Tribal Land Alienation, Agricultural Changes and Food Culture Transition in Attappady

Abstract

This article, based on fieldwork, discusses the negative impacts of land alienation suffered by Adivasis in Attappady, a tribal block of Kerala in South India. Experiencing multiple alienations that have fundamentally affected their way of life, agricultural practices and food culture, tribals not only continue to suffer discriminatory treatment by non-tribal settlers, but also by state authorities' restrictions of access to local forests and forest produce. These problems assume added significance as this ecologically important location in the Western Ghats of India is one of the eight 'hottest hotspots' of biological diversity in the world, while the traditional guardians of this environment have been completely disempowered. The article traces abuses of power in land alienation processes, analyses unequal power structures and argues that better appreciation of traditional tribal culture and its ecologically holistic approaches ought to inform policies for local sustainable development. This would help the tribals to safeguard their identity within the constraints of current conditions and enhance the prospects for sustainable preservation of the precious local natural resources and biodiversity.

Labour Migration Within India: Motivations and Social Networks

“…It is well-known that there are significant patterns of rural unemployment and underemployment in various parts of India, including West Bengal (Dutta, 2019), that hunger remains a lurking risk factor (Sharma, 2019) and that various forms of land alienation have been pushing peripheral people into further disadvantage (Edison & Devi, 2019). Regional socio-economic disparity within a huge country such as India and especially economic disparity between India's now 29 states as well as within any specific state have long acted as catalysts of migration.…”

Food, fields and forage: A socio-ecological account of cultural transitions among the Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh in India

“…All the food articles that the subsidised ration shops redistribute under PDS were alien to their TFS. Edison and Devi (2019) and Finnis (2007) also observed comparable transitions among the Adivasis of Attappady in Kerela and the Hill Kolli Malayalis of Tamil Nadu in India. These studies reinforced our findings of how the development policies of the government around food security, including the PDS, result in the drastic transition in TFSs.…”

“…There are extensive records of how the traditional multi-crop regimes viably provide varied and nutritious food along with the much-needed by-products that can be recycled and reused for sustainable ends ( Edison and Devi, 2019 ; Kattides and Lima, 2008 ; Welthungerhilfe, 2016 ). In the recent past, the decline in the TFSs has become a norm rather than an exception.…”

“…With an overwhelming presence of these factors, many indigenous communities that have remained directly dependent on their habitus and natural environment for their food and livelihoods are getting adversely impacted. The drastic modifications in the food systems are also resulting in major nutritional transitions with side effects on the health of the local people as well as on their immediate environments ( Edison and Devi, 2019 ; Kearney, 2010 ; Loring and Gerlach, 2009 ; Schutter, 2017 ). Such shifts are known to produce food system imbalances while simultaneously affecting the health of the communities in the long run ( Loring and Gerlach, 2009 ).…”

Economic Transformations in a Savara Village of Andhra Pradesh: Tamarind to Cashew

“…Further, women do not favour some of these traditional crops now because such grain is only pounded at home and processed manually, which is a cumbersome task performed only by women. Changes in the food preferences of the younger generation are another reason, also observed by Edison and Devi (2019). Further, it was found that many family members are not able to give as much time as required for appropriately undertaking podu in view of other economic pursuits.…”