the contexts and their responses from their point of view, rather than the mainstream consciousness, of which the researcher was a part.
3.7 Limitations of the Study
The researcher being an outsider to the community, it was difficult to warm up to the interviewees in the first place; though the presence of the Guide and the tribal field worker helped ease the difficulty of the situation. It was sometimes difficult to get the interviewees to talk freely.
The most difficult were the teenage girls in the community, who refused to even come out of the houses; they literally hid, away from the researcher's sight, and evaded every
41 question that the researcher asked. It took a lot of effort from the Guide‘s part to gather at least a part of the required data from them. This has affected the comprehensiveness of the research data, as the aim was to explore the perspectives of the community on the changes they have undergone as a tribal group; the researcher could not gather much in the form of perspectives/opinions from these girls.
The paniya language is similar to Malayalam, and is quite understandable to the normal Malayalam and Tamil speakers. However, at times, it was difficult to follow the language, even with the assistance of the Guide‘s and with her translation. The language barrier might have accounted to the loss of some vital information, especially in terms of opinion of the elderly population. The researcher took pains to cross-check with the Guide regarding the researcher‘s comprehension as against the perception of the native paniyas.
The constraints placed on the researcher by the course timeline and her personal difficulties rendered it for the researcher to reach a saturation point; there are further areas that the researcher wanted to discuss and understand with the interviewees (e.g. concept of marriage, separation and remarriage), which she could not do due to the time constraints. This has also restricted the research from going deeper into certain issues, and restricted the research to a peripheral level. Further availability of time might have helped the researcher to get closer to the teenage girls, and thus, gather more of the required data in contrast with the senior generations.
42
CHAPTER 4: CASE DISCUSSIONS
Case 1 Nacholi settlement
The researcher and her Guide arrived at Valliyoorkavu after a half hour journey by bus and auto rickshaw. From here, through the heat and dust of a road construction, we started on a twenty-minute walk on the Valliyoorkavu-Kammana road, to finally reach Nacholi, a tribal settlement which has been here for over half a century. The name ‗Nacholi‘ though is not on the map, and can be found mostly in the government documents on Scheduled Tribes only.
This group of tribal settlers arrived here more than half a century ago from Thalappuzha, when one of the earliest settlers who had been a bonded labourer to his landlord, craftily possessed that land and eventually brought his family over, to settle there as a group.
There, the researcher met with Mr. A (the oldest existing member of the settlement) and his family. Mr. A, was 70 years old based on his pension records. However, A admits that due to lack of records at the time of his birth, he might be even a decade or so older than what was recorded. He hails from Thalappuzha, and was born during a time when his community was working as slaves to the feudal lords in the area. He recalls that they lived in the forest areas allotted to them by the landlords, and worked in the fields for a measure of rice at the most; there was no monetary pay.
During those times, they were not allowed to dress like their masters, speak the language of their masters, cultivate anything for themselves, nor were they allowed access to education. Mr. A were among the very few, who sneaked off to school outside their masters‘ watchful gaze; he fortunately completed his 7thStd which was substantial education in those days. Around the age of 17, when he was studying in fifth standard, he married Mrs. A (aged a little above ten, but not fifteen), who had no primary education. They moved together to their present place of residence (or ooru, as it is called), which had been craftily possessed by the aforementioned member of Mrs. A‘s family, from one of the landlords. The whole family and the extended family settled down there and slowly
43 grew into a settlement which is now known as the ―Nacholi colony‖ to the common folk or ―Nacholi Ooru‖ to the inhabitants.
Mr. and Mrs. A had six children; their eldest daughter passed away thirty years ago during childbirth, one son lives with them, one daughter is living adjacent, while one son and three daughters live with their families, in town. The researcher interacted with Mrs. and Mr. A, and their daughter Mrs. B (aged around 40), who lives nearby; their granddaughter Mrs. C around 30 years, who was visiting her grandparents at the time of the researcher‘s visit; and their great granddaughter Ms. D (the son‘s daughter- aged 15). ―This (finding four generations of a family together)‖ , Mr. A says, ―is a rarity as generations of family members do not usually live together like this anymore‖.
When the researcher arrived at their home with a Guide, Mrs. and Mr. A were sitting in the yard, whiling away their time, with C visiting with them. The Guide introduced the researcher and the couple soon started comfortably sharing about their life ‗in‘ and ‗after‘ the forest. As the conversation progressed, B joined the group from her home nearby. D stayed in the background, listening, but hiding or running away at the slightest hint of involving her in the conversation. All of them, except D were chewing betel leaves throughout the conversation, and spitting the same in blood-red, occasionally. The Guide explained that this was typical practice in every tribal household, a remnant of their forest life. When they went deep within the forest in search of food, and hours went without any, this practice helped to numb or control their hunger; the practice stayed on even when they moved out of the forest into these new settlements.
Mr. A was very willing to talk, and shared his experiences and opinions very openly in almost chaste Malayalam; Mrs. A, though hard of sight and hearing, shared her life experiences and woes in native Paniya language, which the Guide translated. B was not very forthcoming, and limited her answers to the questions posed directly to her. C, although not experienced, was more than willing to share her opinions on the changes that have come over her community. Both B and C were well-versed in both Paniya language and Malayalam. D, perhaps given her age, was the most difficult to engage. The Guide accompanying the researcher, also a member of the Paniya community, tried talking with her, but to no avail. The family shared that the children are usually shy
44 around outsiders and it is common for them to refuse to talk with anyone outside their community.
On slavery
Mr. A remembers how his family and community worked for landlords in their paddy fields, and received a few bales of rice in return. The prevalence of the caste system and practice of untouchability saw them as outcastes, and they were subject to all the evils practices on account of this discrimination. Their language to the landlords reflected this subservience; these people had to address the landlords ―thampuran‖, which means Lord or King. In addition to this, they couldn‘t even refer to themselves directly as ―I‖ or ―me‖, instead they used words like ―adiyan‖. When standing in front of their masters, they had to hunch their shoulders and cover their mouths; they could not speak unless spoken to. They were not even allowed to go to the market for their needs without the landlord‘s permission. Historically, this subservience was reflected in their food habits, clothing, language, the physical distance they maintained with their masters, self- imposing inferiority and in almost all aspects of their lifestyle and livelihood (explained in detail in the following sections). The biggest difference between now and then, for Mr. A, is a release from this slave-like bondage and existence. Then, they were not masters of themselves, unaware of a bigger world outside of them and how to survive there. They lived away from the mainstream community, deep in the forest area, and were sometimes looked down even by other tribal groups.
On spoken communication
Speaking their master‘s language was considered a punishable offense for this community, and thus, the community spoke among themselves and to their masters in their native paniya language. The older generations, Mr. A says, use the same language for communication even today. Mrs. A, for instance, does not know Malayalam and conversed in paniyabhasha throughout the interview. Mr. A speaks both languages considerably well, and he claims this is an exception, and says he owes it to the education he received. The second and third generations use both languages fairly well, and C says
45 this is quite necessary to survive in the social environment they are in (the contact with their own community as well as the mainstream). Mr. A says the children use paniya language at home, and Malayalam outside the home; but he says the language she speaks is ―corrupted‖, that is, it is more of a mixed version of both the languages. A, B and C do lament the loss of their language, but they also accept it as a necessary change. As much as B and C would like their children to at least speak among themselves in their native language, they also want their children to be fluent in the mainstream language to avo id being alienated from the mainstream.
Another notable change that has occured in relation to this is the naming of the children. Mr. A‘s generation had names like Karuppen, Manja, Cheera, Ooli etc. and these names had meanings that pertained to their culture and language. Onward from B‘s generation, the names have been more or less similar to the mainstream; there have been adaptations from both Hindu and Christian communities, with names like Shibu, Thulasi in B‘s generation to names like Anitha, Anju in C‘s generation to names like Aryan, Abhinav, Saumya in D‘s generation. This changing trend with the name is not a worry for any of them, as they say that naming a child is a very personal matter that shouldn‘t be dictated by rules. Mrs. A though says that the names of the old had deep meanings which none of them seem to realise.
On education
Education was prohibited for them; and Mr. A had to sneak away to school. In the changed circumstance, they are slaves to none, and their lifestyle and livelihood are dictated by themselves. They live and function in the mainstream society, and not only is the market available to them, they also have privileges, however limited, that the government has granted to them, to ensure that the discrimination of the yesteryea rs do not follow them. But, in spite of the governmental measures, all of the family members unanimously agree that the people around them do not see nor treat them as equals; they still find it difficult to mix in with the mainstream society. C shares that her hope is that at least her children and the next generation would be able to ―engage better and live a normal life‖ as part of the society, as they now ―talk more like‖ the general population; even if they ―look different,‖ if they are educated and capable of getting a good job, they
46 will maybe get the respect of others". Education is now perceived as a fundamental right, and none of them need ―sneak off‖ to school. C relates that school, during her days, meant ridicule from fellow students, mainly due to their distinctly different appearance and language. However, her children do not face the same problem at school. She opines that this might be because children of the present generation speak Malayalam more fluently than her generation. But the sad part, as B points out, is "our children do not realise the importance of education; they are not inclined to education, and the farthest they go is 10th Standard, and many, like my son, for instance, end up being daily wage workers".
On occupation
Occupation is a major concern for all of them, as very few are educated past higher secondary. Mr. A says that most of the men are ―daily wage labourers who spend their hard earned money on liquor and bring hardly anything home‖, and women are content with tending to their home and children, though many of them are now going for the thozhilurappu scheme of the government and providing supplementary income for the family. Realising these limitations, parents, especially mothers are encouraging their children to pursue education and secure a good job and future; but the difficulty faced, as the two middle aged women repeatedly pointed out, was that the children were yet to realise this.
On housing
In the forest, they had lived in houses constructed using naturally available materials; bamboo was used to create a frame, on which palm leaves or other such leaves were laid and secured to form walls and roof. The floor was made of mud and finished with cow dung. Mrs. A recounts that the house they lived in, made of grass and bamboo provided a cooling effect that made it very comfortable even during the hottest months of the year. In general, rains destroyed their dwelling, but then the entire community participated in reconstructing them again at the end of the season. As against that now, they live in concrete houses built under the government's housing program. Summer season for Mrs. A is very difficult in this concrete enclosure as it radiates heat, and so she prefers to
47 spend her time outside in the open air. Mr. A complements her views observing that the houses in olden times had many advantages; but he opines that ―one has to change with changing times‖ and adapt to these ―livable‖ concrete houses. He also opined that government housing schemes are indeed helping them and saving them the difficulty of reconstruction every year. B and C, their daughters have never lived in the thatched houses, although they have heard of it from their mothers. They have been living in these concrete homes as far back as they can remember. They too are grateful for the government scheme, and the ‗comfort‘ of these modern housing. C dreams of a better home and living conditions for her children. Though D refused to comment on any of the topics, the elders told the researcher that the children cannot imagine going back to the old ways devoid of electricity, television and mobile phones too; without them, they would be lost. Mr. A painfully laments that the present generation of children are not even aware of their past; although the older generation doesn‘t demand that they live in those thatched houses, he wishes that they at least knew how to build them, so that our ways could be preserved!‖
On rituals
An Ooru consisted of many such katcha houses constituting a circular formation. The families were very closely knit, and lived more like one big family. With no significant personal belongings, they were willing to share whatever they had with the other. The present situation is in direct contrast to this; C observes, ―families are no longer the single unit that they used to be; occasional fights are common between the families‖. However, all the families get together and celebrate as one during the festivities.
In the past, during the evening, people from all the houses would gather in front of a house around a fire, and share old stories and folk songs. This practice does not exist anymore, and the younger generation is not even aware of such a practice having ever existed. ―On cold nights, each individual family comes out and sits around a fire‖, Mrs. A sadly adds, and these moments are the only remnants of a practice that kept the ooru together for decades, or even centuries.
48
On food production and consumption
Their food habits, during their childhood, included the rice they received in return for their labour, and tubers from the forest; they never cultivated anything for themselves. Now, having lost the forest ecosystem that earlier provided for them, and not able to find stable jobs to earn (due to poor education), their primary means of survival is the government provided ration. They buy necessary vegetables, and use leaves from the banks of the river nearby as side dishes. Cultivation on their own has not yet dawned on them as a possible method to provide for them sustainably.
On attire
Their attire had also been very different from the mainstream, with the men wearing a mundu that reached only down to their knees. The women had a length of cloth secured around their waist, reaching down to their knees, and another draped and tied over the shoulders covering their torso, called urumaal. The shoulders were left bare. Mr. A wears a mundu and shirt. There was a sash around the waist called aratti. As of now, only women who belonged to Mrs. A's generation, wear the traditional attire, and that too along with a blouse that goes beneath the urumaal. B and C share that they would like to wear the dress, but prefer a nighty or churidar as it feels more convenient. The girls wear skirts and tops, and boys have switched to T-shirts and shorts. Both the mothers want their children to dress like the society around them does, as they do not want them to be ridiculed or alienated due to these different attires. Mrs. A cannot think of shifting to the new patterns of dressing, but does not oppose her children following those.
On ornaments
Their ornaments used to be handmade, with intricate designs that required careful learning; these were either from natural material available in the forest, like bamboo leaves rolled into earrings and fitted with beads or manjadi seeds, or multi-colour beads woven together to form layers of chains forming a single necklace. These ornaments are now worn only by old women, who have apparently lost many of those rare, natural ornaments. Mrs. A for instance, does not wear one, and shows the researcher an old, damaged chain she has preserved. The bangles worn in those days were colourful, and
49 covered the entire length of their arm, but now most of the women‘s hands are bare except for a handful of black bangles. C shares how her grandmother (Mrs. A) used to show her, during her childhood, how to make the chains, carefully interweaving the beads. But she has forgotten those now. Hence, this handcraft as an art is long lost; she laments, ―especially because no one wants to wear these ornaments anymore‖.
On Faith and Religious practices
Important ceremonies like marriages and funerals had happened at home. These ceremonies were marked by their traditional folk practices like singing, dancing, and storytelling which they call 'vattakkali'. Their musical accompaniments were different from the classical music instruments used by the mainstream; they made these by themselves using natural materials found in the forest, such as bamboo and coconut shells. Mr. A says he used to make these and showed the researcher a few of these, even playing it for a few minutes. He adds that to understand the beauty of the music, it is necessary to attend their festivities, when all the instruments are played as an ensemble, to folk songs and storytelling accompanying it. The celebrations can be found now also, and the younger generations take part with much interest, but none makes the instruments anymore; the younger generation is not at all familiar with this traditional art. The younger generation actively takes part, ―mainly due to the songs and dances, and the celebratory mood‖, C adds. These festivities used to be in honour of their totems (deities) , which were embodied in stones and trees of the forest; their faith forced them to view the forest as a living entity with reverence. Practices such as theyyam were typical of their celebrations; however, Mr. A recalls, in his days, these rituals could only be conducted with permission from the landlords. Now, they can decide for themselves when to conduct these festivities, without seeking permissions.
The community though, soon after settling here, shifted to conventional Hindu ways of worship, going to temples and taking up their patterns of worship. The prayers and customs are now dominated by Hindu rituals, and their common festival is also centered around a „kaavu‟ (a small temple); though the celebrations during these festivities still include their art forms. Although Mr. A and his family follow the Hindu rituals, such as going to the temple and celebrating the festivals of the Hindu religion, they hold on to
50 their age-old customs and practices which remain sacred and important till this day. B admits that she cannot understand why many people have put a stop to traditional marriage ceremonies at home, and shifted it to the temple and that too by abandoning the traditional attire and wedding ornaments for ‗set saree‟ or „pattusaree‟ (traditional Kerala attires of Hindu women in marriage) and „thaali‟ (a pendant in gold, on a thread or gold chain that the groom ties around the bride‘s neck as an act of solemnising a Hindu marriage).
The traditional attire for marriages worn by men used to be mundu and shirt, and aratti and urumaal for women. The ornament the groom tied around the bride‘s neck was a hand-woven chain, beautifully woven with beads of different colours; the beads were also intertwined with many coins worth 1 or 2 rupees. Mr. A showed the researcher the chain he had adorned on Mrs. A‘s neck on their wedding day; two 1 rupee coins remain (from around the 25 coins that it originally had) on the worn out chain, which he says they ―had to take out during certain facets of life when they had no other source of money to live with''.
Mr. A recounts that he had not seen Mrs. A prior to marriage; marriage was a mechanism to establish a connection between families rather than the two individuals. On the day of marriage, the groom‘s family, after a night of celebration at their own home, would come to the bride‘s home in the morning, and, after celebrations with song and dance that lasted until the evening, would take the bride home with them. His children‘s marriage, though with all the similar customs, were arranged, after seeking the consent of both the bride and groom. Mr. A is happy about the ‗new‘ arrangement, and so are his daughters and granddaughter, as they think that the people who are to live together should be asked before their life is pledged to someone they had never met in their lives. One thing Mr. A says he doesn‘t like is the practice of bride price (given by the bridegroom's family to the bride‘s parents) is slowly being replaced by the dowry system.
One of the most important religious ceremonies and celebrations in the community happens when a girl comes of age, known in plain Malayalam as 'vayasariyichakalyanam'. The girl was to spend the initial days in an enclosure outside the home; on the day of the ceremony, the head of the settlement (mooppan) and
51 chemmee (one who carries out the priestly functions in the community) and kayathan (the priest‘s helper), along with all the members of the Ooru gather at the home, where vattakkali and other priestly ceremonies would be conducted. This used to be a very important part of their customs and practices, and a woman was not eligible for marriage, if she had not had this 'vayasariyichakalyanam' ritual.
This isolation from the family during menses was also strictly followed. The woman was required to confine herself to a room in the house for seven days, and was not permitted to interact with anyone, except a female member of the family, who brings her food and water. After these seven days, she cleanses herself (body, clothes and utensils she used) and gets back into normal life. Now though, many of the families in the ooru have gone back on this custom. Though the initial ceremony is conducted in almost all households, the isolation during the subsequent menstrual periods is not enforced in many families; the very few who follow this have reduced the number of days of ‗impurity‘ to four or five. Mr. A and his family cannot understand the reason for people‘s shift from this age- old custom, as they consider this a divinely instituted custom. Mr. A says he has a ―sixth sense that tells me when the custom is not practiced. If, for example, I‘m given water or food touched by a woman on her menstrual cycle, I cannot gulp it down; I feel nauseous.‖ C, his granddaughter seconds his opinion; although the ooru where she was married into (on the other side of the river), does not observe this custom C claimed that she cannot eat the food she cooks during her menstrual cycle, which she claims to be a divine gift of her father‘s sixth sense.
On herbal medicine
They practiced traditional herbal medicines at home. Mr. A claims he was familiar with many regular plants which could be used for treating mild ailments, and administered them to his family members in the event of ailments. Mr. A says most of these herbs, very common in the forest during his childhood, were not available anymore; as a matter of fact, many of them are nearing extinction. However, none of his children were familiar with any of these medicinal remedies. B points out that even if they knew it would not help; ―most of the herbs are affected by the pesticides and insecticides widely in use, that if used, they would prove lethal for the user‖. Mrs. C adds that none within the
52 community trust these medicines anymore. For that matter, there has been large scale awareness creation, through ASHA workers mostly, regarding the need to depend on hospitals in the event of a disease, and to stop depending on traditional medicine. C‘s mother, for instance, had given birth to her first two children at home; but heavy bleeding during the third pregnancy had forced her to depend on the hospital, though the hospital too had not been able to save her from the tumour in her stomach. Mrs. C continues, ―Prenatal care is quite different nowadays. We used to work hard till the day of delivery, sweeping and working in the fields. Now, the women are asked from the hospital to rest, during pregnancy and after delivery. We are still healthily running up and about, and those women are complaining about health problems.‖
The researcher explored with the participants how they would ‗look at themselves and their present-day culture.
Mr. A, was of the opinion that he preferred the present-day situation in comparison to the feudal system that robbed him of his dignity. Though they were losing many of their indigenous customs and practices, he is happy about them being accepted into the mainstream. In spite of it being difficult for them to survive with the meager income they make, and the disrespect they encounter, he is optimistic that the situation will slowly change. He wants their customs and practices to be preserved, and followed into the future, but is doubtful about that wish being fulfilled. Mrs. A did not have much of an opinion in this regard.
B says she doesn't know how to comment on that. She is content with life as it is, her only wish being that her children be able to get a better future, and live comfortably.
Mrs. C says she is ambivalent; ―I know so little about my past, or my ancestors. I would have liked to know their art forms, ornament making skills, and liked to dress like them and follow the customs that guided us for generations. But I have to also think about my children and their future. Also, my husband‘s community is not in favour of our customs and practices and is already moving away from them. So, I have no time to stop and think about what I am losing or gaining‖. When asked about the present situation, she says ―we
53 are not accepted by the larger community as equals; we look and speak differently from them. So, it is difficult. We also don‘t have money or good jobs, which makes it even more difficult to compete with them and live‖.
D, though she listened to the conversations, sometimes directly and sometimes from behind closed doors, did not utter a single word during the interview. The Guide says that this is the condition with most of the school-going students in the community; she had been like this during her school days. According to her, it is an inferiority complex built in during the school time, that‘s associated with their language and social status in the society.
Observations/ Fieldwork Notes
1. Mr. A pointed out that finding four generations of a family together in a home is a rarity. The researcher noticed, on visiting other homes in the community that as many as three generations were found in some homes. In fact, Mr. A‘s house also has only three generations living there; C was visiting only. The Guide says it was common in the old days to find four or more generations together, primarily due to marriage at early ages, and secondarily because the families then lived together and did not move out of their ancestral homes.
2. The practice of chewing betel leaves is more like an addiction in the community; everyone you meet (except for the youngest generation) has the red stain around their mouth. The younger ones seem to keep away because they are attending school, though the Guide says there are many among those who dropped out of school who have taken to this habit.
3. The language used by the different generations seem to have a relation with the education they have received; the more the education, the lesser the quality of the native language. Malayalam being the medium of instruction at school seems to give them the idea that their language is inferior, leading them to use it less and less.
54
This also brings in the danger of losing the language altogether, as paniyabhasha does not have a script.
4. The children of the younger generation seem shy and reluctant to talk to outsiders; the Guide explains that this is mainly due to two reasons: the first being the inferiority that they internalise at school, that they are ST (scheduled tribes) who are the backward groups who need reservations for education and jobs, and the second being the mixture of Malayalam and paniyabhasha that leaves them apprehensive of making mistakes in front of a Malayalam speaking outsider.
5. The community, including the oldest members is not completely aware of their roots; other than the childhood memories they have, the older couple was also not able to talk in detail about their history and practices. This makes it difficult for the researcher to understand the changes that have come over the community.
55
Case 2 Arimala Settlement
Niravilpuzha is a journey of one hour from Mananthavady. The trainee, with her Guide, arrived at Niravilpuzha, to meet Mrs. S, the tribal field worker in charge of the area. After a fifteen-minute journey by bus, the group started on a half hour trek into the Arimala tribal settlement. After a fifteen-minute walk through the tarred side roads, S turns into a mud road which leads into the forest. The remaining fifteen minutes of the trek is through a forest road, with large trees lining both sides of the uneven road, and the sound of flowing water somewhere on the left side. A few minutes into the forest, one is able to see a small river with very little water now, but which S says caused major damages in the previous year‘s flood.
Arimala is the only paniya settlement within this forest area, which is densely populated with other Kurichiya settlements. Kurichiya tribal community, S points out, is agricultural in nature, and is more developed than the paniyas, both educationally and financially. Walking through the forest area, one is able to see on the left side, along the valleys of the hills that border the area, banana plantations of the Kurichiya community. Interspersed among the banana plantations, are other vegetable cultivations, mainly bitter gourd and asparagus bean (a legume cultivated for its edible green pods containing immature seeds) which, by the looks of it, had been harvested the day before; there are individuals of the Kurichiya community in the plantations, getting the harvested crops ready for sale.
The paniya settlement the researcher walks into is in dire contrast to this. Bordered by the banana plantations of the Kurichiya community on the left, and by the forest on the right, the Arimala settlement with its five families is not even big enough to be called an Ooru. The four concrete houses are much similar to the Nacholi settlement, obviously government constructed, with the cemented walls that are not painted, and the rough floor that is not even properly broomed. The details regarding where they came from before they settled here is not clear.
56
The first house seemed empty, and S says there is only a mentally unstable and paralysed old male living there, who is looked after by his sister living nearby. We were greeted in front of the second house by Ms. Y clad in a fading churidar top, who seems to be around 20 at the most. Ms. X (probably in her teens) in her skirt and top peeps in from within the house, and a child not more than 2 years of age is sitting on the front verandah. S asks for someone she is familiar with, and the girls inform us that she has gone into the forest to collect firewood. As we plan to go into the forest in search of her, Y runs off to bring her back.
In this gap, the Guide tries to build a bond with X, by speaking in their native language, and discovers that she had completed her 7th standard, but stopped going to school a year ago. S, who is working towards bringing back dropouts among the tribal population to school, asks her if she would like to come and stay at the tribal hostel in Mananthavady to continue her studies. The girl readily agrees.
Y returned with her aunt Z (aged around 60), who has a stain of betel leaves around her mouth, and is at present also, chewing a batch of it. S discussed the details of X‘s education with Z, and her willingness to send her to the hostel, which she says she‘ll have to discuss with the girl's mother. X and Y are Z‘s sister‘s children; her sister is staying in a relative home a few kilometers from here, and working at a house nearby. The children stay with Z; X is married to a man who came to work in the banana plantation nearby. The child on the verandah is her son. On further enquiry, we realise that the girl knows nothing much about her husband or his family, except that his home is somewhere in Thiruvananthapuram.
Z explains that the settlement has five families in four homes; she lives in one home with her sister and their children, as her children (two girls) had already been married off and her husband passed away a few years ago. Her brother who is mentally unstable and paralysed lives in the other house, and she looks after his needs; the ASHA worker manages his treatment details, and she is not aware of the details of the treatment or the medicines. Their relatives live in the other three houses.
57
Z was not very willing to talk, but obliged on coercion from the Guide and S. Y was shy, but talked in bits and pieces about what she knew. X though, was too shy to even come out from behind the door.
On occupation
Z, who is around 50 years of age, remembers that they had not always lived here, but she cannot recall where they are from. She was a very small girl when they came to settle here, and her life has always been centred around this place. Her parents used to work for the landlords in their paddy fields, and also in the plantations of the Kurichiya community. With the end of the feudal system, they lost that source of income, and they began to depend on these plantation works as the only means of income. The males used to go out from the forest sometimes for daily wage labour. The males in the community still depend on daily wage labour to earn, and go out of the forest and find labour in the town and its surrounding places. The women are engaged in the thozhilurappu scheme of the government, and also work in the Kurichiya plantations. Z works in the Kurichiya plantation, and occasionally goes for thozhilurappu.
On spoken communication
Z speaks the native paniya language, which the Guide translates for the researcher (the language is fairly understandable, but the translation makes sure that none of the information is lost). Y spoke to the researcher in colloquial Malayalam, which she says she owes to their school education. In case of X, the little she spoke to the Guide, she spoke in the native language, but she said she used Malayalam at school. In their settlements though, they speak to each other in their native language. Z is indifferent about the shift in this pattern, and says there is nothing to comment on. She uses the language she knows, and that is all there is to it.
On education
Z never went to school; her daughters attended school initially, but eventually dropped out and were married off (She says they also engage in the thozhilurappu scheme at their
58 places). Y studied until 8th class, and dropped out. Married and tending her child, she does not go to work. X says she wants to continue her studies, though S suspects that what she wants to do is get away from home for some reason. The Guide, from her own experience, asked her if she is ridiculed at school for her looks and accent, to which she says she is not.
On housing
In the initial years of their settlement, Z recalls that they used to build houses using bamboo and grass from the forest; later on, the government schemes ensured that they got a concrete home with electricity, though they have struggled to pay for the electricity over the years and the connection has been cut off many times. Z doesn‘t know how those kutcha houses were constructed, and she says she is comfortable in this house. Y says she is content with the present situation, living in the home they have now; she has never seen the other type of house and thus says ―I don‘t know if I would have preferred it over this‖. X was too shy to comment.
On food production and consumption
Their food habits, during their childhood, mainly included the rice they received in return from the landlords in return for their labor, and tubers they collected from the forest; they never cultivated anything for themselves. Having lost their forest ecosystem, they still don‘t cultivate anything in the manner of food; they depend on the government provided ration, and collect leaves from the plantations around the house to make side dishes for rice. Apart from collecting ration, and going for the thozhilurappu scheme, they seldom go out of the forest area. Z says cultivating crops for food has never occurred to her.
On attire
The attire, Z recalls, was typical of every other paniya settlement; the men dressed themselves in a mundu that reached only down to their knees. The women had a length of cloth secured around their waist reaching down to their knees, and another draped and tied over the shoulders covering their torso, called urumaal. The shoulders were left bare. A sash around the waist (aratti) completes the attire. Z, at the time of the interview, was
59 dressed in what seemed like a mundu, and a stained shirt. On being asked about her typical attire in the present day, she replied she uses the traditional attire; she had apparently worn the shirt as she had gone into the forest, and insects were bound to attack her bare shoulders. X wears a skirt and top, which the Guide says, is typical of the young girls of the community nowadays. Y wears an unmatching salwarkameez (salwar is a a pair of light, loose, pleated trousers, usually tapering to a tight fit around the ankles, worn by women from South Asia typically with a kameez, the two together being a salwarkameez) without a shawl. The two girls admit that they are not comfortable wearing the traditional attire, and prefer skirts or salwar. Z though, cannot imagine shifting to other kinds of dresses; the only concession she allows is a shirt she wears during work.
On ornaments
Their ornaments, Z says, used to be handmade, with colourful beads expertly interwoven or natural materials like bamboo and palm leaves. She shows the one she is wearing, with three layers of beaded chains beautifully interwoven. She says none else in that settlement has such ornaments anymore; all of those worn by their parents are long lost, she admits she doesn't know how these were lost. She wears a few black bangles on her hands, but says that the bangles used in the old days were more colourful (kuppivala) and covered the whole hand. Mrs. Z neither knows how to make the chains, nor does she know where those colourful bangles used to come from. She says she is no more concerned about her ornaments, as there are more important matters like food, electricity (which has again been disconnected last week due to unpaid bills) etc to worry about.
On faith systems and religious practices
The ceremonies like marriages and funerals were conducted at home. Marriage in the community still happens at home, though Y‘s did not happen in the traditional way as the bridegroom was an outsider. The present-day functions mostly happen at the relatives‘ settlement where the girls‘ mother is presently staying, as there are only five families here. The ceremonies were marked by songs, dances and storytelling; a group ceremony where everyone joined in for a dance at the end of almost all ceremonies in the
60 community was called ‗Vattakkali‘, and this was accompanied by songs and musical instruments made by the community themselves. At the other settlement, the instruments are still preserved, though she doesn't know if anyone knows how to make them anymore. The younger generation, she says, is interested in the music and dance, and participates actively, but they perform it in their own way, which is at times different from the way she learnt it in her days. X and Y say they like celebrations with the music and dance, and look forward to those celebrations. Y shyly admits that she doesn‘t know if the movements they practice is the right way of doing it.
The ceremony when a girl comes of age is of prime importance in their custom. Without this ceremony, the girl wasn‘t eligible to be married off. The girl stayed in an enclosure outside the home till the day of the ceremony, and on the day, the mooppan (the head of the community) and the thechemmee (the priest) and kayathan (the priest‘s helper), with the whole community arrived to perform the ceremonies. The girl could enter the house only after the ceremonies, when the enclosure she stayed in is burned down, and her belongings are cleansed with cow dung diluted with water. This ―impurity‘ was also applicable during her menstrual period every month, and she had to stay in a room for seven days, with minimal contact with the one woman who brought her food and water, and no contact with the men. This ceremony and custom, Z say, is followed with the reverence of the ancient days. Y, on repeatedly being asked for an opinion, says that she has no qualms in obeying the custom; to her, it is a religious custom instituted by the gods, and thus they ought to follow it without fail.
Z believes these customs were intrinsically tied to their ancient Gods of worship; as far back as Z can remember, they worshipped Gods in temples, but she says she has heard from her parents that they used to worship nature. They rarely visit the kaavu outside the forest, otherwise their devotion isn‘t very functional as far as the researcher could observe.
Funerals, Z says, used to be conducted at home. The ceremonies were conducted by the chemmee(one who carries out the priestly functions in the community) and kayathan (the priest‘s helper), and the body was usually buried in the common place designated for the whole Ooru. But now, owing to the very little space they have in this settlement, the
61 burial takes place in a common burial ground at the other end of the valley of the mountain bordering their settlement. The ceremonies remain the same.
Marriage ceremonies also remain the same as the old days, with the daylong celebrations at the bridegroom‘s home culminating at the bride‘s home with the thaalikettu (the groom tying a chain around the bride‘s neck). The thaali, is a chain of multicolour beads, several strands of which beautifully blend into a single chain, with coins of 1 or 2 rupee inserted in between the beads. The marriage used to be, and still is, decided by the parents, and the bride especially does not have much say in the matter. Bride price is the system followed within their community instead of dowry, but in some other communities where their daughters are married off to, the dowry system has emerged as a desirable practice.
On herbal medicine
On the topic of herbal medicine, Z says that she had heard her parents talk about the plants having medicinal qualities; she also remembers her mother treating her with herbal medicines when she had small ailments in her childhood. She is not familiar with any of those, and she doesn‘t know anyone who administers those. They depend on the ASHA worker or the tribal field workers for their medical needs now, and thus are not concerned about it.
The researcher finally posed them the question of how they would look at themselves and their culture in the present day.
Z does not give much in the form of an answer; she repeatedly tells the narrator that making enough money to satisfy the daily needs is her priority, and she tries hard to make that happen. The customs and practices of her community, like marriage and ‗vayasariyichakalyanam‘ is important for her, and she wants her children to follow that.
X and Y did not give an answer to the question. X, the Guide says, is exhibiting the inhibition typical of the teenage girls in the community. She recalls that when S visited her house for the first time, not only did she not talk, she even tried to escape the meeting by hiding in the backyard.
62
As we leave, S asks the Guide to speak with X and find out if the sister‘s husband is causing her any kind of harm. She says it's typical for men from distant districts to come and marry young girls in the community. She had previously come across cases where these men had a wife and children at his native place. As the girls didn‘t have an adult around during the day, she doubted that X‘s over enthusiasm on the prospect of moving to the hostel might be rooted in some solid cause related to this.
Observations/ Fieldwork Notes
1. X, Y and Z did not have many opinions to offer, when asked about how they look at the changes within their own community. The researcher looked at this in many angles-
a. They might, as Z says, be caught up in the difficulties of everyday living, to think about losing their culture or indigenous practices.
b. The researcher personally observed that Z is more or less part of a generation of the transition period; neither is she aware of the indigenous practices of her community, nor is she (owing to the lack of contact) aware of the world outside. This leaves her in a position of not being able to take a perspective or give her opinion on the changes that happened and is still happening around her.
c. Y seems, to the researcher, to be content with tending to her husband and child, and doing the household chores. She doesn‘t have dreams or ambitions, and obviously no contact with the world outside.
d. X and Y‘s lack of opinion also hints at the possibility that the mainstream might have given at least the younger generation the idea that they are inferior; this leads them to give less attention to their history and culture. The Guide‘s remark that she had been teased for her language and appearance at school further leads the researcher to ponder on this possibility.
63
2. Dropouts, S observes, are many in number in the community. She has observed that this earlier used to be due to the ridiculing by fellow friends and sometimes, even teachers, at school. But she adds that there is also a lack of awareness among the people as to the power of education; neither the parents nor the students are thus interested to pursue education.
3. The language Z speaks is fairly understandable to the average Malayalam speaking person with considerable knowledge in Tamil, but there are differences in certain words, and the accent also makes some ideas difficult to understand. The Guide‘s translation makes sure that none of the information is lost; but the interaction wo uld have been more fruitful if the language barrier had been non-existent.
64
Case 3 Kallara Settlement
The researcher, her guide, and Mrs. S (the tribal field worker in charge of the Niravilpuzha area), started from the Niravilpuzha junction in the morning; after a fifteen- minute journey by bus, they walked about half an hour by foot. The bus journey was halted many times due to road construction; the walk was fairly comfortable, with asphalted roads and trees on both sides giving adequate shade.
Reaching the Kallara colony (as S addressed it), the group had water to quench their thirst from one of the houses; this water came from a very small clear stream that ran down from the mountain nearby. S says the settlement has nineteen houses in total, dispersed over the valley of the mountain towering above. The researcher visited several houses, which were actually concrete structures erected by funds from government schemes. These houses had rough cement floors, and roughly polished cement walls. In these ‗modern‘ structures, the researcher noticed several handcrafted ‗indigenous‘ articles from the past, still in use; these included brooms, ornaments and mattresses made from natural leaves.
In one of the houses, we find Mrs. P, aged around 60 years. P sat, clad in the traditional attire, chewing betel and bearing fresh red stains around her mouth. She also wore ornaments of olden days on her neck, ears and nose. She lives with her eldest daughter‘s family. Her second daughter and her child were also living with them at present, as the former‘s husband had abandoned her some months ago, for reasons they were uncomfortable discussing. Sitting on the doorstep of her home, she talks about the traditional practices of old, the changes that had swept over the community, and how she looks at those changes. Her two granddaughters and grandson joined the group in the background, listening to the conversation. The eldest granddaughter, Ms. R, who was in her teenage years, listened very intently to the conversation, giving her opinions occasionally. The researcher, Guide and Mrs. S joined them on the small verandah, which was polished with cow dung, as is the whole of the floor of the house.
65
On housing
P claims to have ‗lived‘ in this space in the forest for as long as she can remember. In her childhood, the area had been forest land; over the years, the area was cleared and the forest gradually shrank. Then, they had lived in thatched houses made of bamboo poles and palm leaves. When the government housing scheme came, they shifted into these concrete houses. The floor in her concrete house though, is still polished with cow dung. She recounts how those kutcha homes of the old, used to be ‗comfortable to live in‘, especially during the summer months, when the leaves kept the house cool. However, she in the very same breath agreed that rainy seasons were difficult, as the thatched roofs leaked and they had to repair it frequently. The present concrete houses are not bad, but in the summer season, the heat was ‗too unbearable‘ in P‘s opinion.
On rituals
The community used to live in close proximity in the earlier days, or P says it might have been that they ‗felt closer‘ as then it used to be a thick forest area. She remembers many families gathering around a lighted fire in the evenings, and recalling traditional folk stories and songs. The new houses seem to be placed farther apart apparently, and divided by roads as in towns and villages. In the present day, the settlement thus being spread over a large area, similar gatherings do not happen anymore. They however gather together for the ceremonies occasionally, and engage in hours of celebrations.
On spoken communication
P speaks in paniya dialect, which the Guide translated; P says they use the language within their home and the community. She understands Malayalam, and speaks in faulty Malayalam, but prefers to use her language; her daughters also know Malayalam, but within the home they also prefer their native language. The grandchildren use Malayalam at school, but they are also well versed in the paniya language too.
The names have also changed over the years, from paniya names to mainstream names; P says her generation had names like Manja, Thoppi, Ooli, Kembi etc. whereas she named
66 her children to keep in line with the mainstream, with Hindu names like Gouri, and her grandchildren‘s names are more in line with the present trend of Abhinav, Kavyaatc.
On education
All of her grandchildren attended the nearby government school except R, the eldest grand-daughter, who has discontinued her studies due to some health issues. P never went to school, but her daughters fared slightly better by going to school but dropping out soon. The children, on the other hand, they report, attended school regularly; a very significant reason being that their school is within walking distance. R, on being asked if she would like to continue her studies, does not give a concrete answer, but does not seem much interested in the prospect of returning to school. The custom, S says, is that the girls are mostly married off at 18. S says that no person in the settlement has studied beyond the 10th standard.
Regarding occupation
Though she does not exactly remember the details, P knows her community historically were labour bonded to the landlords; they had worked in the fields of these feudal landlords and received nothing in the form of money, perhaps some measures of grains. As the feudal system came to an end, the men took to daily wage labour with the ‗mainstream‘ smallholding land owners, and also to the Kurichia community in the vicinity, who had landholdings and a history of agricultural engagement. It continues to this day. The women engaged in any work they could find, which were similar to the menfolk, but P knows that they received less than their male counterparts. From her remarks, the researcher could figure that the wage system that prevailed then remained as biased against women as now. Her daughters engaged in similar daily wage labour, and the thozhilurappu scheme. However, in P‘s perception, it offered them some source of income although this was not stable. P stopped working in recent years, due to her physical limitations with age.
67
On food production and consumption
Their food habits, during her childhood, mainly included the rice they received in return from the landlords in return for their labour, and tubers they collected from the forest; they never cultivated anything for themselves. The practice of chewing betel leaves has been in the community for as long as she can remember; the Guide explains that they had acquired the practice during those times when they went in search of food in the forest- this had helped numb the hunger for hours. The practice still exists though, and has somehow become an addictive practice that they are not able to part with. This house, like every other that the researcher visited, has a stone vessel used for mashing the contents together. The food habits, though, have changed; the forest being cleared away left them dependent on the government provided ration, and the few leafy plants around the house. P says the food pattern hasn‘t changed very much over the years, except for the children craving for packet chips and sweets available in the shops in town.
On attire
P wears the traditional attire that the women in the community have dorned for centuries. This is usually a length of cloth draped around the waist, reaching down to the knees. Another cloth (urumaal) covers the upper part of the body, one end draped over the right shoulder, and tied with the other end just above the breast. A sash around the waist (aratti), P recalls, was used to collect items when they went deep into the forest. The clothes used to be very colourful in old days; the ones P wears in the present are checked apparels that men usually use as a mundu. She also has a blouse under the urumaal, which was absent in the old days.
The men‘s attire used to be simply a mundu that reached down to their knees; the present day mundu reaches down to their knees. Her granddaughters wear skirts and tops quite in line with the present-day teenagers in towns, while her grandson wears a shirt and trousers reaching down to his knees. P says her daughters also do not adorn the traditional attire now; they feel it is inconvenient for work, and also more because everyone else in the community has shifted to churidars and nighties. R says that she likes the attire, but
68 has not tried it on yet; her parents prefer that she wears what other children at school are wearing.
On ornaments
P has an earring on, made of dried palm leaves rolled and fitted into the unusually big hole on the pinnae of her ear. She says the women had the practice of wearing such earrings that made the hole bigger. These earrings used to be fitted with manjadikuru (lucky red seeds), kunnikuru (rosary pea) or similar other naturally available colourful materials too. The necklace she is wearing is made of four layers of multi-colour beads intertwined to form a single chain, the kind worn by many other women of her generation, living in the settlement. She also has a nose ring made of metal which she says she received from her mother. There are a few black bangles on her hand, replacing the large number of colourful bangles she says she once had. The children however do not wear any of these ornaments. The girls have a number of plastic bangles on their hands, and simple earrings similar to the ones worn by the women in mainstream culture. P says her daughters also do not wear the old ornaments; in fact, most of the ornaments have already been lost. Besides, except for two or three women like her, no one else in the community knows how to make these ornaments anymore.
On faith and religious practices
P has heard that they used to worship nature, but as far back as she can remember, they have been worshipping in temples. She has heard that the Valliyoorkavu temple had actually once belonged to her ancestors, and had been seized from them by the Hindu upper castes. At present, they sometimes visit the kaavu adjacent to their settlement, and pray to Hindu deities. But the ceremonies observed in the settlement are from their own past traditions. The two important ceremonies in the settlement are the events of rites of passage for pubescent girls, and marriage.
The former function is considered the most important ceremony in a woman‘s life, without which she is not eligible for marriage. The girl was shifted to an enclosure on the day she has had her menarche, and she has to stay there for as many days as the bleeding continues. After this, the ceremony is conducted by the chemme (priest) and his wife,
69 when the girl‘s belongings were cleansed using cow dung water, the small enclosure she stayed in is burned down and she is allowed to enter back home. The celebrations last into the night, with vattakali (the whole community and dances rhythmically in a circle, to the background of songs and musical instruments) being the most attractive event. Now, the girl lives during the initial days of menarche not in an outside enclosure, but a room within the house. Now-a-days, the ceremony is not immediately conducted, but only when the family manages to find enough money to conduct the event. During the subsequent menstrual periods also, the woman had to separate herself from the other members of the family. This, R says, is not possible in their case due to the house being already small for the number of members it houses.
The children all report that they love the celebrations, especially vattakkali; they know the songs and dance formations and steps, but on being asked to sing a few lines, all of them shyly refuse. The Guide says the song automatically comes with the beat of the drum and other musical instruments; according to her, singing it without any accompaniment destroys the beauty.
Marriage is another important event, with the celebrations at both houses beginning the day before, and culminating at the bride‘s house with vattakali. The practice of bride price was existent then; the groom would hand over the bride price to the bride's father, who would then give the bride‘s hand to the groom as an act of kanyadaan. The couple then leaves for the groom‘s home with the family members.
P says marriages now are no longer as ceremonious as they used to be. Many families in the community have shifted, at least to an extent, to Hindu rites for marriage. They go to the temple, the men in shirt and mundu, and the women clad in set saree (traditional Hindu attire); the marriage is solemnized by the poojari (priest) in the temple, and by the tying of thaali (a pendant in gold, on a thread or gold chain that the groom ties around the bride‘s neck as an act of solemnising a Hindu marriage). The tribal customs and rites associated with marriage are being observed only by a minority of the population. The practice of bride price is also being replaced by the dowry system. P is sad about the newer generations ‗moving away‘ from the age-old practices of the community to embrace new practices.
70
Funerals,in the old days, seemed to include many days of mourning, and they used to bury their dead in a common place designated for the settlement. Now, the burial happens in a common burial ground for the different paniya settlements in the area.
On herbal medicine
P herself has heard of the herbal medicines that were widely used in the community. She remembers how her mother used it for the family in the event of small ailments. Besides there were special concoctions for prenatal care also, and deliveries used to happen at home with or without the help of a traditional birth attendant (TBA) referred to as vayattatti (midwife). Now, everyone depends on the hospitals for their different medical needs, and prenatal care especially is taken care of by the anganwadi in the local area. ASHA workers sometimes visit and attend to their immediate medical needs. R, for example, has an excess of white discharge (medically known as leukorrhea) due to which she has stopped schooling; they are seeking treatment in the town‘s hospital. P does not have any experience in herbal medicines, and also thinks that no one else in the settlement is proficient or equipped.
The researcher finally posed them the question of how they would look at themselves and their culture in the present day.
P laments the fact that the younger generation is not much keen on the old customs and practices like the rites of passage for pubescent girls, keeping away from the family members during menses or even the marriage rites within the community. She is especially sad about the marriage ceremonies being avoided for the temple-based ceremonies. She wishes she had learnt the indigenous medical practices from her ancestors, as she remembers they used to be quite effective, and she could have used it for her children and grandchildren. She says she is happy about her children going to school so that they can get a job and have a better life.
R is very shy to answer, but with repeated interaction, the Guide managed to get her talking. She likes to go to school, but has not been able to for the past few months due to her medical condition. She likes the celebrations associated with the practices in the
71 community, but does not have an opinion about the rights and wrongs of the practices; this has been the practice in the community, and so she follows it is her take on the issue.
Observations/ Fieldwork Notes
1. The adolescent girl, as in the other two settlements, was shy and reluctant to talk. The researcher recalled the Guide‘s opinion that there is an internalised ‗inferior psyche‘ that makes them withdraw into themselves.
2. The elders and even the children know the folk songs and stories in the community, but when asked to share it, they suddenly go silent. The Guide says this is because, usually they recall these during the celebrations, with the musical instruments in the background, and everyone joins in. To do it alone in front of outsiders might be difficult for them.
72
Key Informant 1 Ms. G (researcher’s guide)
The researcher's Guide (Ms. G) is a member of the Paniya tribal community, pursuing her Post graduation in Sociology in a leading institution in the state. She comes from a family of five, in a government constructed concrete house on the fringes of the forest. The government policy of ‗free and compulsory education‘ led her to attend school during the initial years; she dropped out when she failed 10th standard. It was during this time that a tribal fieldworker (Mrs. S) visited her house; G refused to meet with and talk to S, in her own words, ―I walked and walked around the house, to avoid being caught by her‖. S though convinced her to continue her studies, and she joined the tribal hostel in Mananthavady which housed around 50 of them. She went on to complete her higher secondary and also completed her degree from the tribal college, before joining for the Post Graduation.
She has been with the researcher all through the data collection process, visiting the settlements, introducing the researcher to the inhabitants, helping to understand the social and cultural setting of the area, translating the elders‘ communication and offering her opinions and observations. This is not a single interview, but a collection of all the conversations and discussions the researcher had with the Guide since the beginning of data collection.
On her spoken language
The loss of her native language is one of the primary concerns she has voiced all through the researcher‘s engagement with her. Though they use their native language within their settlements, G says that the quality of the language has diminished over the generations. The younger generation speaks almost faultless Malayalam, but the too frequent use of the mainstream language has left them with a poor mastery over their mother tongue. She says she is involved, with few of her friends from the tribal college she attended, in recording her language (in Malayalam script, as paniyabhasha does not have a script), to ensure that the language is not lost forever.
73
On schooling
Schooling, she says, is responsible for a great many of the cultural changes in her community. The average paniya child who enters the school system at the age of five or six, is instructed in Malayalam, while the child is well versed in his/her mother tongue only. Thus, it becomes important for the parents to either teach the children the mainstream language before they enter school, or leave the child to undergo the difficulties of this education. Moreover, the mainstream has a way of looking down at the paniya children; this is visible in teachers and students alike, and leads to ridicules and discriminations, as they are different in appearance and language. G says she was herself subject to these difficulties at school; this inferiority she internalised at school took the years she spent in the tribal hostel and the subsequent years in the tribal college to unwire. There she learnt that her community is not inferior to the mainstream; she learnt her own history and the richness of her culture.
On occupation
G admits that her community‘s occupational pattern has not changed much over the years. As no significant number of the previous generation completed beyond primary school education (mainly owing to the language difficulties and discriminations), they ended up continuing the system of daily wage labour. Only a handful among the whole paniya population has found their way into government jobs, and these few have shown a trend of moving away from their community.
On food habits
Adding to the three cases, she says that together with the tubers and leaves from the forest, fishing and crabbing were also practiced by the paniyas who lived by the water bodies. Her settlement for instance, contains expert information on different ways of crabbing; crab is her personal favourite in the list of indigenous delicacies.
74
On faith, religious practices and rituals
The Guide says her community still has evening gatherings where they share stories and folk songs of the old. She says this used to be the avenue of transfer of indigenous folk culture, and the lack of these in the settlements visited, is a sign of the losing these art forms slowly. The same applies to the dance forms like Vattakkali; G says the young generation learns it wrong- the steps she uses are already far different from her parents‘ generation. The religious shift to Hinduism is also not acceptable to G, as she says she was robbed of her opportunity to know her community‘s original faith practices and customs.
At the same time, she does not support the superstitious practices that her community has followed for years; she openly defies the practice of ‗menstrual impurity‘, and gets out of home, interacts with people within and without her home, and even visits temples during this time.
The researcher could also detect, from her conversations with G, a new trend of love marriages in the community; if the families do not consent, the couple elopes and starts living together. In some cases, the families accept the relation and celebrate the marriage with a function (but not similar to the customary marriage celebrations in the community), but there have been cases where families disowned them and haven't accepted the relation.
There are also instances of husbands leaving their wives for other women, or for unspecified reasons; the women, G says, continue with life, working and providing for her family and children. To G, this is the woman‘s statement that she can fend for herself. But there are instances, she says, where the moopan calls in the family, and asks for the husband to provide for the children.
Another notable change in the traditional customs is the removal of ‗impurities‘ related to death and funerals; in earlier days, the family of the deceased had to observe several days of impurity, which is not observed in most settlements today.
75
On attire
The change in attire, for G, is a necessary change, as the traditional attire had been designed for forest life and they have to change with time, considering the comfort and likes of the individuals. She herself uses jeans and modern wear interchangeably with skirts and tops.
On healthcare
G says her culture had been rich with medicinal knowledge, but today, there are fewer and fewer people with even basic knowledge on this, let alone practice. Though she looks at the dependence on modern medicine by her people positively, G says a total dependence on that system, signalling an abandonment of the community‘s medicinal system is a sad predicament.
76
Key Informant 2 Mrs. S (tribal field worker)
The researcher was introduced to Mrs. S by the Guide, in the process of data collection. She has been a tribal fieldworker among the paniya community for the past 6 years. She has been actively involved in bringing back tribal drop-out students back to school for the past few years. Though not a member of the community, she is personally connected with all the households in the ‗colonies‘ under her survey; they trust and depend on her for a variety of needs, from handling alcoholic husbands to tackling official issues.
On education
Over her 6 years of being a tribal fieldworker, S has seen a great majority of students dropping out of school due to a variety of reasons. One major reason that she points out is that these children do not advance much in studies because there is no one at home educated enough to help them with their lessons; this leads to the children learning less, advancing less in studies, and ultimately failing to pass the exams. This becomes more difficult with higher secondary education, as S has seen these children‘s reservations landing them in Science streams where the exams have to be written in English, which makes it increasingly difficult for them. In recent years, tribal fieldworkers, under Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society (MSK), have managed to get many of these dropouts back to school through house-to-house fieldwork, organising cultural programmes to encourage their participation, and awareness programmes among the mothers and children. Earlier, a child dropping out of school had not meant a great deal to the family, but now the mother‘s awareness of the need for education makes sure that the child does not miss classes unnecessarily. For those who are reluctant to, and find it difficult to study, especially for the drop outs, the tribal hostels play an important role in helping students focus on their studies. Another reason for a large number of dropouts used to be the derogatory comments from fellow students, but that too has gone down in recent years due to the aforementioned activities, as the children are taught to take pride in their artforms and language, and are now less affected by them. Under the insistence of MSK, schools have also improved considerably, by including tribal artforms in competition events, efforts at equal treatment and special attention to weak students.
77
On occupation
S also seconds the Guide‘s opinion that occupationally, the community has not gone forward much; the only ‗different‘ job that has emerged among them, as far as she could find, was that of ‗hamlet ASHAs‘, who are equivalent to ASHA workers in the settlements. They are trained to monitor and provide timely assistance for the health of the people in her survey area, and are attached to the Primary Health Centres.
78
CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The study focuses on the socio-cultural changes that the community has undergone, and the perception of the individuals who have themselves undergone these changes. Analysis is done in two parts -- the first section narrates the changes the community has undergone, while the second section looks at the perceptions of the community towards these changes.
5.1 Socio-Cultural Changes
The case discussions revealed mainly eight aspects of changes in the paniya community. This section looks at these eight aspects across the three cases, in a four-layered analysis- the first layer dwells on the accounts of the interviewees in the three cases; the second, adds to this from the key informant interviews; the third, presents the researcher‘s observations and opinions, and the fourth level corroborates these with existing literature on the theme under discussion.
One of the most important changes that have come over the paniyacommunity, is that the community has been liberated from the bonded labour under the landlords. This can be considered a starting point for all the subsequent changes that came over the community. Under the feudal system, they were tenants on their masters‘ land, receiving no monetary reward for the work they did, and lived off the forest produce. The abolition of the feudal system and subsequent criminalisation of slavery can be considered the root of many major changes in the community.
A from Case 1 recalls his memories from childhood regarding the difficulties of slavery, denying their community the right to education and even proper attire. They were subservient to these ‗masters‘ and could not even address themselves by their names. Z from Case 2 and P from Case 3 also recalls that their parents had told them about these times of slavery, but they do not have firsthand experience or information regarding the slavery their immediate ancestors were subjected to.
A relates that the direct changes brought about by the abolition of slavery includes
79
● access to education ● freedom in the choice of attire ● freedom of speech and expression; specially to address oneself by name instead of the feudal self-deprecating, self-stigmatising ‗adiyan‟ ● increased mobility
The indirect effect of these vestiges of slavery is even vaster. In A‘s words, ―Then, we were not masters of ourselves; we were unaware of a bigger world outside and how to survive there. Now, we can decide what (and how) to speak, what to wear, when to worship (practices like theyyam required the landlord‘s permission) and we can also educate ourselves.‖
Z related the abolition of slavery with the displacement from their place of residence. She remembers she was born in another space within the then-dense forest, but was forced to shift to the present place of residence during her infancy. For P, slavery is a story of the past that she has heard from elders in the community, and thus does not have opinions on the topic.
The researcher‘s Guide agrees with A regarding the impact of slavery-abolition. To her, this is the single most important change that has happened to her community over the past half century, the one central change on which all the other changes are based. Coming out of bondage, to her, marked ―being humanised‖ and being allowed to live with a sense of dignity.
The following are the most important changes that the researcher could identify within the community.
1. oral communication 2. occupation patterns 3. infrastructure 4. religious practices and rituals 5. food production and consumption 6. attire and ornaments 7. health care and practice
80
5.1.1 Changes in oral communication
The cases interviewed specifically show marked differences in the language pattern of the community members. The elders claim that, in their heydays, they used paniyabhasha, their indigenous language for communication between themselves, and the contact with the outside world being minimal; this continued to be the medium of communication for many years. As the forests were claimed by settlers and converted to mainland, or the community was forced out from forests to mainland due to the sheer necessity of survival, the community came into considerable contact with this mainstream Malayalam-speaking population. Those who came into frequent contact with the mainstream community learned the mainstream Malayalam language; and by and by, learning it had become an unavoidable necessity as there was presumably no other way to communicate with the Malayalam-speaking mainstream population they lived alongside and had to interact with, for their survival.
Mrs. and Mr. A‘s (Case 1) conversation styles reveal this initial transition- Mr. A who came into direct contact with the mainstream, and completed his 7th standard, spoke almost fluent Malayalam, while Mrs. A struggled to even understand the language. It is evident how Mrs. A, who seldom went out of her settlement, neither got exposed to nor was forced by necessity to learn the mainstream Malayalam language. Mrs. Z (Case 2), having lived in the forest area most of her life, and worked mostly in the adjacent Kurichiya settlement, knows the bare minimum of Malayalam necessary to interact with the townspeople where she goes occasionally for household needs. Mrs. P (Case 3) on the other hand, has lived closer to town and had to interact more with mainstream community for work and household requirements; thus, she is better versed in Malayalam than Z, but not as much as Mr. A as he had seemingly more contact with the mainstream.
The next generation was born into this environment, and compulsory school education brought these children into direct contact with Malayalam language; the school curriculum, the teachers and their classmates used Malayalam, and these children were ridiculed by other children for the ‗strange‘ language they spoke. This implied inferiority transmitted in their interactions. The generation, though most of them dropped out of school after the primary level, painstakingly learnt to speak both languages; they learnt to
81 use the paniya language within their community, and Malayalam while engaging with the mainstream population. C (Case 1) recalls how her language was ridiculed by other children at school, and this affected her schooling to a great extent; on the one hand, this restricted her interactions at school, while rendering her reluctant to return to school every day.
This language transition intensified with the next generation of children. With bilingual parents, they found it easier than the previous generation to grasp both their mother tongue and mainstream language. Those parents, who realised that their child needs to know the language of the educational system to survive in the mainstream, encouraged them to learn Malayalam. The three families interviewed state that the children are ‗well– versed‘ in their indigenous paniyabhasha. C (Case 1)‘s experience with mainstream education, influenced her decision to make sure that her children would know better Malayalam than her, so that school would become a better place for them; cases 2 and 3 hint at a similar strain as the children at both settlements speak fluent Malayalam, and report that they were never ridiculed by their classmates. The children though, still use their indigenous language within the community.
This brings to light a very important factor that is intertwined with the change that has occurred in the community‘s spoken language. The education and literacy levels in the community have clearly improved over the decades. Mr. A says they were denied the right to education by their feudal masters, and he had to sneak off to school. Mrs. A, Mrs. P and Mrs. Z never went to school, but their daughters completed at least primary education, and their granddaughters are currently in high school. C (Case 1), as mentioned before, recalls going to school and getting ridiculed by classmates for her ‗strange‘ appearance, language and attire. School had been difficult for her as she struggled with learning in a language she was not at all acquainted with, and led to her dropping out after primary education.
The present generation of children from the three cases had been sent to school with varying levels of parental interest. Case 1 shows a very practical understanding of the role of education in improving the social standing of the community. B and C repeatedly affirm their interest in sending their children to school, so that they may be ‗better
82 educated‘ and find jobs, thus make a better living for themselves‖. But the children, they sadly state, are not much interested in this regard. B points to her son as an example; he had dropped out after 10th and is working as a daily wage labourer at present. Case 2 shows a slightly different trend; X has been staying away from school for around a year, but her family is not much interested in sending her back. The girl shows an interest in continued schooling, but S (the tribal field worker) doubts that she might only be looking for a way out of home. Further attempts at discussing education or the future failed with X as she was too shy to talk. Case 3 shows R who has been staying away from school for a few months due to medical conditions; she says that she wants to return to school and continue her studies.
The elders in the settlements with a history of education have realised the role that education plays in their personal and community development. Mr. A, Mrs. B and Mrs. C form three generations of schooling; they have seen the difference that education brings in terms of occupation and subsequent economic development. The elders in Cases 2 and 3, with a single generation of educational history, do not seem to realise the change that education might bring about. The children, in all the three cases, are still far from realising the pivotal role that education plays in their development.
The Guide explains that the discrimination at school, hinted by C in Case 1, was prevalent in schools during her school days, and she suspects the children in the interviewed cases, might be facing at least subtle forms of discrimination; she doesn‘t understand why they do not admit to it. She recalls her own experience at school as very difficult; she had been teased by her classmates, numerous times, for not being able to speak pure Malayalam. This gave her the impression that her mother tongue is inferior to the mainstream Malayalam language, but however she tried she could not master the other language as proficient as her classmates did. Further, the medium of instruction being Malayalam made it difficult for her in the initial years to understand what was being taught in school, the resultant under performance again cemented the fact that they were indeed inferior in every way. The discrimination at school had also led her to believe that her community was ‗underdeveloped‘ and ‗primitive‘, and the mainstream community was superior to theirs; this made her reluctant to stand confident in the
83 presence of an outsider.
Many years later, in the tribal hostel where she completed her higher secondary, it took time to affirm to herself the fact that her language and art forms are indeed not inferior, but unique and important in itself. It was S who had persuaded her to join the tribal hostel at which was at Mananthavady then, and there that she learned the value of her culture, and the equal importance of education. But she sadly recalls that the language she uses now has lost its purity; the paniyabhasha her grandmother uses is slightly different from her- to the regular user, there are notable differences- there are words and expressions that have changed, and the lack of script makes preserving the language even harder. The schooling system, both the curriculum and the environment, even the art forms that highlight the mainstream alone, in her opinion, is biased against her community. Her years at the tribal hostel and college, she recalls, helped her regain the self-esteem she had lost during her school days.
Over her 6 years of being a tribal fieldworker, S has seen a great majority of students dropping out of school due to a variety of reasons. One major reason that she points out is that these children do not advance much in studies because there is no one at home educated enough to help them with their lessons; this leads to the children learning less, advancing less in studies, and ultimately failing to pass the exams. This becomes more difficult with higher secondary education, as S has seen these children‘s reservations landing them in Science streams where the exams have to be written in English, which makes it increasingly difficult for them. In recent years, tribal fieldworkers, under Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society (MSK), have managed to get many of these dropouts back to school through house-to-house fieldwork, organising cultural programmes to encourage their participation, and awareness programmes among the mothers and children. Earlier, a child dropping out of school had not meant a great deal to the family, but now the mother‘s awareness of the need for education makes sure that the child does not miss classes unnecessarily. For those who are reluctant to, and find it difficult to study, especially for the drop outs, the tribal hostels play an important role in helping students focus on their studies. Another reason for a large number of dropouts used to be the derogatory comments from fellow students, but that too has gone down in recent years
84 due to the aforementioned activities, as the children are taught to take pride in their artforms and language, and are now less affected by them. Under the insistence of MSK, schools have also improved considerably, by including tribal artforms in competitio n events, efforts at equal treatment and special attention to weak students.
The researcher could notice, across the four narratives, what the seemingly innocent act of a child can do to the psyche of a whole culture. The ridicules aimed at their language at school, though C did not recognise it then, had affected them at a deeper level that years later, C decided it is more important for her child to learn the mainstream language than their mother tongue. As A says, there is a factor of necessity in it; the children‘s education, occupation and subsequent livelihood creation depends on their ability to survive in the mainstream, and they have no option but to give in to these pressures. The notable issue is that the education system itself is ‗mainstream‘ in its nature; the language, the content, the art forms, the teaching style- they are all alien to the paniya child who enters the mainstream school. Contrary to the Guide‘s intuition, the children from the three cases might in fact be stating the truth about the good treatment at schools, as S explained the changes that the schools have undergone in this regard in recent years. This positive environment at school has thus ensured a large number of paniya students pursuing education beyond SSLC and higher secondary. But one notable change the researcher could observe is that the quality of the native language has decreased over the generations, which was affirmed by the Guide also in talking with the children.
Several studies across the globe have shown how mainstream education brings about change in the spoken/oral language of tribal communities, and the loss of language in turn brings about a loss of identity.
Fordham (1998) suggests that because language is a vessel of culture, its loss can be harmful to the cultural heritage. Semali & Kincheloe (2011) explains how language is the carrier of culture; with traditional knowledge - folklore, values and customs, medicinal knowledge- being transmitted through oral literature, loss of language leads to a complete loss of culture; the authors clearly outlines how education in the mainstream English language destroyed the indigenous culture of Africa. Ekka (2013) shows the tribes of Rourkela abandoning their native language for the mainstream Odiya, Somashekhar
85
(1997) and Shyamala (2003) reports the Sugalisa of Andhra Pradesh are using more and more Telugu language than their native tongue, Sied (2013) reports the younger generations of the Nao people of Ethiopia moving more and more away from their language and culture due to the influence of the mainstream Keficho language (Kefinoono). The paniyas are also showing a similar trend; the community has become bilingual, and the children are slowly losing the original quality of their native language; this might lead towards a loss of the language altogether, especially as the language does not have a script.
5.1.2 Changes in occupation patterns
The end of bonded labour under the feudal system had left the paniya men and women to seek jobs to sustain their families. The three cases show that the labour related engagements haven‘t changed much over the years. The men and some women took up daily wage labour (mainly work in the paddy fields that they historically engaged in, and also in banana plantations, and any other work they could find), and with the government‘s thozhilurappu scheme became a way in which the women‘s contribution to the household income increased. In Case 1, B and C express their hope that their children, with increased education, will find themselves able to secure better jobs and better income. In the other two cases, the elders don‘t seem much aware of the possibilities; they obviously want their children to live a better life, but are not much aware of what can be done.
The Guide reports that a few members from the community have managed to secure government jobs with the little education they possess. S points out that the awareness classes for mothers and children have brought about changes in attitudes, and there are also some new job creations as in the case of some of the paniya women having been appointed ‗hamlet ASHAs‘, wherein members from within the community are appointed as ASHA workers to take care of the health needs of the community.
The researcher could surmise that the job pattern within the community has not changed much over the decades. Similar communities in other parts of the nation have shown better occupational changes; The Sugalis of Andhra Pradesh, for instance, have shifted
86 from agricultural labour to owner cultivation, business and service, the KaduGollas of Karnataka have shifted from the heredity occupations of sheep rearing and cattle tending to cultivation of own lands, followed by secondary occupations like petty business (Somashekar, 1997; Shyamala, 2003; Gurulingaiah, 2016). The awareness classes given to mothers and children, on the importance of education and occupational change, over the past half-a-decade, are sending more children to school but the results are yet to show.
5.1.3 Changes in infrastructure
Marked changes in housing are visible in all the three cases. Mrs. and Mr. A (case 1) recounts the kutcha houses they used to live in during their childhood, so does P and Z from Cases 2 and 3 respectively. Now all the families in the three settlements the researcher visited, live in concrete homes constructed under the government housing scheme. With the exception of Case 3 where the floor of the concrete house was polished with cow dung, all the other houses have completely shifted to this new way of housing.
The interviewees are somewhat comfortable in these new houses, though the elders in Cases 1 and 3 remember the comfortability of the eco-friendly houses of old, especially during the summer months. Mrs. A (Case 1) recalls that though the rainy season was difficult in these houses, the rebuilding of these houses after the rains brought the whole settlement together. The art of making those houses, with bamboo poles and naturally available leaves seem to be lost, as none of the interviewees (except Mr. A) know this anymore, and consequently the newer generations are not taught this art.
The Guide says that some paniya communities in other parts of the district still live in the naturally constructed homes, but most of the settlements she has been to have seen this shift to concrete houses. The researcher could see that the government housing scheme aimed at providing them with a permanent shelter, but the ways of living harmoniously with nature were lost in the process. A similar shift in housing can be seen in tribal populations around the nation; Gurulingaiah (2016) has reported a similar shift among the KaduGollas of Karnataka, but he hasn‘t explored the effects of the same.
The roads that have been constructed in these areas is also a notable change; as P (Case
87
3) says, the settlement now seems farther dispersed than earlier, ―maybe because there are roads separating us from each other‖. The forest areas have more or less been cleared and roads (mostly asphalt roads) connect these settlements to the nearest towns. The Arimala settlement (Case 2), is in the forest department‘s protected area, and thus is connected to the main road by a mud road accessible by two wheelers or jeep. In rainy seasons, this road becomes impassable, and S reports that there have been demands to make this road more ‗usable‘; she adds that this road is the only obstacle that keeps people from further exploiting the forest and its people. But from the researcher‘s point of view, this has kept the community isolated; they are unaware of what is happening outside their settlement. This brings forward a dilemma; should these communities be isolated and kept away from the mainstream to protect their culture, or should they be
5.1.4 Changes in faith, religious practices and rituals
A marked difference can be seen in the rituals that had held the community together; the daily and weekly gatherings in front of their houses, when folk songs and stories of the old were recalled and passed on to the next generation, are no longer observed. Case 1 reveals that not only have these rituals been abandoned, but the unity of the settlements is also under question. Case 2 does not reveal any such ritual; the settlement only has five houses, not enough to count as an ooru,and so also, they do not have a ‗mooppan‘ (head of the settlement). Case 3 also recounts the whole settlement gathering around a fire in the evenings and passing time singing and storytelling. These weekly or sometimes even daily gatherings have disappeared altogether, and except for the families gathering around a fire in their own courtyard, on cold nights, nothing remains to even recall the memory of those times.
The Guide says that rituals similar to the old practice of evening gatherings are still existent in her settlement, and as a child, it provided her an opportunity to learn the folk stories of her community. To her, this is also one factor that brings them together and helps maintain the unity of the settlement. The common celebrations and customary practices like marriage and menstrual ceremonies ensure that the traditional artforms like ―Vattakkali‖ are familiar to the children, but the folk songs and stories are handed down through the generations through household interactions and rituals such as these.
88
Added to the disappearance of these rituals, it is evident from the three cases that they are no longer clearly aware of their own faith system; Mr. A (Case 1) says they used to worship trees and stones in the forests, and Mrs. Z and Mrs. P recalls having heard from their parents that they used to worship nature, but none of them are able to give precise information on their deities. Their families have been worshipping in Hindu temples for as long as they can remember, and they have passed these on to their children also. Their faith and prayers have shifted to Hindu ways of worship, though the old ceremonies in the community continue to be observed.
The most important ceremony, the three cases show, is that of a girl coming of age; contrary to the old days when the girl had to stay in an outside enclosure till her bleeding ceased, they are now allowed inside the home, but in most cases, are supposed to remain confined to a room. Case 1 shows the family still adamant on keeping the girl separate from the other members during her menses every month (though C says her the settlement she was married off to does not follow any of these customs), Case 2 also follows the same old custom, Case 3 shows a difference, not because of leniency in the traditional custom, but due to the less availability of space at home. Case 3 also points out that unlike olden days when the girl couldn‘t reenter the house without the said ceremony, the ceremony is now postponed for an indefinite period, i.e., when the family finds enough money to conduct the ceremony.
The religious practice of menstrual ‗impurity‘, she says, is being opposed by many children now-a-days, and is on the decline on a large scale in the community.
The cases show that marriage ceremonies have also changed from the traditio nal paniya marriage to Hindu religious rites. The replacement of the traditional paniya marriage attire by the mainstream attire of set saree, the Hindu thali taking the place of the tribal ornaments, the practice of kanyadaan or bride price being replaced by the dowry system, marriage ceremonies being shifted from the bride‘s home to the temple, solemnisation of the marriage by the Hindu priest instead of the tribal priest, are all similar changes noted across the three cases. But the celebrative ceremonies associated with marriage, like ‗vattakali‟ (a form of tribal dance played in a circle) still take place in all the three settlements at the bride‘s and groom‘s house on the night before marriage. The whole
89 community takes part in these celebrations, and this brings together the memories of the old days at least for the time being. The children are especially enthusiastic about these celebrations, share the elders in the three communities; they know very well the songs and dance forms of the community, and with the musical instruments in the background, they take part enthusiastically. These musical instruments are very important for these celebrations, says Mr. A (Case 1). He knows how to craft and play these, but admits it is an almost lost craft, as not many in the community know how to make these anymore. Mrs. Z (Case 2) says the larger settlement she belongs to has these instruments, though she does not know if anyone knows how to make them anymore. The third settlement has the instruments, but P does not know if anyone makes them anymore.
In Arimala settlement (Case 2), a different kind of marriage could be found; Y is married to a labourer who came to work in the nearby Kurichiya cultivation- the family does not know any of his whereabouts, except that his house is in Thiruvananthapuram. S says this is a pattern that is seen in many settlements now, whereby labourers from outside (from the ‗General‘ community, as S puts it) come for work, befriend young girls and marry them; in some cases, S has seen that the man leaves without notice, and in most of these cases they had another family back at home. According to her, these men are finding ‗a place to stay without boarding fee, and the added bonus of a woman to satiate his sexual needs‘
The Guide adds that in recent years, love marriage has also increased in the community; there are instances where the couple run off together and start a family of their own. In some cases, families reconcile at a later point and officially conduct the marriage function, sans the traditional celebrations; there are cases where the families do not reconcile at all.
The marriages in the community, S says, were not typically registered, but repeated interventions by the fieldworkers have ensured at least a slight change in the situation. Legal divorce does not happen in the community, but there are numerous cases of husband leaving his wife and children; S says these women get on with life, taking care of their children, and in time are found to move in with other men if chance presents so. The Guide says there are very few settlements where moopan instructs the husband to
90 provide for the family if the wife remains single.
Another important ceremony in the community is funeral; funerals and mourning used to be a lengthy process, with the ‗impurity‘ lasting for many days. Each settlement had a place of burial, but now Cases 2 and Case 3 show that their settlement areas restrict them so much that they use a common burial ground shared by many settlements in the area. The Guide shares that this is the situation with many settlements; the other major change is the lack of observance of ‗impurity‘ among the relatives of the deceased.
Most of the reviewed literature on tribal communities have shown this shift from traditional religion to mainstream faith practices; Sied‘s (2014) study among the Nao people of Ethiopia shows that a shift in language which was widespread among the community had the spread of Christianity as one of the root causes, as the medium of prayer and worship was in the mainstream language. Abrokwaa (2011) indicates that the mass conversion to Christianity among the African tribal groups was one of the major reasons for the loss of their music culture. Ekka (2013) records the tribes of Rourkela filled by practices of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, or Buddhism. Thundy (1981) shows the Kadar tribes of Kerala and Tamil Nadu being ‗civilised‘ by the Hindu and Christain missionaries through conversion; the Muslim community had also started similar efforts around the time of his research. In all these cases, the tribal ways of worship have slowly disappeared from the community. The paniya community is also showing such a trend; the rituals are already becoming less frequent, and the practices like menstrual impurity are being opposed by the younger generation; only the celebratory ceremonies remain in the settlements. In the near future, as educated children move out of the settlements in search of jobs, these practices may also disappear.
5.1.5 Changes in food production and consumption
Food habits have not changed much over the years; the few staffs of rice they received from their landlords were supplemented by tubers and leaves from the forest. Across the three cases, the government provided ration is now supplemented by leaves naturally available around the house, and vegetables bought from the market. P (Case 3) says the only change that has come over the community‘s ‗taste‘ is the children‘s craving for
91 packet chips and sweets available in town. The same could be observed by the researcher in Cases 1 and 2, with the few empty plastic packets of chips scattered in the courtyard. The Guide adds to the food pattern, by pointing out that the settlements close to water bodies had practiced fishing and crabbing; they have unique techniques of crabbing, and crab is one of the main delicacies in her settlement. Meat has also been a part of their diet then and now.
It intrigues the researcher that with fertile land available to them (however small the area of land is) these people have not considered the possibility of cultivating for themselves, and saving the extra expense of buying vegetables. Thundy (1981) explains that the Kadar tribes of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, from being hunter gatherers find it difficult to shift to being agricultural, especially without farmlands for the same.
5.1.6 Changes in attire and ornaments
The change in attire across generations is directly visible even for an outsider. The elder women in the community are clad in the traditional paniya attire, while the middle-aged women prefer churidars and nighties, and the young girls can be seen in skirt-and-top. Across the three cases, the older women are not ready to part with their traditional attire, but there are slight changes for them too. If in the earlier days, they were comfortable being bare-shouldered, in Cases 1 and 3, the women have added a blouse to cover their shoulders. Though Z (Case 2) hasn‘t added this, she uses a shirt on top of her attire when she is engaged in work. The middle-agers state that the traditional attire restricts their work, and thus, they have shifted to the ‗more comfortable‘ attires worn by the mainstream. For the children, as Case 1 points out, this is more of an issue of not being seen as strange, and their dress helps to blend in with the others.
The Guide looks at this as a necessary change, as the traditional attire had been designed for forest life and they have to change with time, considering the comfort and likes of the individuals.
The ornaments of old were handcrafted by the women, and included beaded necklaces, earrings made from natural leaves and seeds, and bangles made of glass. Not all these ornaments could be found with the three elderly women across the tree cases; A (Case 1)
92 has saved a necklace from her past, Z (Case 2) is wearing a similar necklace, P (Case 3) has a similar necklace and an earring made of palm leaves; the glass bangles have been replaced by plastic ones in all three cases. The younger generations do not wear any of these ornaments anymore; they have shifted to mainstream, machine made ornaments. The art of ornament making is not handed over through generations anymore; C (Case 1) says she had learnt bits and pieces from her grandmother during childhood, but she has forgotten those lessons.
The Guide says it is difficult to even find surviving models of these ornaments, let alone the idea of learning how to make them.
5.1.7 Changes in health practices
The practice of herbal medicine had been prevalent in the community, admits the elders from the three cases, but it is close to non-existent now. Mr. A (Case 1) says he used to administer these to his family, and still knows some of these herbal treatments, but the many plants have since disappeared, and even the remaining plants have been poisoned with pesticides that they are not fit to be used as medicines. Z and P (Case 2 and 3 respectively) remember their mothers using medicines made from plants, but they didn‘t learn the nuances of the tradition from them. Childbirth also used to happen at home, with or without the help of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), but now the trade is non-existent as everyone depends on the mainstream medical system. Though there are ‗hamlet ASHAs‘ as mentioned by S, they are trained in the mainstream modern medical care, and do not have knowledge about the traditional health care in their own community. C (Case 1) says they used to physically work hard before and after delivery, but are still free from any health issues, in contrast to the rest prescribed by modern prenatal care. P (Case 3) says they had special concoctions for prenatal care, and birth was a household affair, as opposed to the present scenario where the anganwadi and ASHA worker monitor the woman from pregnancy till birth. For Z (Case 2), ASHA worker is a positive presence, as she ensures that her brother (who is mentally ill)‘s medicines and treatment are properly taken care of.
93
The Guide and S affirm the fact that more and more of them are starting to depend on the health system for the treatment of their ailments. The mainstream labels this as progress and development, but the richness of their medicinal culture is being lost in the process. Semali&Kencheloe (2011) points out this loss as being brought about by the loss of language; the oral transmission of medicinal knowledge comes to a stop with the less frequent use of native language by the elders, and the loss of rituals that brought the community together.
The above discussed changes have been summarised in Table 2
No. Changes Case 1 Case 2 Case3
1 Spoken ▪ Monolingual to ▪ Monolingual to ▪ Monolingual to Bilingual Bilingual Bilingual Communication 2 ▪ Bonded labour to ▪ Bonded labour ▪ Bonded labour to Occupation Daily wage labour, to Daily wage Daily wage labour, Patterns thozhilurappu labour, thozhilurappu thozhilurappu
3 ▪ Naturally ▪ Naturally ▪ Naturally constructed kutcha constructed constructed kutcha houses changed to kutcha houses houses changed to concrete houses changed to concrete houses constructed under concrete houses constructed under Infrastructure government scheme constructed under government government scheme; floor is ▪ In place of the scheme still polished with natural forest cow dung atmosphere, asphalt ▪ House is still in roads now lead to the the forest, with a ▪ In place of the settlement mud road difficult natural forest to access atmosphere, asphalt roads now lead to the settlement
4 Faith, Religious ▪ Loss of common ▪ Woman married ▪ Loss of common rituals in the off outside the rituals in the Practices and community community community Rituals ▪ Marriages shifted ▪ The concept of ▪ Marriages shifted to Hindu rituals, only menstrual to Hindu rituals
94
to an extend ‗impurity‘ still prevails ▪ The concept of ▪ The concept of menstrual menstrual ‗impurity‘ ‗impurity‘ has been still prevails reduced
5 ▪ Rice remains staple ▪ Rice remains ▪ Rice remains Food diet staple diet staple diet Production and ▪ Tubers replaced by ▪ Tubers replaced ▪ Tubers replaced Consumption vegetables and by vegetables and by vegetables and leaves leaves leaves
6 ▪ Elder women still ▪ Elder women ▪ Elder women still wear traditional still wear wear traditional attire traditional attire attire ▪ Middle aged ▪ Middle aged ▪ Middle aged Attire women shifted to women shifted to women shifted to churidars and churidars and churidars and nighties nighties nighties
▪ Girls wear skirts ▪ Girls wear skirts ▪ Girls wear skirts and tops and tops and tops
7 ▪ Most of the old ▪ Wears a ▪ Wears a necklace ornaments are lost, necklace of the of multicolour Ornaments except for a damaged old; not in beads, an earring necklace; wears a set possession of any made of palm of plastic bangles other ornament leaves; recalls glass and metal earring bangles of olden days, but wears plastic bangles
8 ▪ Have knowledge ▪ Do not have ▪ Do not have about herbal knowledge about knowledge about medicine, but not traditional herbal traditional herbal practicing medicine medicine Health Practices ▪ Depends on ▪ Depends on ▪ Depends on mainstream health mainstream mainstream health care system for health care care system for medical needs system for medical needs medical needs Table 2: Perceptual changes noted within the paniya community
95
The researcher could identify marked changes in the trend of spoken language; the paniya community is now bilingual. Though this change can be viewed as an overall effect of the community‘s contact with the mainstream, the role of education in this transition is unavoidable. The paniya children are subjected to the mainstream education pattern being followed in mainstream schools; the medium of instruction being Malayalam, makes it difficult for the five or six-year-old child being introduced into the school system, who is used to the paniya language being spoken at home. Though the children speak the paniya language at home, the quality of the language might be affected by this bilinguality.
The relation of language and education is not linear; the lack of mastery of the medium of instruction makes it difficult for the paniya students to learn at par with the Malayalam speaking mainstream children. The above narratives show that the discriminations at school is also not limited to language. The compelling necessity to either go with the flow or be left behind, forces the paniyas to let their children be subjected to this unjust system.
The researcher could notice no marked changes in the occupation pattern of the community; from bonded labour, they have shifted to wage labour, but the work remains the same, be it in the paddy field or plantations. The women used to work in the old days; some continue doing the same with wage labor, others depend on the thozhilurappu scheme. The changes brought about by education are yet to be revealed.
Their lifestyle has undergone tremendous change, from housing to attire to food patterns. Houses are not only different from the traditional patterns, but the art of traditional house construction is on the verge of being completely lost. The traditional attire and ornaments will most probably be lost with the passing away of the older generation of women. Tastes of the younger generation are already shifting towards the mainstream.
Many of the traditional rituals and customs have already been lost and others are in the process of being lost, some due to the loss of the traditional ooru structure, and others due to the adaptation of mainstream religious practices; only remaining component are the
96 artforms like vattakkali which continues to be performed by the community on special occasions.
A few other notable contradictions that the researcher has noticed over the course of the study includes
The government documents and the local vocabulary labels the tribal settlements as ‗colonies‘ while the paniyas refer to their settlements as ooru. Cambridge Dictionary defines colony as ―a group of people with a shared interest or job who live together in a way that is separate from other people‖. Dictionary.com defines the term as ―any people or territory separated from but subject to a ruling power‖. Thus, the use of the term ‗colony‘ ascribes a deliberate separateness or inferiority to the said group of people, creating a divide between the mainstream and the paniya population.
The interviewees used the term ‗mooppan‘ to denote the head of the settlement; this too saw discrepancies among them, as some opine that the oldest man in the settlement is the mooppan, while others say it is a hereditary position. Some literature records that the colony head was called ‗chemmee‘, but the interviewees say that ‗chemmee‘ is the name by which the priest in the community is called.
5.2 Community Perception
The perceptions of the community towards these changes taking place around and within them are seldom explored.
Case 1 shows a mature understanding of the changes taking place; they are aware of the changes in language, attire, health practices, lifestyle and their culture in general. Though it is heartbreaking to see their culture being lost in pieces, they share that this is their only option towards a better future for the coming generations. They understand the social and economic divide that separates them from the mainstream, but hopes that education and subsequent progress in the occupational field can help them lessen this divide and be a part of the mainstream. But Mr. A and Mrs. C are upset with the community‘s shift from the traditional customs, and cannot understand why these have to be abandoned by the
97 people in their rush to development.
Case 2 seems unaware of the changes that have taken place in the community; to Z, nothing is more important than keeping the family fed and clothed. She doesn‘t see that her community‘s culture is slowly being erased, nor does she understand that education or a better occupation can change her social standing. This woman is too caught up in the worries and difficulties of daily life that loss of heritage or culture is not really her primary concern.
Case 3 shows a lament of the older generation; P is sad about the customs and ceremonies of the community that are being repeatedly avoided by the younger generations. She recalls the colourful celebrations of the old, and laments its loss. Still, though she doesn‘t really understand the impact it can create, she is happy about her children going to school so that they can get a job and have a better economic status. She seems unaware of the low social status they have in relation with the mainstream; or it might be that her psyche has internalised the slave consciousness that accepts the present social system as the norm.
Understanding these three cases within the framework of Berry‘s Acculturation theory, Case 1 can be vaguely placed within the ‗integration strategy‘ of acculturation, whereby the effort is to become a significant part of the mainstream culture without losing their cultural values and customs. But looking at the other two cases, it becomes difficult to place them within this framework; the reality is that these people are not even aware of such a process of change happening in and around them. Changes are indeed occurring in their culture, but driven by the necessity of life to provide for their families, they are not aware of these changes happening to themselves and to their community in general. This brings out a limitation of Berry‘s acculturation framework; he does not provide provisions for acculturation that happens out of sheer necessity, as in this case.
The adolescent girls the researcher met with at the three settlements were very reluctant to talk. The Guide tried repeatedly to get them to talk with her, but in vain. The Guide relates that she too had faced the same introvertness in her adolescence; her interactions at school and with the mainstream society had convinced her that her community was
98 inferior to the mainstream society, and this had led her to withdraw into a cocoon. They have been too influenced by the mainstream that they have internalised the inferior perception of the mainstream as what they are.
5.3 Theoretical Framework
Berry‘s Acculturation theory
Berry‘s Acculturation Theory presents a four-fold model; he postulates that when two cultures come in contact, the possible strategies followed by the people in the culture are Assimilation (people who consider their culture of origin to not be important and who want to identify and interact mainly with the new culture), Separation (people who value their heritage culture and do not want to learn about the new culture), Marginalisation (people who neither identifies with their heritage culture nor with the new culture), or Integration (people who seek to maintain their heritage culture and learn from and interact with the new culture).
In Case 1 of this study, the respondents are well aware of and admits to the changes that have occurred to themselves, and points out that they do value their culture and are trying their best to preserve what they can, but resort to the practice of the mainstream ways due to two main reasons, the first being the better practices in that culture, and second being the need to survive. In the other two cases studied, the respondents admit to the changes happening around, but are not dwelling on the cause or effect of these changes; to them the more important concern is their livelihood and day-to-day sustenance.
Understanding these three cases within the framework of Berry‘s Acculturation theory, Case 1 can be vaguely placed within the ‗integration strategy‘ of acculturation, whereby the effort is to become a significant part of the mainstream culture without losing their cultural values and customs. But looking at the other two cases, it becomes difficult to place them within this framework; the reality is that these people are either not even aware of such a process of change happening in and around them or are forced to let go of their culture due to the constraints that the questions of livelihood and survival places before them. Changes are indeed occurring in their culture, but driven by the necessity of life to provide for their families, they are not entirely aware of these changes happening
99 to themselves and to their community in general. This brings out a limitation of Berry‘s acculturation framework; he does not provide provisions for acculturation that happens out of sheer necessity, or when the people are forced into change, as in this case.
Cross-Cultural Adaptation theory
Cross-cultural adaptation refers to the process of internal change in individuals so as to be able to function in an unfamiliar culture. Though it is generally used in case of migrants, the researcher finds that it is very much true in this case too, where a community which had lived in isolation comes into direct contact with the mainstream. The theory explains that the change in the individual involves the deculturation of some of the original cultural habits and the acculturation of new ones, occurring through communicative engagements between the individual and the host environment.
The Cross-Cultural Adaptation theory seems to explain the transitions happening in the three cases; the process of internal change in individuals postulated by the theory is evident in the studied cases. The theory requires that the strangers have had a primary socialization in one culture or subculture and have moved into a different and unfamiliar culture (the primary culture of the paniya community being placed into contact with the mainstream culture), they are at least minimally dependent on the host environment for meeting their personal and social needs (the paniyas are dependent on the mainstream for basic needs like food, occupation, education), and they are regularly engaged in firsthand communication experiences with that environment (the community engages with the mainstream on a daily basis, especially with occupational needs).
In the three cases discussed, the researcher could find a process of adaptive change that involves the deculturation of some of their original cultural habits and the acculturation of new ones; to co-exist with the mainstream society, the tribal society had to let go of some elements of their own culture like their traditional attire, faith systems, medicinal practices etc, and adopt some of the corresponding elements of the mainstream culture. The theory further states that newcomers learn to make adjustments in their original cultural habits and are able to attain a level of efficacy in the new environment, which can be hoped for in the case of the paniyacommunity, but if the process of deculturation
100 and acculturation progresses at this rate, this ‗attainment of efficacy‘ might occur at the cost of the paniyas losing their culture.
Cultural Identity Theory
The theory of cultural identity puts forward that one‘s cultural identity is negotiated, co- created and reinforced in communication with others when we socially interact; this identity, the theory says, becomes evident through social comparisons. For a child, his/her own cultural identity is realised and reinforced, first in his/ her immediate social interaction i.e., family and then the next immediate school environment. The use of the mainstream language alongside the native language or mother tongue is confusing enough for the child; the school environment of ridicule and discrimination, where the language of instruction is the mainstream language, artforms are those prominent in the mainstream, and the recorded and learnt history is that of the mainstream‘s exploits, the child internalises an inferiority that makes them withdraw into themselves, and lead to hiding from the mainstream eyes. Here both avowal (how one presents oneself to another) and ascription (how others perceive an individual) leaves the average paniya child inferior.
This explains the withdrawal and inferiority of the adolescent girls in the three cases. As the three cases point out, the average adolescent who is continually exposed to the mainstream ways end up understanding own culture, and subsequently, own self as inferior to the other. The ascription received from school environment leaves the adolescent with a decreased value of oneself, and thus results in the replication of the same in case of presenting oneself to others (avowal).
101
CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION
6.1 Introduction
―… Caught between two worlds‖ best describes the tragedy of indigenous people having been forced to leave their forest homes, and not being able to integrate themselves into the mainstream society. The present study titled ―Mainstreaming and Indigenous Communities: An Inter-generational Case Study of the paniyas of Wayanad‖ is an attempt to capture the socio-cultural changes that the paniyas encounter with every attempt by the state and the administration at large to mainstream them. The central research question looked at ‗the social changes encountered by the paniya tribal community as actors in responding to mainstreaming attempts at the macro-level, with due consideration for intergenerational perspectives‘.
The study adopts a multiple case study design; three family units belonging to the paniya tribal community of Wayanad happened to be the unit of study. The study pursued a purposive selection strategy, with a family being selected as a unit of study based on the following criteria - the family should have members spanning a minimum of two generations; there should be at least one individual at least 50 years of age, and with the youngest member being at least 12 years old, in order to facilitate intergenerational discourse regarding their divergent perspectives on social change as they perceived it. The researcher used in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, non-participant observation, and key informant interviews with the help of semi-structured interview guides. The data generated was subject to thematic analysis and the following were the findings arrived at.
102
6.2 Findings
The major findings from the study make it evident that, as a result of mainstreaming of the paniya community, there are marked changes happening within the community. The major salient findings are listed below:
1. Oral communication: the community interviewed in this study has moved from being monolingual (paniyabhaasha) to bilingual (paniyabhaasha and Malayalam) It was observed in general that the quality of paniyabhaasha, their first language is diminishing down the younger generations. There were also fewer takers for paniyabhaasha
2. Infrastructure: the traditional nature-friendly thatched-leaf roofs and mud-walled housing pattern has given way to heat-trapping concrete houses constructed most by the government schemes, and asphalt roads have divided the once closely knit settlements.
3. Faith and religious practices: the community has abandoned their traditional nature worship (totems) for organized religious practice under the Hindu faith. A good many of the community members undertake their traditional forms of worship to the present temple worship.; brahminical practices such as menstrual (impurity) restrictions adhered to within the households, though not as strict as in the old days. However, their traditional marriage ceremonies and funeral rites are becoming less prevalent. Rituals such as vattakali and singing together that once kept the community together, and ensured the continued existence of the traditional art forms are also on the decline.
4. Attire and ornaments: the traditional attire is now worn only by the older generation. But this might disappear altogether in a few decades; their traditional hand-woven ornaments are being discarded, and the art of making them seems to be lost altogether.
5. Health practices: the traditional medicinal knowledge of the community is no longer being practiced by the community members anymore; this is due to lack of accessibility and availability of medicinal plants, due to the cash cropping and more specifically due to the increased use of pesticides. Further, the present generation has neither the idea nor the motivation to keep the traditional knowledge and medical practices alive. The community 103
members have abandoned traditional medicine in favour of mainstream health systems to meet their health needs.
6. Traditionally, the community had been engaged in bonded labour that involved agricultural work; though out of bondage, they still do agricultural work on daily wage for the mainstream society. There are a handful of government employees to hint at a possible change in the pattern.
7. The staple diet of the community, then and now has been rice (then they received it from their landlords, now through the government provided ration); the tubers they used to gather from the forest has now been replaced by vegetables available in the market.
As on hindsight, it was interesting to reflect on how the community, to an extent, remained oblivious to the drastic changes they were undergoing; these changes, as the researcher sees it, happens in the course of mainstreaming, wherein the minority paniya community strives hard to survive in the midst of the mainstream majority. For the people within the community who are aware of it, these changes are an unavoidable necessity, without which they cannot afford to survive in the mainstream society. To them it was a matter of their existence, hence their identity or the possibility of asserting it did not matter; life took a precedence over identity. Could it be that the paniyas were made to feel inferior about their identities in contrast with the dominant and superior culture as practiced by the trends fostered in by globalisation?
6.3 Avenues for Social Work Interventions
Education seemed to be a primary factor moderating many changes – both desirable and undesirable – within the paniyas. The mainstream education system is not accommodative of the indigenous needs. The medium of instruction, the art forms and sport events, the curriculum being taught, are all different from the indigenous heritage and practices, and a large proportion of the paniya children grow up on a make-belief imposed by modern education and its proponents, making them believe that their community and culture were inferior to the mainstream.
104
There are efforts at helping the paniya children to understand the value of their cultural heritage, and thence revive it. But on the contrary, there have been close to no conscious, concerted efforts in making the mainstream realise that they are not superior to these indigenous communities, who have been the original inhabitants of this land and in possession of indigenous wisdom and traditions that are largely sustainable and nurturing for the planet and its civilisations. So, the two possible measures may be to:
● sensitize the mainstream as to the value of indigenous culture and wisdom, through the popularisation of tribal art forms, revival of tribal medicinal knowledge etc and
● policy level intervention in developing a curriculum for history, culture and medicine that is inclusive of the indigenous history, arts, wisdom and practices, besides their language
The medicinal knowledge of the indigenous community is being lost; if efforts are not made to preserve these, the loss of a very powerful discipline of healing will be lost on us forever. National and regional governments on the African continents recognize the traditional healers as partners in health service provisions; there is professionalization of indigenous healing in these interventions (Mpofu, 2011). A similar step can be taken from the part of the state or central governments, to ensure that the mainstream health system can work hand in hand with the indigenous medicine in the health sector
The occupational graph of the paniyacommunity has not seen any notable change in the past decades; the lack of educational qualifications is usually pointed out as a reason for this. There should be efforts:
● to ensure skill improvements through appropriate skill training programs, and ● to encourage unskilled labour within the community
The areas of the paniyaculture being rapidly lost are their language, medicinal knowledge, art forms and craft forms. Due to the lack of a script to record these in writing,
● efforts should be made to record this knowledge in all possible ways especially digital technology, with the help of inside knowledge from the community itself
105
Looking at these possibilities from a social work perspective, the following interventions are suggested; ● At the school level,
o case work: to help the average paniya child adapt to the mainstream school atmosphere; understanding the background of the children- economic, social, family, educational- helps the school authorities to cater to their needs accordingly o group work: to provide the paniya children an opportunity to collectively tackle and overcome their similar struggles, by learning from and supporting each other; this can also pave way to conservation of indigenous knowledge, especially the language, artforms and medicinal knowledge
o community organisation: information gathered from the case work and group work avenues can aid in taking efforts (from the part of the school authorities, in connection with the government mechanisms in place) to sensitize the community on the need for education, and then the different possibilities within the system, especially regarding the proper utilisation of reservation in terms of education and occupation ● At the academic level, social workers can intervene with
o research: into the indigenous language, artforms and medicinal practices can be done by the social workers and also provide support and guidance to the community members who are interested in the same.
● At the community level, social workers can intervene in different areas ranging from o education
o occupation o preservation of culture
6.4 Scope for future studies
The role of the education system in the development of any individual is crucial, and especially so for the paniya children attending the mainstream. Though this factor has been identified in this research, the ways in which this association takes place, and the
106
areas where changes in the system can help make their future brighter warrants deeper attention and study.
The changes in the community have broadly been explored, but the economic sustainability of the community, issues within the families like alcoholism, single motherhood, the concept of family and sexuality, etc. have not been explored. These all can be further explored, and used to help the community‘s betterment.
The traditional knowledge of the community regarding sustainable living, in harmony with nature is very endearing and relevant in the present context of climate emergency. The interviewees involved in this study did not have in-depth knowledge on this topic. It would be benefitting to do large-scale research in this regard, so that the mainstream community can learn from this traditional minefield of knowledge.
The change in attitude of the community, especially the educated younger generation, could not be explored in depth due to the time constraints placed by the academic schedule; this attitudinal shift can be further explored to understand the need to and ways for conserving this rich cultural heritage.
6.5 Conclusion
The paniya community has undergone changes over the past decades; to group these into positive and negative would be unreasonable, as only time will tell which changes benefited them and impacted them negatively. The community, caught up in the need for survival, is not able to identify the changes or hold onto their culture. The above- mentioned steps can be taken to ensure that this community, instead of being ‗caught between the two worlds‘, find a way to consciously ‗integrate‘ themselves into the mainstream, upholding their culture, and their worth and dignity, and yet, being an integral part of mainstream society.
107
Bibliography 1. Abrokwaa, C. K. (2011). Indigenous Music Education in Africa. In L. M. Semali, & J. L. Kincheloe, What is Indienous Knowledge: Voices from the academy (pp. 191-208). New York: Routledge.
2. Aiyappan, A. (1992). The Paniyans: An ex-slave tribe of South India. Calcutta: Institute of Social Research and Applied Anthropology.
3. Australians Together. (2020, January 15). Why are culture and identity important? Retrieved April 15, 2020, from Australians Together: https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/indigenous-culture/culture-identity/
4. Berger, D. N. (Ed.). (2019, April). The Indigenous World, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2010, from The International Work: https://www.iwgia.org/images/documents/indigenous- world/IndigenousWorld2019_UK.pdf
5. Bridge, K. (n.d.). Our Culture. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from Share Our Pride: http://www.shareourpride.org.au/sections/our-culture/
6. Buchholz, K. (2019, August 9). Where the World's Indigenous People Live. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from statista: https://www.statista.com/chart/18981/countries-with-the- largest-share-of-indigenous-people/
7. Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). colony. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/colony
8. Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). tribes. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from Cambridge dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tribe
9. Chmiliar, L. (2010). Multiple-case designs. In A. J. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.), Encyclopedia of case study research (pp. 583-584). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
108
10. Communication Theory. (n.d.). Cultural Identity Theory. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from Communication Theory: https://www.communicationtheory.org/cultural-identity-theory/
11. Dictionary.com. (n.d.). colony. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from Dictionary.com: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/colony
12. Ekka, N. (2013). Impact of Modernisation on Tribal Religious Customs and Traditions: A Case Study of Rourkela. Rourkela: National Institute of Technology.
13. Elwin, V. (1964). A Philosophy for Nefa.Shillong: Gyan Books.
14. Figaredo, L. B. (2014). Paniyas: The Knowledge Curators of a Sustainable Community. Retrieved April 15 2020, from Climate South Asia Network: http://climatesouthasia.org/paniyas-the-knowledge-curators-of-a-sustainable-community/
15. Gurulingaiah, M. (2016). Tribal culture change and mobility.Mangalore : Mangalore University.
16. Huxley, J. (1931). Africa View. New York City: Harper & Brothers.
17. Indigenous Corporate Trainig Inc. (2019, June 11). Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from Indigenous Corporate Trainig Inc.: https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/national-indigenous-history-month
18. Isac, S. (2014). Perceptions and experiences of development: a study of two tribal communities in Wayanad district, Kerala. Mumbai: Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
19. Johnson, J. (2004). Key informant. In M. S. Lewis-Beck, T. F. Liao, & A. Bryman (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of social science research methods (Vol. 1, pp. 537-538). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
20. Joseph, G. (2004). An ethnomusicological study of a folk art performance of the Paniya tribe in Kerala.Tirunelveli: ManonmaniamSundaranar University.
21. Joshua, L. L. (2018). Who are Responsible for the Backwardness of the tribal people? The Tribal Tribune, 4 (1).
109
22. Khan, A. (2012, August 22). Globalisation, Development AndTribals Of Kerala. Retrieved April 30, 2020, from Countercurrents: https://www.countercurrents.org/akhan220812.htm
23. Kim, Y. Y. (2009). Cross-cultural adaptation theory. In S. W. Littlejohn, & K. A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory (pp. 244-247). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
24. Kim, Y. Y. (2001). Introduction. In Becoming Intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation (pp. 3-10). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
25. KIRTADS. (n.d.). Tribals in Kerala. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from Kerala institute for Research Training & Development studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: https://kirtads.kerala.gov.in/tribals-in-kerala/
26. Krishnan, V. (2019, September 18). Paniya People of Wayanad: A Brief Ethnography. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from Sahapedia: https://www.sahapedia.org/paniya-people- wayanad-brief-ethnography
27. Kunhaman, M. (1949). Development of tribal economy. New Delhi: Classical Publishing Company.
28. Kurup, A. M., &Burman, B. K. (1961). Census of India 1961, Paniyan of Kerala. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI.
29. Lal, B. S. (2019). Tribal Development in India: Some Observations. Research Gate .
30. Logan, W. (1951). Malabar, Vol.1. Madras: Government Press.
31. Manojan, K. P. (2018). Indigenous Knowledge in Education: A Study among Paniya. Journal of Social Work Education and Practice , 43-55.
32. Martínez-Vela, C. A. (2001). World Systems Theory. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from MIT: https://web.mit.edu/esd.83/www/notebook/WorldSystem.pdf
110
33. Mathew, S., & Shah, D. P. (2018). Tudi- A Saga of Educational Empowerment. MIER Journal of Educational Studies, Trends & Practices, 8 (1), 113-114.
34. Menon, T. M. (1996). Encyclopaedia of Dravidian Tribes, Volume II. Thiruvananthapuram: The International School of Dravidian Linguistics, St.Xavier‟s College.
35. Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Acculturation. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from Merriam- Webster.com Dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acculturation
36. Ministry of Tribal Affairs. (2017). Constitutional Provisions. Retrieved April 30, 2020, from Ministry of Tribal Affairs GoI: https://tribal.nic.in/DivisionsFiles/clm/ProvisionsRelatingtoSTs2.pdf
37. Ministry of Tribal Affairs. (2013). Statistical Profile of Scheduled tribes in India. Retrieved from Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI: https://tribal.nic.in/ST/StatisticalProfileofSTs2013.pdf
38. Minority Rights Group International. (2008). World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - India :Adivasis. Retrieved April 15, 2020, from The UN Refugee Agency: https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d14c.html
39. Mishra, C. (2017). Tribal Philosophy and Pandit Nehru. OdishaReview , 100-110.
40. Mohindra, K. S., Narayana, D., Harikrishnadas, C. K., Anushreedha, S. S., & Haddad, S. (2010). Paniya Voices: A Participatory Poverty and Health Assessment among a marginalized South Indian tribal population. BMC Public Health .
41. Mpofu, E. (Ed.). (2011). Counseling people of African ancestry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
42. Mundakkayam, G. (2002). AriyappedathaWayanad – History (Malayalam).Kalpetta: Sahya Publications.
43. Nair, C. G. (1911). Malabar Series: Wayanad its People and Traditions. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. 111
44. Narayan, D., Chambers, R., Shah, M. K., &Petesch, P. (2000). Voices of the Poor: Crying Out for Change. New York: Oxford University Press.
45. Naughton, F. (2008). Social change. In V. N. Parillo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social problems (Vol. 1, pp. 863-864). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
46. Panoor, K. (1963). Keralathile Africa (Malayalam).Kottayam: National Book Stall.
47. Pradhan, S. (2015). Globalisation and its Effect on Tribal Development. International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field , 172-178.
48. Prakash, M. S. (2011). Indigenous Knowledge Systems— Ecological Literacy Through Initiation into People's Science. In L. M. Semali, & J. L. Kincheloe, What is Indigenous Knowledge: Voices from the Academy (pp. 157-178). New York: Routledge.
49. Rai, R., &Nath, V. (2003). The Role of Ethnic and Indigenous People of India and their Culture in the Conservation of Biodiversity. World Forestry Congress. Canada: FAO.
50. Raman, R. (2002). Breaking New Ground: Adivasi Land Struggle in Kerala. Economic and Political Weekly , 916-19.
51. Rath, G. C. (Ed.). (2006). Tribal Development in India, The Contemporary Debate. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
52. Reconciliation Australia. (n.d.). Our culture. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from Reconciliation Australia: http://shareourpride.reconciliation.org.au/sections/our-culture/
53. Saprina, A. (2019, April). The Indigenous World, 2019. (D. N. Berger, Ed.) Retrieved April 22, 2020, from The International Work: https://www.iwgia.org/images/documents/indigenous- world/IndigenousWorld2019_UK.pdf
54. Sarin, M. (2003). Bad in Law. Down to Earth , 36-40.
55. Saroha, J. (2017). Indian Tribes: Distribution and Problems. International Journal of Informative & Futuristic Research, 5 (2).
112
56. Semali, L. M. (2011). Community as Classroom: (Re)Valuing Indigenous Literacy. In L. M. Semali, J. L. Kincheloe, L. M. Semali, & J. L. Kincheloe (Eds.), What is Indigenous Knowledge: Voices from the Academy (pp. 95-118). New York: Routledge.
57. Semali, L. M., &Kincheloe, J. L. (2011). What is indigenous Knowledge: Voices from the Academy. New York: Routledge.
58. Shyamala, K. (2003). Tribals in the changing society a special reference to sugalis of Anantapur district. Sri Krishnadevaraya University: Andhra Pradesh.
59. Sied, S. (2014). Ethnic Language Shift among the Nao People of Ethiopia. In E. C. Zsiga, O. T. Boyer, & R. Kramer, Languages in Africa: Multilingualism, Language Policy, and Education (pp. 102-109). Washington: Georgeton University Press.
60. Somasekhar, K. (1997). Developmental programmes and social change among the tribals: A study in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.Anantapur: Sri Krishnadevaraya University.
61. The World Bank. (2019, September 19). Indegenous Peoples. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/indigenouspeoples
62. Thomas, M. M., Taylor, R. W., &Bareh, H. (1965). Tribal Awakening: a group study. Bangalore: Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society.
63. Thundy, Z. P. (1981). Aboriginal Groups in India. Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine.
64. Truong, H.-T. (2016, January). Acculturation: 4 Ways to adjust to a new culture. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from Hoai-Thu Truong PhD: https://www.drhttruong.com/acculturation-4-ways-to-adjust-to-a-new-culture/
65. Ulahannan, J. (2018). A White Paper for the Education of the paniya Tribes in Wayanad, Kerala, India. Canada: Vancouver Island University.
66. United Nations. (2007, May). Indigenous People, Indigenous Voices [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from United Nations Permenant Forum on Indigenous Issues: https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf 113
67. United Nations. (2000). Indigenous Peoples at the United Nations. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/about-us.html
68. Varghese, J. (2010). Customs culture and religion of paniya tribe and their social change.Thanjavur: Tamil University.
69. Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: design and methods. . Los Angeles: SAGE.
70. Zukang, S. (2009). State of the World's Indigenous People. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN: https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP/en/SOWIP_web.pdf
114