Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I discuss a research project initiated by a group of Koya youths,an indigenous community in India. I suggest that this project is reflective of an activism that creates a space for epistemic decolonization, empowerment, and assertion for adivasi communities in India.

Paper long abstract:

In India, the indigenous communities, or adivasis, are constantly threatened by the loss of lands, legal rights, and the erosion of their cultural heritage. As a response to this endemic marginalization, adivasi activism in India have largely been characterised by mass protests helmed by nongovernmental organizations. In this paper, I move away from these forms of activism and explore an activism that has emerged from a grassroots initiative by the Koyas,an indigenous community in Telangana, India. In the Koya village of Kamaram, the youths embarked on a research project on Koya history, culture, and indigenous knowledge. Through employing anthropological techniques in their data collection , the efforts of these youths have culminated in the production of a 300 page book on Koya indigenous knowledge and a three day exhibition held in the village. Here, I suggest that it is not merely an effort to preserve Koya heritage, rather, this project aims to remind, reconstruct, and reimagine what it means to be indigenous in India. Hence, in so doing, it is an activism that creates the space for epistemic decolonisation, empowerment, and assertion for adivasi communities in India.