Tip | Tribal collections in India’s ethnographic & community museums

Museums have through the years been seen as institutions involved in the research, conservation and dissemination of information. India has eighteen Tribal Research and Training Institutes which run fourteen Ethnographic Museums with a combined collection of nearly 30,000 artefacts such as paintings, ornaments, costumes, hunting and agricultural implements, pottery, toys and religious objects; with each museum having collected artefacts from its own area of activity. Viewed collectively, these artefacts present a unique picture of the diversity and cultural richness of Tribal India.

“The Museum of Santal Culture is located in Bishnubati, a Santal village situated 10 kilometers away from Tagore’s Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. The museum is managed by the Bishnubati Adibasi Marshal Sangha, the registered society founded by the villagers. The Santali name of the museum is ‘Santal Arichalidoho-jogao Bakhol’, which means ‘the house for taking care of Santal culture and heritage’. […] The museum helps the children to know the positive aspects of Santal life and to find their cultural identity in the modern world.” – Dr. Boro Baski in Articulate >>

“We are so much more than that. We follow a tradition rich in music, dance and love.” – Author Swarnalatha who runs an NGO that works for the upliftment for people of her Irula community >>

Uravu | Tribal education and customs in Wayanad >>
Photo © Ludwig Pesch
Wayanad song by Kanavu music group >>

“We can do things differently to reinvent growth without pollution. But only if we have the courage to think differently.” – Sunita Narain in Down To Earth >>

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Tribal Research and Training Institutes with Ethnographic museums

More about the publication
Tribal Arts in India >>
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