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Abstract

The Adivasi people, termed Scheduled Tribes in India, have a lifeworld entwined with nature, land, and resources. Their relationship with the land produces a particular form of lived experience. This interface between land and culture that shapes the body of knowledge is not written or recorded like other practices and traditions. Adivasi/Tribal women play an important role in articulating this knowledge and contributing to its formation. However, this particular lived experience, especially concerning women, has not received the recognition it deserves within the context of mainstream feminism, which has not paid attention to Adivasi/Tribal women as victims of colonial and imperialist oppression. However, the Adivasi/Tribal struggle over land rights in India is also a feminist struggle. Adivasi/Tribal feminism fails to be encapsulated by the colonial lens of the body/earth dichotomy. This paper critically analyzes narratives from the Chotanagpur (Central Plateau of India) and the Northeast region of India, capturing the Adivasi/Tribal women’s worldview and their struggles to save their territory. By exploring the oral history of women-led struggles and movements, this paper argues that the theoretical framework of Adivasi/Tribal feminism emerges organically from Adivasi/Tribal perspectives about land, paving the way for a more comprehensive understanding of their struggles and aspirations.

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