Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity South Asian Nomads - A Literature Review Anita Sharma CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS Research Monograph No. 58 January 2011 University of Sussex Centre for International Education The Consortium for Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE) is a Research Programme Consortium supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Its purpose is to undertake research designed to improve access to basic education in developing countries. It seeks to achieve this through generating new knowledge and encouraging its application through effective communication and dissemination to national and international development agencies, national governments, education and development professionals, non-government organisations and other interested stakeholders. Access to basic education lies at the heart of development. Lack of educational access, and securely acquired knowledge and skill, is both a part of the definition of poverty, and a means for its diminution. Sustained access to meaningful learning that has value is critical to long term improvements in productivity, the reduction of inter- generational cycles of poverty, demographic transition, preventive health care, the empowerment of women, and reductions in inequality. The CREATE partners CREATE is developing its research collaboratively with partners in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The lead partner of CREATE is the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex. The partners are: The Centre for International Education, University of Sussex: Professor Keith M Lewin (Director) The Institute of Education and Development, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Dr Manzoor Ahmed The National University of Educational Planning and Administration, Delhi, India: Professor R Govinda The Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: Dr Shireen Motala The Universities of Education at Winneba and Cape Coast, Ghana: Professor Jerome Djangmah, Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah The Institute of Education, University of London: Professor Angela W Little Disclaimer The research on which this paper is based was commissioned by the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE http://www.create-rpc.org). CREATE is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries and is coordinated from the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex. 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Copyright © CREATE 2011 ISBN: 0-901881-65-1 Address for correspondence: CREATE, Centre for International Education, Department of Education School of Education & Social Work Essex House, University of Sussex, Falmer BN1 9QQ United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 1273 877984 Fax: + 44 (0) 1273 877534 Author email: [email protected] Website: http://www.create-rpc.org Email [email protected] Please contact CREATE using the details above if you require a hard copy of this publication. South Asian Nomads - A Literature Review Anita Sharma CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS Research Monograph No. 58 January 2011 ii Contents Preface......................................................................................................................................vii Summary................................................................................................................................ viii 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................1 2. Nomadism..............................................................................................................................7 3. Nomadism in South Asia .......................................................................................................9 3.1 Criminals by Birth..........................................................................................................11 3.2 Nomads and the changing urban and rural landscape....................................................12 3.3 Ignored in policy............................................................................................................14 3.4 Mobility, a Cultural Signifier.........................................................................................16 3.5 Lines of Flight?..............................................................................................................17 3.6 Manners & Morals .........................................................................................................20 3.6.1 Manners & morals among Paliyan hunter gatherers...............................................20 3.6.2 Manners and morals among the Chaolay or sea nomads........................................21 3.6.3 Manners and morals among the Qalandar ..............................................................22 3.6.4 Qalandar and education...........................................................................................23 3.6.5 Manners morals among the Bakkarwals.................................................................24 3.6.6 Education a way out for the Bakkarwals?...............................................................25 3.6.7 Problems of Access to Education for the Bakkarwals ............................................25 3.6.8 Manners, morals (and markets) among the Rabaris................................................26 3.6.9 Education a way out for the Rabaris? .....................................................................26 3.6.10 Problems of Access to Education for the Rabaris.................................................27 4. Nomads and Education ........................................................................................................29 4.1 Education and nomads: a paradox .................................................................................29 4.2 Education as schooling & illiteracy as epidemic ...........................................................31 4.3 Education and poverty ...................................................................................................32 4.4 Education for minority elite...........................................................................................33 4.5 Education and sedentarisation........................................................................................34 4.6 Framework of the national history of modernisation.....................................................35 4.7 Development and South Asian Nomads ........................................................................36 4.7.1 The Number Game..................................................................................................36 4.7.2 Social vs. political borders......................................................................................37 4.7.3 Pigeonholing ...........................................................................................................37 4.7.4 State development and markets ..............................................................................38 4.7.5 Physically dispersed peoples...................................................................................38 4.7.6 Decontextualised discourses ...................................................................................38 4.8 Alternative Models of Education...................................................................................39 4.8.1 Local knowledge.....................................................................................................39 4.8.2 Child centred education ..........................................................................................40 4.8.3 Moving schools.......................................................................................................40 4.8.4 Moving with learners – using community volunteers.............................................42 4.8.5 School for Siberian nomads....................................................................................44 4.8.6 The Gobi Women’s Project ....................................................................................46 5. Conclusions..........................................................................................................................48 References................................................................................................................................52 Appendix 1: Database of Nomads in India..............................................................................62 iii List of Figures Figure 1: Categorisation of nomads in South Asia. Ghumuntu/ Khanabadosh/Pukiwas (Nomads)..................................................................................................................................11 List of Boxes Box 1: Nomad Numbers ............................................................................................................4