Colonial representations of Adivasi pasts of Jharkhand, India: the archives and beyond

Adivasis are the indigenous people of eastern and central India who were identified as “tribes” under British colonial rule and who today have a constitutional status as “Scheduled Tribese. The notion of tribe, despite its evolutionist character, has been internalized to a large extent by the indigenous people themselves and has had a considerable role in shaping community identities. Colonial studies, moreover, were the first systematic investigations into these marginalized and subordinated communities and form an important primary source in historical research on Adivasis. It would be worthwhile, therefore, to identify the main currents of thought that informed and which in turn were reflected in such works. In conclusion, we may argue that rather than a monolithic view, colonial writing encompassed various genres that, despite apparent commonalities, reveal wide divergences over time and space in the manner in which India’s Adivasis were conceptualized and represented.