Crisis of Identity of an Excluded,Riparian Dalit Community: An Ethnographic Study of the Jetor(s)

Abstract

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.