Reciprocity in field work: collaborating with the Adivasi Koya of Kamaram,Telangana,India

Abstract

Indigenous communities in India, or Adivasis, have always been the object of anthropological research. However, knowledge production on Adivasi communities has created a civilizing discourse that has contributed to their marginalization. In following the need to reject anthropology’s savage, primitive, and native slot, we present a case study of a research project on Indigenous knowledge of the Koya peoples, an Adivasi community in India. We argue that this project is an expression of the agency of the Adivasis and constitutes a form of generative refusal, where new insights and possibilities are generated. Next, we reflect on how fieldwork with Indigenous communities is not merely extractive but can create a collaborative and reciprocal endeavour. Finally, we discuss the methodological aspects of co-producing scholarship on Adivasi communities and its implications.