As India consolidates an aggressive model of economic development,
indigenous tribal people known as adivasis continue to be
overrepresented among the country's poor. Adivasis make up more than
eight hundred communities in India, with a total population of more than
a hundred million people who speak more than three hundred different
languages. Although their historical presence is acknowledged by the
state and they are lauded as a part of India's ethnic identity today,
their poverty has been compounded by the suppression of their cultural
heritage and lifestyle.
In Adivasi Art and Activism, Alice Tilche draws on anthropological
fieldwork conducted in rural western India to chart changes in adivasi
aesthetics, home life, attire, food, and ideas of religiosity that have
emerged from negotiation with the homogenizing forces of Hinduization,
development, and globalization in the twenty-first century. She
documents curatorial projects located not only in museums and art
institutions, but in the realms of the home, the body, and the
landscape. Adivasi Art and Activism raises vital questions about
preservation and curation of indigenous material and provides an astute
critique of the aesthetics and politics of Hindu nationalism.