Every year on August 9, people in many countries organize events to celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Ekta Parishad, an organization in India’s Tamil Nadu state, convened a celebration in the city of Madurai on Monday the 10th that included Paliyan and Kadar people from the Anaimalai… Continue reading…
The Kadar living in the Anapantham Colony had to move to another location, Sasthanpoovam, nearly 10 years ago when their colony was nearly destroyed by landslides. A mother and a child had been killed in the tragedy. By 2010, they had moved to temporary shelters in the new community and,… Continue reading…
Kerala tries to include its citizens in decision-making as a way of strengthening local communities, but it has not succeeded as far as the Kadar are concerned. The Indian state’s Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has made few attempts to integrate its plans for power generation with the culture of… Continue reading…
The National Geographic announcement on its website last week of the supposed discovery in eastern Honduras of a mythical “lost city” received worldwide publicity. The announcement caught the attention of scholars who decided to debunk the claims of “discovery” and “lost civilization.” The media appeared, to the scholars, to sensationalize… Continue reading…
In December 2006 the government of India passed landmark legislation that recognized the rights of traditional societies to continue to subsist in the forests. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, usually referred to simply as the Forest Rights Act of 2006, came into… Continue reading…
While involvement by the Kadar in wildlife and forest management has been well publicized, a recent journal article gives details about the value of the forest products they gather. The article, published online by Jyotsna Krishnakumar and four of her colleagues, discusses the need for better management of the non-timber… Continue reading…
While national elections in India made headlines worldwide in recent weeks, a Kadar hamlet decided to boycott the polls in Kerala to make their own statement. An article in The Hindu explained their reasoning. The various candidates for office in the state have not clarified their positions on the controversial… Continue reading…
Prince Charles vacationed in India’s Kerala state last week, and on Tuesday he drove into the mountains to visit waterfalls on the Chalakudy River and the nearby Vazhachal Forest. He showed a lot of interest in the research being carried on in that forest, where he met some Kadar employees… Continue reading…
The four peaceful South Indian foraging societies included in this website have similar beliefs that tend to inhibit conflicts, and they have comparable techniques for resolving them when they do occur. Out of the 18 distinct foraging societies in South India, six have been extensively studied by anthropologists, and four—the… Continue reading…
The Kadar workers in the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve were singled out last week as one of the key reasons for the nature sanctuary’s recognition as one of India’s best protected natural areas. The reserve, located in the mountains of eastern Kerala state in southern India, has been accorded top honors… Continue reading…
