Shah, Alpa

DR. ALPA SHAH, Goldsmiths College, London, United Kingdom, was awarded a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship in October 2006 to aid research and writing on 'In the Shadows of the State: Indigenous Politics in Jharkhand, India.' The fellowship resulted in the completion of a monograph which draws on extensive anthropological research in Jharkhand, India, to explore how well-meaning transnational indigenous rights and development discourses can misrepresent and further marginalize people they claim to speak for. The book follows the lives and experiences of adivasis in rural Jharkhand to analyze common claims made at a global level on behalf of indigenous populations. These include: the examination of the promotion of special forms of indigenous governance; the way development takes shape in the name of the poorest; the 'eco-incarceration' of indigenous people through arguments about their love for, and worship of, nature as well as their attachment to their land; and claims to their harboring revolutionary potential. The book argues that there is a 'dark side of indigeneity' that it is well worth highlighting to those who urge scholars to shelve critical scholarship for fear it may weaken the advocacy of promoters of indigenous rights and development. The 'dark side of indigeneity' may show that the local appropriation and experiences of global discourses of indigeneity can maintain a class system that further marginalizes the poorest.