A Santhal woman embarks on a quest to understand her identity and what makes biocultural diversity thrive. Purabi Bose Reverence, respect, reciprocity: are there any alternatives to these fundamental principles for the survival of biocultural diversity? The answer is negative. One of the take-home messages of COVID-19 is that, for nature, the world is without

A Khasi youth expresses love and pride for his native land and culture. WORDS AND IMAGE    Carmel Fedrick Malngiang   Khasiland — The name of my homeland, Located somewhere on earth. Famous For its beauty, rain songs, and war Rich in culture and Unique in history. The aroma of love pervades the air, The

Against the odds, a tribal farmer in southern India strives to conserve and share dozens of indigenous rice varieties. WORDS AND VIDEO  G. S. Unnikrishnan Nair | IMAGES  Anvar     It is widely known that rice is the staple food for half the people on earth. In Asia, it lies at the very heart of the

WORDS Raynold Lyngdoh IMAGES Raynold and Anne Lyngdoh Nestled in the more secluded northeastern region of India are several unique tribal groups, each diverse and distinct in their own right. Every group faces immense challenges in maintaining their linguistic and cultural diversity, as globalization and external influences perpetually challenge and erode the age-old traditional practices

WORDS Kanna K. Siripurapu and Sabyasachi Das IMAGES Chandrasekhar Nemani and Kanna K. Siripurapu A few months ago, I received a document written by my colleague Uday Kalyanapu about the success of a backyard poultry project in the tribal-dominated areas of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The project was started by WASSAN (Watershed Support

Kanna K. Siripurapu The sacredness of the cow in India, especially to the vast majority of Hindus, hardly needs an introduction. According to the Hindu scriptures, all cows are descendants of the mythical cow Kamadhenu (also known as Surabhi). Born of an ocean of milk, Kamadhenu generously provides good things to anyone who asks. Her

Prafulla Kalokar with Kanna K. Siripurapu I am Prafulla Kalokar, 29 years old and a member of the Indigenous Nanda-Gaoli people, a semi-nomadic pastoralist community native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. I am a doctoral student in modern economics, perhaps one of the few from my community to have come this far. As an

During a pandemic, Indigenous communities tend to be among the most vulnerable, given their often-limited access to water, food supplies, adequate healthcare, and other factors. In this special “Pandemic Perspectives” series of our Dispatches, we’re sharing stories from around the world to shed some light on the obstacles Indigenous Peoples face in light of COVID-19

Radhika Borde and Siman Hansdak Once upon a time, growing up as an Adivasi in rural Jharkhand in eastern India meant learning what the forest could provide in terms of nourishment, education, and enjoyment— as for Adivasis, a group claiming an Indigenous identity, the forest was a context for living rather than a resource to

Last month, there were just four people left on earth who could speak a language from the Great Andamanic family, which hails from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. On April 4, one of those speakers—a woman named Licho—passed away from tuberculosis and heart disease. She was the last woman alive to speak