Highland Odisha: Life and Society Beyond the Coastal World

EDITOR – Uwe Skoda and Biswamoy Pati

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INFORMATION

  • EDITOR : Uwe Skoda and Biswamoy Pati
  • HB ISBN : 978-93-84082-97-0
  • POD ISBN : 978-93-84092-33-7
  • Year : 2017
  • Extent : 280
  • Discount available on checkout
  • Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 working days.

Highland Odisha

HB
₹ 850 . $  . ₤
PB
₹  . $  . ₤
POD
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e-Book
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INFORMATION

  • AUTHOR –
  • HB ISBN : 850
  • PB ISBN :
  • POD ISBN :
  • ISBN – 978-93-84082-97-0
  • Year – 2017
  • Extent: 400 + 40 coloured illustrations
  • 10% discount + free shipping
  • Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 working days.

Studies of Odisha have often been simplistic and condensed to notions of a relatively prosperous, urbanized centre in the plain along the sea vis-à-vis a backward ‘hinterland’. Due to such notions of othering, Odisha beyond the coastal world-the largely Adivasi—populated highlands and ostensible backyard areas in coastal perspectives—has often been relegated to the background of both scholarly and popular imagination. Highland Odisha inverts such othering to draw attention to the highlands of Odisha in the west and south. It is based on fieldwork, participant observation, oral traditions, archival materials, and long-term historical and anthropological research by a range of scholars negotiating this region and its people. Significantly, while examining the less visible and often misrecognized highlands of Odisha, it questions dominant, coastal-centric views and acknowledges a multitude of perspectives on Odisha beyond any simplified dichotomy.
This collection of nine essays covers a range of themes, including social structures, patterns of kinship and relatedness; concepts of food, music or death and their significance related to wider cosmologies; interdependencies among highland communities and the position of migrant farmers between caste and Adivasi society; and processes of resistance and ideas around Nehruvian industrialization projects set up in the supposed ‘wilderness’.

The Editors
Uwe Skoda is Associate Professor in India and South Asia Studies at the Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University. His publications include a co-edited special issue on Contemporary Indigeneity and Religion in India (in International Quarterly in Asian Studies, no. 1-2, 2015) and Dialogues with Gods: Possession in Middle Indian Rituals (2014, co-edited with Tina Otten).
Biswamoy Pati is Associate Professor in Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi. His publications include South Asia from the Margins: Echoes of Orissa, 1800-2000 (2012) and Balgangadhar Tilak: Popular Readings (2011, edited).

Studies of Odisha have often been simplistic and condensed to notions of a relatively prosperous, urbanized centre in the plain along the sea vis-à-vis a backward ‘hinterland’. Due to such notions of othering, Odisha beyond the coastal world-the largely Adivasi—populated highlands and ostensible backyard areas in coastal perspectives—has often been relegated to the background of both scholarly and popular imagination. Highland Odisha inverts such othering to draw attention to the highlands of Odisha in the west and south. It is based on fieldwork, participant observation, oral traditions, archival materials, and long-term historical and anthropological research by a range of scholars negotiating this region and its people. Significantly, while examining the less visible and often misrecognized highlands of Odisha, it questions dominant, coastal-centric views and acknowledges a multitude of perspectives on Odisha beyond any simplified dichotomy.
This collection of nine essays covers a range of themes, including social structures, patterns of kinship and relatedness; concepts of food, music or death and their significance related to wider cosmologies; interdependencies among highland communities and the position of migrant farmers between caste and Adivasi society; and processes of resistance and ideas around Nehruvian industrialization projects set up in the supposed ‘wilderness’.

The Editors
Uwe Skoda is Associate Professor in India and South Asia Studies at the Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University. His publications include a co-edited special issue on Contemporary Indigeneity and Religion in India (in International Quarterly in Asian Studies, no. 1-2, 2015) and Dialogues with Gods: Possession in Middle Indian Rituals (2014, co-edited with Tina Otten).
Biswamoy Pati is Associate Professor in Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi. His publications include South Asia from the Margins: Echoes of Orissa, 1800-2000 (2012) and Balgangadhar Tilak: Popular Readings (2011, edited).

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface Ix
Introduction—Highland Odisha: Life And Society Beyond The Coastal World Uwe Skoda And Biswamoy Pati 1-22
Survival, Interrogation And Contests: Tribal Resistance In Nineteenth-Century Odisha Biswamoy Pati 23-48
Tribal Social Structure In Odisha Georg Pfeffer 49-70
Feeding, Sharing And Devouring: Alimentary Rituals And Cosmology In Highland Odisha, India Peter Berger 71-106
On Death And The Ho’s Relationship With Their Dead Eva Reichel 107-134
‘Juniors’, ‘Exploiters’, ‘Brokers’ And ‘Shamans’: A Holistic View On The Dombo Community In The Highlands Of Odisha Roland Hardenberg 135-174
Thea-Phony In Western Odisha Lidia Guzy 175-198
Pioneers Of The Plough: Aghria-Peasants In North-Western Odisha In An Anthro-Historical Perspective Uwe Skoda 199-240
A Steel Town In The ‘Wilderness’: Industry, State And Empire In Western Odisha 241-264
Christian Strümpell Notes On Editors And Contributors 265-266
Index 267-271