SHILLONG, Sep 21: Noted anthropologist Prof. BG Karlsson of Stockholm University has exhorted the indigenous people to preserve and appreciate their identity.
Prof. Karlsson was part of an international panel discussion organised by the Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU), Shillong, on ‘Crossing paths: reflections on three decades of research on indigenous issues’.
It is pertinent to note that Prof. Karlsson is the author of Unruly Hills: A Political Ecology of India’s Northeast (Berghahn Book, 2011) and Leaving the Land: Indigenous Migration and Affective Labour in India (Cambridge University Press, 2019, co-authored with Dolly Kikon), among others.
“During the programme, Prof. Karlsson presented a journey of his work on indigenous issues, with particular focus on the politics of ethnicity and nature in Northeast India among the Rabhas in Duars/North Bengal, communities in Meghalaya, indigenous migrants from Northeast India to metropolitan cities in the south and indigenous foodways in Eastern Himalayas,” a statement in this regard said.
Chancellor of MLCU Dr Glenn C Kharkongor, in his address, highlighted the intersections of biodiversity and culture among indigenous communities, and the increasing objectification of natural and cultural treasures.
“The Shillong Times Editor Patricia Mukhim, on the other hand, raised pertinent questions relating to indigenous people, the sustainability of food production in Meghalaya and the empowerment of indigenous migrants as they venture out to work in cities across the country,” the statement said.