Tribal Identity: Just a few days back I met a gentleman from UK who is a Bangladeshi by origin. He left Bangladesh when he was Nine years old. He and his four brothers along with their parents have settled down in UK. His father commands that all family members must speak Bangla when they are at home.

This gentleman speaks fluent Bangla. He feels extremely elated meeting Bangla speaking people as he could converse with them in his mother tongue. Though he is a British by citizen, he earns his bread and butter in the UK and identifies himself strongly with the Bangla speaking community. He says that by speaking Bangla with another Bangla speaking person, he feels a “sense of belonging” to an ethnic community and reminds him of his roots. It gives an identity.

Thousands of tribals/adivasis from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal have been living in the metros and cities in and outside India. Most of us are caught up in the daily grind of identity construction between the minority vrs. majority status, and/or superiority vrs. inferiority complexes vis.a.vis our language, festivals, celebrations, rituals, life style etc. which defines our identity as Oraon/Munda/Kharia/Santhal/Ho community. How many of us speak our mother tongue at home or while meeting country cousins? I have known our people reducing their surnames to a letter like “B” for Bhengra or “K” for Kerketta. Are we ashamed of our totemic clan name? which after all has socio-political and cultural significance. The tribal society was and still is known for its thirteen festivals in twelve months and different celebrations from birth to death and beautiful dances with songs for different seasons. We may not be able to observe all of them like Karam, Sarhul, Nawakhani, Sohrai etc in the fast paced city life. Nevertheless, do we observe at least some of them? These celebrations do not mean only enjoying and merry making but signify the symbiotic relationship between tribals and nature on which the whole tribal society is based on. This also brings community members together, sharing both joy and sorrow, which maintains, enhance and strengthens community bonding and belongingness.

Bothers and Sisters, the language we speak, the totemic name we carry with our names, the festivals and celebrations we observe, the way we live and behave make or break our identity. It is imperative that in order to retain our identity, passed on to us by our most revered forefathers also further encompassing future generations, we have to appreciate and practice these unique features which moulds our special identity and makes us a cohesive whole.

(Dr. Bipin Jojo)
editor@tribalzone.net