A Tribe in Transition: Understanding Sociocultural Change Among the Chuktia Bhunjia of Odisha,India

Abstract

This article narrates the ways the Chuktia Bhunjia, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Odisha, is changing their socio-economic and cultural practices and analyses those changes in a broader discourse of tribal question. It presents the factors influencing the changes taking place in this numerically small and isolated tribe. The data collected through the ethnographic method demonstrate that the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe is no longer a static and homogenous group, but is instead constantly changing its traditional economy, culture and politics. The substantive changes in their primordial characteristics are largely because of state intervention, access to education, migration-led culture contact and influence of non-tribals living in their territory. Paradoxically, one group of Chuktia Bhunjia, mandated by their customary laws, is in favour of upholding their indigeneity and pristine identity, while other groups have started adopting the culture practised by non-tribals living in their locality. Such a paradox challenges the idea of tribal as a ‘static’ and ‘homogenous’ group. This study found that the emulation of the so-called Hindu culture by the Chuktia Bhunjia tribe does not imply their self-attempt to enter into the caste ladder, rather it suggests a process of restructuring their own sociocultural milieu to challenge the perceived backwardness by others. Wherever indigeneity is maintained, it is a silent protest against cultural genocide by the dominant caste group.