A two-day national seminar ‘The Role of Tribal Museums in the Preservation of Tribal Culture’ was held at the Council of Analytic Tribal Studies from the November 18 to 19 as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Tribal Museum of Koraput.
Eminent scholars from across the State, students from the Central University of Orissa, Koraput and the Vikram Dev College, Jeypore, took part in the deliberations.
While Koraput Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy along with the Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Orissa Dr Sachidananda Mohanty inaugurated it, eminent anthropologist Dr Kishore Basa gave the keynote address in which he elaborated the impact of globalisation on tribal communities.
Dr Basa opined that the multifaceted tribes are negatively affected not only in India but all over the world. Vice Chancellor Dr Mohanty said that in the name of development, the life, livelihood, culture and habitat of indigenous people have brought been under severe stress.
Octogenarian scholar Prof SN Rath stressed that tribal studies have been traditionally pioneered by anthropologists over the last 100 years whose purposes were different than what they are conceived now. During the colonial rule, British and Indian civil servants studied tribes not for their ethnographic and cultural diversity, but delved just enough to provide the basic information to facilitate administration by indirect rule.
Project Head of INTACH Odisha Anil Dhir said that cultural loss among the tribals was intangible in nature; hence it was difficult to comprehend the extent of the loss. The aspect of tribal identity is essential, if the tribes lose it they become mere commodities. He said that platforms like tribal museums should be created where the intangible heritage can be shared, preserved and promoted.
As per the 2011 Census, 32 per cent of Odisha’s tribal population now lives in non-tribal areas, mostly urban. They have been the biggest victims of development, while repeated and mass displacement for industry, mining, dams etc has resulted in a major demographic shift, told Dhir.
Former Collector of Koraput and the Director of the Tribal Museum Gadhadhar Parida said that museums can become the catalysts for tribal studies, and serve as a communication tool, disseminating beliefs and traditions of the indigenous people.
Dr AC Sahoo, a tribal expert who has spent years in the Bonda hills opined that tribal museums can create a network of support for the fringe and on the edge groups and prevents culture and languages from dying.
Prof D Samal, Dr PC Mohapatro, Dr Mira Swain, Dr Aditya Kishore Mishra, Dr Sagarika Mishra, Dr Pritidhara Samal and Dr BK Srinivasan too participated in the seminar.
