Social Sciences, Multidisciplinary, Anthropology, General Social Sciences
3
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Perceiving Development Through Natives’ Lens: Field Experiences From Three Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh Tame Ramya Oriental Anthropologist, 2020 Despite the acknowledgment that participatory approaches in development have potential in understanding and designing development programs and policies, perceptions of development continue to be dominated by outsiders including professionals and other development agents, most of whom do not experience the conditions. Using qualitative data collected based on the field experiences from three tribal communities of Kurung Kumey District, namely the Nyishi, the Puroik, and the Bangru, this article attempts to involve tribal community members in the conceptualization of development in their context and outlining possible strategies to address the identified development issues. The study finds people keen on participating in development and who can rank their development needs and priorities, emphasizing the significance of development, as well as its perceived hierarchical nature. The study advocates the use of both macro and micro approaches to development where development recipients are involved in development plans and decisions.
Exhibiting Tribal Ethnicity through Festivals: An Experience from the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh Tame Ramya Oriental Anthropologist, 2018 Drawing on the example of the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh, an ethnic group that has been enjoying a wave of popular revival in recent years, this study suggests that changes in the perceptions of an ethnic identity are related to socio-economic transformation. The festival is a key aspect of the Nyishi revival since the 1970s. An examination of the history, activities, and contemporary spatio-temporal organization of festivals reveals similarities to other aspects of a society of mass consumption. Niche marketing, the structuring of recreation around the modern work week, and the establishment of personal identity through the purchase of symbolically rich commodities are all embodied in contemporary Nyishi festivals. At the same time, the consumption of ethnic commodities is linked by the consumers with a sense of tradition and descent from a mythic past. The festivals of Nyishi are, in this sense, invented traditions and, paradoxically, a measure of the assimilation of this particular ethnic group into Indian culture. This study explores the significant role that Nyishi festivals has played, and continues to play, in the creation and maintenance of Nyishi identity, both within and outside the boundaries of Arunachal Pradesh. By regularly performing the festivals, the Nyishi people are constantly constructing and restructuring their culture, customs, traditions, values and identity, both to themselves and to the world beyond.
