105 – Indigeneity and Art: Tracing Indigenous Adivasi empowerment and Resistance in India

Defining indigeneity in India is rife with terminological confusion. There is no universal definition. An apocalypse like colonization- central to the definition of indigeneity in other parts of the world- cannot be applied to South Asia. As Virginius Xaxa argues, what temporal disjuncture marks the beginning of indigeneity in the unique South Asian context of ceaseless migrations? Further, anthropologists, historians, art historians, cultural and performance studies scholars, and scholars of literature have attempted to ask how disciplines have variously subjugated the indigenous groups. In such a scenario, a move beyond is imperative- a discussion of Adivasi empowerment and resistance in the face of continuing disenfranchisement is helpful. We are interested in how performance, storytelling, art across media, and literature have been strategized by indigenous communities and individuals to stake a subversive claim in the national cultural discourse. Our panel is intentionally broad, keeping in mind the breadth of a subject like Indigenous art, performance, and storytelling in India. As indigenous including Adivasi art and cultural productions are increasingly appropriated and adapted, interlocked binaries are at play- art/craft, art/ ritual, rural/urban, classical/folk, folk/tribal. The artist and their art must negotiate with multiple forces –colonialism, casteism, religious nationalism, to name a prominent few– to render themselves audible. We welcome paper proposals that discuss indigenous storytelling and performance, including literature and culture. This panel seeks to understand how indigenous groups communities and individuals are mobilizing their art and context to intervene in the limiting discourse of Indian indigeneity. We invite paper proposals to consider how indigenous art and performance practices intervene in the praxis of aesthetics.

Convenors

Sinjini Chatterjee
- Samarth Singhal -