ECSAS 2023 – Turin 26-29 July

Through the Lens of an Adivasi: Bishop Dr Nirmal Minz (1927-2021)

Presenter

Dasgupta Sangeeta - Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for Historical Studies, New Delhi, India

Panel

38 – Adivasis and Adivasi Studies

Abstract

 This presentation will draw upon the private papers of one of the most prominent public intellectuals of Jharkhand in postcolonial times, Bishop Dr Nirmal Minz – theologian, priest, anthropologist, educationist and political activist. While discussing Adivasi experiences and their modes of negotiation with everyday challenges, Minz provides narratives of Adivasi history and resistance, and the relationship of Adivasis with the Indian state and its people. Such voices, I argue, help challenge the silences of the colonial archive, and rethink the production of knowledge about Adivasis in colonial and postcolonial times. These voices from the margins of mainstream India reveal a different history of struggle for justice, dignity, and human rights.