THE THEME AND THE CONCEPT NOTE
ANTHROPOLOGY AND BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN INDIA: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
The discipline of anthropology has maintained its central focus on holistic study of alterity or differences and thereby consolidated its disciplinary value. Further, all through the history of the discipline of anthropology, understanding the relationship between biological, linguistic and cultural diversity received due attention in different ways. The specialists of the four branches of anthropology - archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology and socio-cultural anthropology have amply demonstrated the common interest in the study of biocultural diversity, and also the value of multiple disciplinary roots for its study.
Human life on this planet has brought about unfathomable changes and today we live in a world where we can no longer take such diversity for granted. Five years ago, the word ‘anthropocene’ was voted upon as a term for the current geological epoch recognizing the steady loss of biocultural diversity on this planet brought forth by specific human actions undertaken in the name of progress. Further, the latest pandemic has pushed us to inquire into the assumed limits and boundaries that humans have established with other life forms. That we are not sole actors, or for that matter the most powerful, evolved actors on the scene, but a part of the larger assemblage of species and non-humans that constitute the environment, is becoming clear. There are calls to shift focus from using other life forms as mere substrates to acknowledging them as active agents in making of the world (s). There is a sense of urgency among policy-makers and researchers to undertake collaborative and holistic perspectives to understand, let alone manage, the crisis.
A retrospect and prospect relating to the engagement of the discipline with biocultural diversity is to discourse on both opportunities and challenges in the current scenario. Opportunities are in terms of sharing with the world, the insights drawn from ‘indigeneous’ communities. The challenges are many and varied. One is related to extending our studies to all human communities, indigenous or otherwise. The other challenges are: firstly, of identifying and laying out alternate modes of existence, given that much of diversity and the old ways of life have been lost or modified due to larger homogenising processes. Secondly, devising new methodologies to carry out ethnographic studies in crisis ridden, entangled environments. The efficacy of sensory, multispecies, and multi-sited ethnographic methods are to be evaluated. Traditional notions of divisions between natural and human sciences need to be rethought or at least reframed. These can redefine the limits and boundaries of anthropology as a discipline of humans. These are some of the questions to be deliberated upon.
India is hailed as home to diverse ecologies and it has a rich heritage of biocultural diversity. However, the understanding of the same reflects colonial legacy, lack of a synthesis of biological and socio-cultural aspects, ambiguity in methodology, and absence of an overarching framework. Further, institutional separation of the realms of biological and cultural diversity needs to be re-examined. For instance, the People of India project by the Anthropological Survey of India identified 4635 diverse cultural communities in the country as of 1992. Faunal and floral surveys continue to be undertaken by the Zoological and Botanical Survey of India. Besides, today India is home to biological diversity considered ‘invasive’ and cultural diversity considered as ‘refugees’ in popular discourse. This invites scholars to deliberate and better inform the discourse on such categories. Also, rather than simply considering the effects of biology/ecology on culture or those of culture on biological development and ecology in isolation, we need to consider the bidirectional and complex nature of the interplay of evolution and culture. Towards this end, insights from indigenous knowledge systems, language, resource management, political economy, gender, health, genetics, evolutionary linkages and ancestry etc., are all essential. There is an urgent need to bring together the various sub disciplines within anthropology to explore the interrelations of humans, other life forms and the environment as anthropocene implicitly suggests. Study of biocultural diversity requires novel concepts and tools.
Given these opportunities and challenges, we look forward to effecting the aforementioned synthesis through biocultural approaches. Looking ahead, the prospects are many and the rich diversity of the country should afford us the possibility to establish linkages between biodiversity and cultural diversity, their interaction and interplay which can further throw light on the imbrication of humans, other-than-humans and ecology. Through this conference we look forward to understanding ‘biocultural diversity’ as both a reality to live with and also a concept to think with.
Thematic clusters
The following are some of the thematic clusters identified for the congress. The scholars intending to participate by way of paper presentation, organization of symposium, round table, open talk etc., however, may choose any other theme which has not been listed here but is broadly related to the theme.
Anthropological approaches and methods towards biocultural diversity
Global Health and well being
Ecological Anthropology: Indigenous Knowledge
Anthropology of Policy
Biocultural evolution and adaptation
Man-Nature relationships, health, disease and pandemics
Anthropological Genetics
Paleoanthropology
Gender and biocultural diversity
Development and biocultural diversity
Heritage, Museums and Tourism
Conservation and sustainability
Social/civil movements
Political economy and biocultural diversity
Urbanisation, Heritage and biocultural diversity
Legal frameworks and biocultural diversity
Language, knowledge and biocultural diversity
Prehistoric anthropology
Corporate environmental responsibility
Borderscapes and biocultural diversity