Within the context of indigenous ethnographic studies, this article engages with the question of ethnic identity and socio-economic life of the Jetor(s), a hitherto unrecognized, semi-nomadic, riparian, forestine, endogamous group dwelling on the banks of Kangsabati and Subarnarekha in Jungle Mahal, West Bengal, India. It is evident from the study that the Jetors are subjected to the experiences of untouchability, regression, humiliation, discrimination, lack of rudimentary education, dispossession of land, entrapment in vicious cycle, etc. If these be the markers for being a ‘Dalit’, the Jetors more than qualify for the denomination. The study supports the view that after independence, many communities were recategorized as De-notified Tribes, and no less than seven censuses were conducted, but the Jetors have remained sidelined. Least ‘organized’, extremely deprived and averse to the denomination ‘Jetor/Jatord’ on account of social stigma, they are still living a socially hyphenated life and are facing excruciating problems of identity.
AcharyaI., & RoyS. (2024). Sexual politics in select DNT autobiographies: A study. Contemporary Voice of Dalit. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X241253640
2.
AiyappanA. (1943). Iravas and culture change: Bulletin of the Madras government Museum. Government Press.
3.
AmbedkarB. R. (1948). The untouchables, who were they and why they became untouchables?Amrit Book Company.
4.
AmbedkarB. R. (1990). Waiting for a visa. https://franpritchett.com/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html
5.
AmbedkarB. R. (2020). Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and speeches. Ambedkar Foundation. (First published in 1979 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India)
6.
BroughJ. (1959). The tripartite ideology of the Indo-Europeans: An experiment in method. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 22(1), 69–85. https://doi.org.10.1017/S0041977X00076138
7.
CháirezG. J. (2014). Touching space: Ambedkar on the spatial features of untouchability. Contemporary South Asia, 22(1), 37–50. https//doi.org.10.1080/09584935.2013.870978
8.
ChannaS. M., & MancherJ. P. (2013). Life as a Dalit: Views from the bottom on Caste in India. Ethnic and Racial Studies. Advance online publication. https//doi.org.10.1080/01419870.2021.1924393
9.
ChristopherS. (2020). ‘Scheduled Tribe Dalit’ and the recognition of tribal casteism. Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 6(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394481120945824
10.
Das GuptaS. (2011). Adivasis and the raj: Socio-economic transition of the Hos, 1820–1932. Orient BlackSwan.
11.
DeN. (2017). Jetor: Jongolmahaler Agyanto Antyajo (Jetor: Unknown, Lowborn Community of Jangal Mahal).
12.
GhoshB. (1957). Paschimbonger sanskriti (Culture of Bengal). Jai Gyan Publishing House.
13.
GuhaA. (2016). How the Lodhas became criminal or meeting of the past and the present. The Eastern Anthropologist, 69(1), 71–88.
14.
GuhaA. (2023). Glimpses from the anthropological Odyssey of B. R. Ambedkar through the caste system in India. Contemporary Voice of Dalit. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455328X231182806
15.
GuruG. (2004). Dalit cultural movement and dialectics of Dalit politics in Maharashtra. Vikas Adhyan Kendra.
16.
IslamS. M. (2019). Sri Chaitanya O Lok Sanskriti. Bangiya Sahitya Samsad.
17.
KarmakarR. (2017). Dalai Lama: Alright to have meat of dead animals, not those slaughtered. Hindustan Times. Retrieved, 7April2017, from https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/dalai-lama-alright-to-have-meat-of-dead-animals-not-those-slaughtered/story-LfTDgXxkRO8iDyPHClDyVJ.html
18.
KosambiD. D. (1956). An introduction to the study of Indian History. Popular Prakashan.
19.
KumarA. (2020). B. R. Ambedkar on caste and land relations in India. Review of Agrarian Studies, 10(1), 37–56.
20.
KumarS., PrasadA., & JodhkaS. S. (2002). Determinants of social mobility in India. Economic & Political Weekly, 37(29), 2983–2987. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412376
21.
LincolnB. (1981). The lord of the dead. History of Religions, 20(3), 224–241. https://www.jstor.org/stable/
22.
PatelA. K. (2022). Spatial inequality and untouchability: Ambedkar’s gaze on caste and space in Hindu villages. Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 7(2), 186–198. http://doi.org//10.1177//23944811221075441
23.
Pechilis. (2019). Review of the book Bhakti and power: Debating India’s religion of the heart, edited by J. S. Hawley, C. L. Novetzke, & S. Sharma. Religions of South Asia, 17(2), 226–229. http://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.26588
24.
PiliavskyA. (2015). The ‘criminal tribe’ in India before the British. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57(2), 323–354. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00104175/15000055
25.
RajA. (2019). Introduction. InRevisiting indigenous identity in Santal folktales: A critical study (pp. 1–6). Authors Press.
26.
RamanujanA. K. (Ed.). (1991). Folktales from India: A selection of oral tales from twenty-two languages. Pantheon Books.
27.
RaoS. (1966). The framing of India’s Constitution. IIPA.
28.
SamuelV. T. (1973). One caste, one religion and one god for man: A study of Sree Narayana Guru (1854-1928) of Kerala. Sterling.
29.
SharmaA. N., & JainM. (2004). The denotified (ex-criminal) Kuchbandiyas of Shahgarh. Sarup and Sons.
30.
TagoreR. N. (2008). The religion of the forest. In Creative unity: The English writings of Rabindranath Tagore (vol. 2, pp. 511–519). Sahitya Akademi.
31.
TuckerB. (1923). The criminal tribes of India. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 71(3661), 158–166.
