The concept of 'tribe' in India is a beleaguered one, and shares overlapping definitions with a number of nomenclatures-'adivasis', 'indigenous people', and even 'Scheduled Tribes'. For centuries, over widely dispersed territories, groups of communities were subjected to very similar inimical processes that led to their destitution.
First Citizens engages with the political and historical processes which go into the making of differential identities and adoption of specific labels by communities, and explores a number of critical issues confronting this extremely vulnerable section of...