Author: Bruce Bonta
Yanadi Help Protect Turtles
The Yanadi of coastal Andhra Pradesh are monitoring the nests of the ocean-dwelling olive ridley turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs. The people are hoping their efforts will help protect the species from declining. A news story in The Hindu at the beginning of last week indicated that wildlife authorities are directing the […]
The Kadar Confront Another Hydropower Dam
Inspired by their success over the years in stopping the construction of a big hydroelectric project in Kerala, the Kadar have decided to contest the construction of another dam on a different river in the state. A post on an Indian environmental blog on October 20 provided some details of the latest attack by the […]
Catholicism on Tristan
The world’s most remote Roman Catholic parish, located on Tristan da Cunha, has no priest and only 42 members but it appears to be thriving anyway. At least that is one of the conclusions in an article published on November 6 on the website of the prominent American Catholic news analysis and opinion magazine, America. […]
Semai Strategies for Protecting their Lands
A group of Semai residents in Malaysia’s Perak State are continuing a legal struggle against two developers who are seeking to construct a hydroelectric dam on a river in their ancestral territory. A Malaysian news report of November 3 brought the controversy, which has been covered in the news over the last several years, up […]
West Bengal Leaders Threaten the Lepchas
Political machinations in India’s West Bengal state are threatening the Lepchas, or so they feel, and they are responding, characteristically, with peaceful protests. The Telegraph, a major Indian newspaper, described the dispute on Wednesday last week. The issue revolves around the overall management of the Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board (MLLDB), which Mamata Banerjee, Chief […]
Games Played by the Paliyans
With so much focus in the media lately on the continuing grim news about the pandemic, it is good to read about peaceful people such as the Paliyans who thrive on having fun. On Thursday last week, S. Ramarajan posted in his blog a description of six different games that are—or at least used to […]
The Batek Flee the Pandemic
Last year, the Batek village of Kuala Koh became infected with a mysterious illness that ultimately killed 15 villagers and hospitalized over 100 others. The mystery illness turned out to be measles. Over a year after the height of that epidemic, the question for today is how are the people of the village reacting to […]
Paliyans Given Government Assistance in India
Government officials have recently gone out of their way to be friendly and helpful to the residents of a Paliyan village in the forest of South India. A news story in The Hindu on October 5 provided details. The setting for the story is the village of Kalaimaan Nagar, located near the Karuppanadhi Dam in […]
Laughing with the Batek
The Batek firmly oppose laughter yet they sometimes laugh together anyway, feeling guilty about engaging in the forbidden activity. Their prohibition against laughing is an important part of a complex of beliefs regarding the natural and supernatural agents that surround them in their Malaysian forest homes. Alice Rudge, an anthropologist who is employed by the […]
Radio Programs to Foster Spoken Lepcha
A community radio station in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal announced last week that it will begin broadcasting programs in the Lepcha language as soon as some Lepcha speakers can be trained in radio journalism. According to a news report, the Mayal Lyang Lepcha Development Board (MLLDB) is working with Salesian Radio at the […]
