The concept of indigeneity is gradually becoming an expression of local, national and international identity which is of utmost importance in developing ideas for the planners and policy makers all over the world. The construction of tribality as an indigenous construction is very much attached to the notion of coloniality, post-coloniality and nativity. Indigeneity in Indian context is coincided with tribality which occupies the central theme of the present research. It has acquired a considerable importance in the social science pedagogy lately. The indigenisation of pedagogical spaces and foundation has radically altered the hypothesis and facts. The celebration of indigeneity in academic circles has initiated review of colonial disciplines and Eurocentric structures which once muted the voices of the Other and finally decolonised the social sciences and humanities. Recent scholarship took the call to spurn and deconstruct ruling scholarly discourses. The multiple levels of tribal identity have been time and again negotiated, contested and articulated. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that identities are constructed and sometimes even invented. Identity formation is a somewhat unconscious approach and identity invention is a much more conscious and planned process to create cultural distinction and gain advantage or recognition. Here comes the question of essentialising indigeneity. Collective identities being the foundation of the cultural self-assertion have been abandoned as essentialist or nativist. It is argued that identity is not static; rather it is continuously changing which is why it is difficult to be essentialist and ignores the differences between various indigenous communities. In spite of that it is an undeniable fact that there is an enduring cultural identity, religious beliefs, lived experiences and values which are omnipresent in more or less all indigenous communities. Now, this discourse has a dichotomous nature where the construction of identity has been debated on the basis of essentialism and essencialism. The sense of essentialism and exclusivism is a defining factor of aboriginality, because there are communities who are defined as archetypical personification of indigeneity with a fixed spatial identity constructed on a man-nature relationship and having an essentialised way of life which is needed to be de-contextualised. Research institutionalises knowledge, here indigenous knowledge. Research is also institutionalised through knowledge, academia, scholars and disciplines. It finds out hidden silences and invisible communities by employing a method. But research has been considered a colonising institution which has conditioned indigenous knowledge by disciplining it through Western theories and scholarship. Indigenous knowledge is currently at the centre of world-wide research work as it pertains to natural resource management. It is guided by socio-cultural traditions which are inculcated into indigenous people since their naissance and framed their understanding of how to encounter the local ecosystem. It is based on community culture and fragmentary in nature. It is preposterous to assume that indigenous knowledge is a general or specialised scientific knowledge and a social group can have authority over it. It is not confined to the professionals only, but focuses on the participation of the indigenous resource managers at large. There can be no common storehouse of this knowledge and ergo no theoretical and methodical model to pursue it. There are rituals, symbols and discourses in which it is embedded, but that is quite hard to find. One of the biggest hurdles is its oral form. Indigenous knowledge is gathered from experiences and transmitted orally from generation after generation. It is about everyday life of the indigenous people which is changing. But that does not mean they do not have scientific resource use practices and management system. What we need is to enrich our understanding about the indigenous initiatives for a better sustainable development planning and accept their subsistence regimes for prohibiting commercial exploitation of natural resources. In short, we need to be educated by the indigenous people’s understanding of development.

Indigeneity and Essentialism—Preservation, Research and Methodology

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发表日期：

2025年

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Debasree De

摘要

The concept of indigeneity is gradually becoming an expression of local, national and international identity which is of utmost importance in developing ideas for the planners and policy makers all over the world. The construction of tribality as an indigenous construction is very much attached to the notion of coloniality, post-coloniality and nativity. Indigeneity in Indian context is coincided with tribality which occupies the central theme of the present research. It has acquired a considerable importance in the social science pedagogy lately. The indigenisation of pedagogical spaces and foundation has radically altered the hypothesis and facts. The celebration of indigeneity in academic circles has initiated review of colonial disciplines and Eurocentric structures which once muted the voices of the Other and finally decolonised the social sciences and humanities. Recent scholarship took the call to spurn and deconstruct ruling scholarly discourses. The multiple levels of tribal identity have been time and again negotiated, contested and articulated. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that identities are constructed and sometimes even invented. Identity formation is a somewhat unconscious approach and identity invention is a much more conscious and planned process to create cultural distinction and gain advantage or recognition. Here comes the question of essentialising indigeneity. Collective identities being the foundation of the cultural self-assertion have been abandoned as essentialist or nativist. It is argued that identity is not static; rather it is continuously changing which is why it is difficult to be essentialist and ignores the differences between various indigenous communities. In spite of that it is an undeniable fact that there is an enduring cultural identity, religious beliefs, lived experiences and values which are omnipresent in more or less all indigenous communities. Now, this discourse has a dichotomous nature where the construction of identity has been debated on the basis of essentialism and essencialism. The sense of essentialism and exclusivism is a defining factor of aboriginality, because there are communities who are defined as archetypical personification of indigeneity with a fixed spatial identity constructed on a man-nature relationship and having an essentialised way of life which is needed to be de-contextualised. Research institutionalises knowledge, here indigenous knowledge. Research is also institutionalised through knowledge, academia, scholars and disciplines. It finds out hidden silences and invisible communities by employing a method. But research has been considered a colonising institution which has conditioned indigenous knowledge by disciplining it through Western theories and scholarship. Indigenous knowledge is currently at the centre of world-wide research work as it pertains to natural resource management. It is guided by socio-cultural traditions which are inculcated into indigenous people since their naissance and framed their understanding of how to encounter the local ecosystem. It is based on community culture and fragmentary in nature. It is preposterous to assume that indigenous knowledge is a general or specialised scientific knowledge and a social group can have authority over it. It is not confined to the professionals only, but focuses on the participation of the indigenous resource managers at large. There can be no common storehouse of this knowledge and ergo no theoretical and methodical model to pursue it. There are rituals, symbols and discourses in which it is embedded, but that is quite hard to find. One of the biggest hurdles is its oral form. Indigenous knowledge is gathered from experiences and transmitted orally from generation after generation. It is about everyday life of the indigenous people which is changing. But that does not mean they do not have scientific resource use practices and management system. What we need is to enrich our understanding about the indigenous initiatives for a better sustainable development planning and accept their subsistence regimes for prohibiting commercial exploitation of natural resources. In short, we need to be educated by the indigenous people’s understanding of development.