Question

What are the major determinants of tribal identity
I m not satisfied by this answer

Answer 1

There are major changes happening within the tribal societies today which have --~ .

rendered untenable the arbitrarily juxtaposing of the tribal society as the remnant of

the archaic and primitive historical past and the modern society with all the scientific

and technology driven cultures as two opposite ends of a continuum. Beginning with

the colonial rule, which brought western edu.cation, Christianity and the anendant

modern world view, many ofthe tribal communities in the north east India in general

and the Tangkhul in particular have witnessed unprecedented pace of change. In the

post-colonial independent India the pace of change within the tribal society has been

further accelerated owing to the various policies .and programmes adopted by the

government to 'integrate' the tribe with the rest of the society, more specifically. the

'mainstream' society. Of significance in thi§_ context is the government's policy of

positive discrimination, also referred to as the affirmative actions or the reservation -·-- ~-- ·--·----~-...... -·~

poli~i,f~ the Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) in India. This policy

along with other socio-economic and cultural developmental programmes adopted by

the government towards the tribe in India has brought about rapid and far reaching

structural transformations within the tribal societies. One of the most important

impacts of these policies and programmes is the emergence and development of a new

tribal group. This new group of people is broadly referred to as the tribal middle class

basically due to their similar orientations and lifestyles with the middle class of the

non-tribal society.