Community Self-Organisation from a Social-Ecological Perspective: ‘Burlang Yatra’ and Revival of Millets in Odisha (India)

Abstract

In this paper, I focus on the revival of an Indigenous community seed festival known locally as Burlang Yatra (‘Indigenous Biodiversity Festival’) in the district of Kandhamal in Odisha (India). This annual event brings together millet farmers to share knowledge and practices, including exchange of Indigenous heirloom seeds. Such community seed festivals remain largely underappreciated (and underexplored). Investigating Burlang Yatra through a social-ecological lens allowed for a greater understanding of its capacity to build and strengthen relationships, adaptation, and responsibility, three key principles that together link the social and the ecological in a dynamic sense. These principles, driven by intergenerational participation and interaction as well as social learning, can be seen as fostering ‘social-ecological memory’ of millet-based biodiverse farming. The festival’s persistence and revival illustrate a form of grassroots self-organising that draws on values of an Indigenous knowledge system. Within a restorative context, it has the capacity to repair and restore cultural and ecological relationships that the community has with their own foods and practices. This paper offers a new understanding of community self-organising from a social-ecological perspective and particularly in a marginalised context as supporting the revitalisation of Indigenous food systems.

Countering Local Disaster Capitalism

“…Similarly, Kutia Kondhs-an Indigenous community in Odisha, India-celebrate the Burland Yatra festival during the post-harvest season in February and March to please the gods of nature in times of climate crisis. The community believes that the agricultural landscape is not simply meant for producing food and supporting livelihoods-it is also central to their belief systems, traditions, and culture (Saxena 2020). Indigenous festivals allow for an understanding of long-standing human-environment interactions, as Indigenous peoples think of human beings and the environment as an interlinked system.…”

Indigenous Knowledge Transfer Among Dusuns and Bajaus in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia: Approaches and Challenges

“…Cultural events have been broadly studied from cultural, social and economic perspectives however not much from has been studied from socio-ecological perspective (Saxena, 2020) like this study did. Indigenous peoples in Kota Belud were constantly involved in cultural events such as weekly tamu, Kaamatan (rice harvest) festival and commemoration of river tagal.…”

“…These cultural events were the source of indigenous knowledge itself, in which indigenous communities gathered and shared information on indigenous knowledge. Provided these events are supported and mobilised collectively by the indigenous peoples, they do not only maintain the practice of indigenous knowledge but also halt the erosion of biodiversity (Saxena, 2020).…”