Paper Short Abstract:

Based on my fieldwork in Odisha, I will focus on the sacred logic of various indigenous justice movements to protect their mountains and spiritual identity from the large-scale extraction based economy undertaken by states and profit-oriented multinational corporations.

Paper Abstract:

Indigenous people view land and natural resources as sacred - living, thinking, and acting beings. Indigenous land, forest, water, and mountains are currently under pressure, commodified, and objectified from the dramatic expansion of large-scale extraction activities and neo-liberal development ventures taken up by states and profit-oriented multinational corporations. Previously, I have discussed mountains as powerful sacred actors in indigenous people’s efforts to organize and protect their regions from irrevocable destruction through mining activities (Pandey and Kingsolver, 2022). It is well known that the problems faced by the indigenous peoples are universal. They suffer from the consequences of historic injustice, including colonization, dispossession of the lands, territories, and resources, oppression and discrimination, and lack of control over their ways of life. Colonial and modern states have primarily denied their right to progress and development in pursuing economic growth.

Consequently, indigenous peoples often lose out to more powerful actors, becoming one of the most disadvantaged groups in the country (UN 2010). In India, despite the presence of several laws to protect the Adivasi and their habitats, such as Schedule V, PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas 1996), FRA (Forest Rights Act 2006), and Land Alienation Act (non-transfer of Adivasi lands to non-Adivasi), all of which have been systematically violated and encroached upon by mega national companies and multinationals for extraction of minerals and other natural resources available on their land. In this paper, I will present indigenous wisdom on their land, medicine, livelihood, and spiritual identity as the logic to fight against the coercive state and profit-making corporations. Based on my longitudinal fieldwork in Odisha, I will focus on the sacred logic of various indigenous justice movements to protect their mountains and spiritual identity.