The Indigenous Adivasis of Kaatu Naikar

Photo courtesy of Wade Underwood.

Photo courtesy of Wade Underwood.

Photo courtesy of Wade Underwood.

Photo courtesy of Wade Underwood.

Photo courtesy of Wade Underwood.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The jeep came to an abrupt stop at the end of an overgrown dirt road. Our driver told us we had to transfer jeeps because of the rough terrain since our jeep was too large for the road in front of us. Riding up that jarring path, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beautiful rock formations, the trees that would create a dark patch on the road, the coffee plants that were ripe for picking. Arriving at the top of this road, a modern luxury resort was perched, overlooking all of this beautiful landscape. All of these signs of prosperity were quite a jarring contrast when we walked up a rocky, sometimes hidden hill path on the edge of the resort, to visit an Adivasi village.

As we learned throughout our stay in Wayanad, Kerala, the Adivasi people are indigenous to the area and have been treated similarly to how the Native Americans in the United States were treated by the colonizers. Seeing the single-room cement government houses (which totaled twenty and was currently housing thirty-five families) and the meager supplies which were housed within these homes, I felt surprised that this Adivasi community would even want to have outsiders come into their community. After reading and talking to other activists and NGO leaders about the Adivasi people’s situation (centering around broken promises by the government to return land to them that was forcefully taken away and now home to migrant farmers and other plantations) I do not think I would have invited us in with open arms as this village did.

After taking a short tour of the village, their former leader, Naranee, led us to the nursery building to meet with the rest of the villagers. She told us most everyone in the village was there because they took work off especially so they could meet with our group. Walking up the rough, rocky steps to the porch of this nursery, we were met by shy and excited children of every age, and the women of the community; the men waited outside in order to give everyone room. We found this interesting that it was the women we were talking to, but then again Naranee had been their leader in the past, showing what we considered a forward thinking community. When we asked about the roles of men and women in the village, Naranee and her sister stated that household roles were shared between the husband and the wife, which was a different situation from what we encountered with the migrant farmer community.

Though examples like the household roles were amazing to hear, it was quite interesting to also hear the difference of opinion between Naranee, who is considered more “educated” in her community because of her school attendance, and her sister, who did not attend school. While Naranee praised the NGOs and spoke of Adivasi traditions which sounded more current than Adivasi cultural elements, her sister had no such qualms. She spoke more candidly of the Adivasi situation and was less hopeful about their future.

Having both of these women share different opinions was a great insight into the current situation facing the Adivasi people, especially since one of the main ways the Indian people want to mainstream them is through education. Even in the United States we often turn to education to fix many problems, but in this situation I wondered not about the education itself but the system in which it was being implemented. Would going to a school and learning English, mathematics, and science really benefit the Adivasi community? Or was education only being pushed on them as a way to mainstream them into Indian modernity, letting them forget their culture and original way of life?

The Adivasis’ beginnings were living as a people in tune with nature, taking only as much from the land that was required. Yet today they are seen as a pest, unequal to the migrant farmers in the area. The school-educated look down on them because of their lack of “education,” but their way of life is sustainable in a way that the modern way is sorely lacking. After visiting with this particular community, I felt as though rather than push a different education system on them, perhaps more people should look to their way of life and reflect on what it really means to be educated in this world.