Abstract

 This paper aims at providing a general overview of the strategies used by women belonging to the adivasi/indigenous communities of contemporary Jharkhand, India, in order to advocate their rights. Tracking the heterogenous forms of discrimination faced by Santal, Munda, Oraon and Ho women (i.e. domestic violence, witch hunts, human trafficking), the paper frames the different types of approaches used to achieve women’s emancipation: these include adivasi and non-adivasi activists and NGO workers that operate at a local and supra-local level through awareness raising programmes, projects of social and economic empowerment as well as through the formation of adivasi women’s groups and collectives. In this regard, I shall explore the emergence of the different shades of women’s movements, while questioning the very concept of movement and creating space for further debates on indigenous women-related issues.