Tribal Identity and Cultural Resilience in Contemporary India

Abstract

The contemporary Indian Indigenous (Adivasi) population is a mosaic of more than 700 scheduled tribes, each having different linguistic, social and ecological systems. These communities are under unprecedented threats to their survival under strong pressure from the so-called “neo-liberal” economic development, displacement, cultural assimilation and globalization. This research article looks at the intricacies of tribal identity and the process of cultural resilience in the context of modern India. In the paper, using an interdisciplinary approach of engaging with subaltern studies, indigenous sociology, and eco-criticism, the author examines the ways in which tribal communities actively resist cultural erasure. The study emphasises the importance of Adivasiyat as a lived philosophy, which sees identity, ancestral land (Zameen) and ecological systems as an intertwined, sacred continuum, which is at the core of tribal resilience. Based on the analysis of language revitalisation movements (like the spread of the script of Olchiki among the Santal), the defence of community-led forest governance and the reinvention of traditional rituals, this paper shows that indigenous communities are not victims of modernization. Rather, they are agents of cultural continuity. It suggests that the incorporation of a tribal resilience framework into the country's policy framework is the key to the establishment of sustainable and eco-centric solutions to the current environmental crises in the global context and the attainment of real democratic pluralism.