‘Debating Tribe and Nation: Hutton, Thakkar, Ambedkar and Elwin (1920-1964)’ a talk by Mr. Saagar Tewari at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 9th June 2015

Time : 3:00 pm Add to Calendar 09/06/2015 15:00 09/06/2015 16:30 Asia/Kolkata ‘Debating Tribe and Nation: Hutton, Thakkar, Ambedkar and Elwin (1920-1964)’ a talk by Mr. Saagar Tewari Event Page : http://www.delhievents.com/2015/06/debating-tribe-and-nation-hutton.html Seminar Room, 1st Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011 DD/MM/YYYY

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Venue : Seminar Room, 1st Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
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Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to the Weekly Seminar on ‘Debating Tribe and Nation: Hutton, Thakkar, Ambedkar and Elwin (1920-1964)’ by Mr. Saagar Tewari, Independent Researcher, New Delhi.

Abstract:
For too long now, the intellectual history of the late colonial discourse on tribal populations has been trapped within the binary limits of the ‘Protection’ versus ‘Assimilation’ debate. In contrast, this paper charts an alternative history of this discourse by showing that its tone and tenor were set not by Verrier Elwin and G.S. Ghurye, as has often been claimed, but by frontier administrators such as J.H. Hutton. These debates were linked to the discussion around the provisions for ‘excluded’ and ‘partially excluded’ areas under the Government of India Act, 1935, but were also influenced by prevailing trends in British Anthropology which first emerged around the time of the First World War.   By charting these discussions prior to and following Indian independence, the speaker emphasizes that the oft-quoted ‘Ghurye-Elwin’ debate is a serious historical misnomer. Instead, the debates featured many key figures and without analyzing them, it is almost impossible to theorize the ‘bridge’ which connects the late colonial to the post-colonial period as far as the discourse on the Indian tribal population is concerned.

Speaker:
Mr. Saagar Tewari studied history at Hindu College, University of Delhi and has did an integrated M.PhiI/Ph.D. programme at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.  He submitted his doctoral thesis titled ‘Tribe and Development:  Nation-Making in Bastar, Central India (1930s-1980s)’ last year.

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