The Moral Governance of Adivasis And

INEBRIETY AND INDIGENEITY: THE MORAL GOVERNANCE OF ADIVASIS AND ALCOHOL IN JHARKHAND, INDIA By Roger Begrich A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland October 2013 © 2013 Roger Begrich All Rights Reserved Abstract This dissertation is an investigation of alcohol and indigeneity in India. Based on 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the state of Jharkhand, I aim to describe the complex and contradictory roles that alcohol plays in the lives of people variously referred to adivasis, tribals, or Scheduled Tribes. By taking a closer look at the presence of alcohol in various registers of adivasi lives (economy, religion, social relations) as well as by studying the ways alcohol is implicated in the constitution of adivasis as a distinct category of governmental subjects, I hope to provide a nuanced and multilayered account of the relationships between adivasis and alcohol. I will thereby conceptualize these relationships in terms of obligations, which will allow me to approach them without the constraints of determination or causality inherent in concepts like addiction and/or alcoholism, and to circumvent the notion of compulsion implied in ideas about adivasis as either culturally or genetically predisposed to drinking. In the chapters that follow, I will first discuss how the criterion of alcohol consumption is implicated, discursively, in the constitution of adivasis as a separate population, and a distinct subject category through governmental procedures of knowledge formation and administration. I will then describe the ways alcohol is present, as a substance, as a commodity, and as an intoxicant, in two distinct landscapes of Jharkhand: an (unauthorized) settlement of migrant laborers adjacent to a massive industrial enterprise at the outskirts of the state capital Ranchi, and a rural environment inhabited by ii subsistence farmers, who had, for almost three decades until shortly before I began my fieldwork, resisted against a planned, massive hydro-electric dam. I will furthermore investigate the regulation of alcohol, and show how regulatory mechanisms approach tribal drinking as a problem sui generis, thereby distinguishing between populations capable of responsible drinking, and others (i.e., adivasis) that are not. And I will finally discuss the role of alcohol in relations between adivasis, as well as in their relations to spirits, deities, and ancestors, and approach the relationships between adivasis and alcohol as a problem of moral governance and ethical self-making. Advisors: Aaron D. Goodfellow, Jane I. Guyer (Chair) Readers: Rina Agarwala, Rebecca Brown, Renée Marlin-Bennett iii Acknowledgements This dissertation is the modest result of a long and agonizing effort, during which many people generously and patiently supported me. I am immensely grateful to all of them. First and foremost, I am intensely indebted to the people of the places I call Koylatoli, Jil- ingsereng and Diankel, and to the many, many Adivasis in and around Ranchi, as well as throughout the Koel-Karo region, who at one point or another have shared their time or wisdom with me. Without their generosity, their patience, their hospitality, and their trust, my work would have been impossible. I wrote this dissertation for them, just as much as I wrote it in the hope of advancing knowledge, or to obtain my degree. In particular, I would like to mention Gyan Mani Ekka, Sagar Kandir, Sirat Kachchap Stephen Kachchap, Anup Minz, Soma Munda, Lorentus Guria, Rejan Guria, Roylan Guria, Notrott Guria, Birsa Nag, Gopal Tirkey, Binod Topno, Birsa Topno, Idan Topno, and John Topno. Also, the conversations with Ajay ShahDeo, Sanjay Sahu, Sunil Sahu, Shanti Sawansi, Nagendra Nath Singh, and Sister Anna Varkey were instrumental, as was the hospitality of K.J. Anthony and his family. This dissertation is an effort of scholarship, and I am deeply grateful to my teachers and advisors in the Department of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University for having made this effort possible. Without the patience, persistence, and the sober wisdom of Jane Guyer I would probably still be struggling with writing. And the help I received from Aaron Goodfellow cannot be measured with words. I am convinced that he is among the iv smartest anthropologists and the best teachers currently alive, and I feel blessed, not only to have learned so much from him, but also for his friendship. I am also deeply indebted to Veena Das, from whom I have learned so much over the years, and I am grateful for having been her student. A very great deal of the intellectual development I underwent in my years as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins did not take place in the classroom, but was forged in interac- tions with fellow students. I want to express my appreciation for this, in particular to Thomas Cousins, Andres Dapuez, Chris Kolb, Citlalli Reyes Kipp, Sylvain Perdigon, Va- leria Procupez, Isaias Rojas-Perez, Aditi Saraf, Vaibhav Saria, and David Schrag and Bhrigupati Singh. In the course of the years, and in particular during to my extended periods of absence from Baltimore, I was fortunate to have profited from inspiring conversations, and received important inputs from teachers who are not (or no longer) at Johns Hopkins, namely Hoon Song, Pamela Reynolds, Lawrence Cohen, and Pratiksha Baxi, as well as Roma Chaterji. I am particularly grateful and deeply indebted to Shalini Randeria for her tremendous support and her wonderful mentorship. I owe much to her phenomenal en- ergy and her commitment – she keeps providing hope in the possibility of scholarship, even in the most hostile of circumstances. And I thank Kaushik Ghosh for the wisdom and the friendship he keeps sharing with me – and for embodying, what in my view, scholarship should be about. I had heard of him for quite a while – first in academia, and v then in the field – before we finally met. His rapport in the Koel-Karo region was so good, that I never had to explain my work to anyone there – simply referring to Kaushik elucidated the purpose of my visits and my curiosity, and I was warmly welcomed. My gratitude also goes to Mohammad Yusuf Ansari, my Hindi teacher – I wish I could have been as good a student of the language, as he is a teacher of it. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Becky Daniels, Pia Kumar, Melody Walker, and especially, to Richard Helman – without whom this dissertation would have been impossible. Among the many others whose help was indispensable for my research, and to whom I am immensely grateful are Joy Baxla, Birsing Horo, Dilip Tirkey, Bijay Topno, Roshan Xalxo, as well as Razia Hamid, Fatima Moumouni, and especially Shashi Bhushan Bari and Lynn Huber. Over the years, conversations with fellow anthropologists have shaped and improved my work, and have given me hope for the future of our discipline. I would like to thank, therefore, Hussein Agrama, Evangelos Karagiannis, Deepak Mehta, Nandini Sundar, An- drea Mühlebach and Andrew Gilbert, Mubbashir Abbas Rizvi, as well as Carlo Caduff, Rohit Jain, Jago Wyssling, and Ayla Zacek. My gratitude for wisdom, help, and wonderful conversations also go to Sarada Balagopalan, Alia Hasan-Khan, Bea Glaser, and Elina Horo. vi When I first returned from my fieldwork, academia seemed utterly removed from any- thing that mattered in the world, and for two months I found it impossible to even pick up a scholarly text. But then I began teaching, and I discovered the beauty of my duty to- wards my students, which returned meaningfulness and purpose to being a scholar. I thank all my students in Baltimore and Zürich for this, and for allowing me to learn so much from them. I am also grateful for the friendship of Tanja Berger, Laurenz Bolliger (thanks, man, for the title of chapter two!), Daniele Ganser, Philipp Schweighauser, Marco Storni, and Ur- sula Regehr. And very special thanks go to Ratnaker Bhengra and Bineet Mundu – not only for the innumerable ways in which they have they helped me in my research over the years, but also for the wonderful gift of their friendship. I sincerely hope this dissertation will not disappoint them. Four people who would have loved to see this dissertation completed have had to leave this world too early. My grief over their loss is slightly lessened by my gratitude for having shared time with them, and for the various ways they supported my work: Barbara Lüem was partially responsible for lighting the spark of passion for anthropology in me, and Ramdayal Munda was eager for scholars to study Jharkhand, and always very sup- portive of my research. Bijoy Kr. Srivastava, his intellect, his curiosity, and his knowledge were great inspirations – talking to him always meant learning, and I still find it difficult to accept the fact that I cannot talk to him any longer. My uncle Hans Heiner Kno- vii bel was taken away much too soon, and much too quick. His love and support were very important to me, and he is dearly missed. My gratitude also goes to Roswitha Brengmann, for being part of the family, and for un- derstanding so much and so well. I have much, much gratitude and respect for Brother Ashiq, Jamila, Shahanaz, Sohail, and Yusef Daulatzai, who have welcomed me into their very special family, and from whom I am learning so much. Their commitment to justice and their achievements are phenomenal inspirations. To Jamila Daulatzai I owe very, very special thanks. Without her support much of my post-fieldwork existence would have been considerably more strenuous and difficult. And I am grateful to the Amani family for their love and their support.

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