Adivasi Land Rights Struggles in South India

ISBN-13: 9783639117387 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 148 str.

Claudia Aufschnaiter

Opis

The highly heterogeneous Adivasi represent Indias defacto (but not de jure) indigenous peoples. As ethnicminorities Adivasis are not recognised as equal intheir socio-cultural distinctiveness and, as aresult, suffer widespread human rights violations andare the target of misguided development schemes. Themost pressing issue is the loss of control over landas, under the banner of national development, Adivasiland is being opened up for resource extraction.Adivasis are literally "thrown out" of the forest,which is integral to their indigenous identity, whilefor centuries they were "pushed" to the margins byforces not dissimilar to those causing theirdispossession and forcible assimilation in the 21stcentury. This book seeks to link anthropological withinternational law concepts on indigenous peoplesland rights, leading to the research question: Whyare Adivasis being deprived of their land and canthey benefit from the fact that indigenous peoplesare being awarded more and more positive recognitionin international law? Taking two case studies fromSouth India it explores the relevance of human rightslaw to Adivasi resistance strategies against landalienation.

O autorze

Claudia Aufschnaiter holds a master's degree in Social and
Cultural Anthropology from Vienna University with a focus on
legal, development and media anthropology. She has conducted
extensive fieldwork on Adivasi land rights issues in South
India, most recently for her doctoral research on indigeneity and
environmentalism at Durham University.