Showcasing Adivasi culture and history: A comparative analysis of ‘tribal’ museums in Gumla and Ranchi

This article examines and compares how the Adivasi are represented in the two largest Tribal Museums of the Indian state of Jharkhand (one in Gumla, established in 2005 by a Belgian missionary, and the other in Ranchi, founded in 2008 by the Jharkhand Tribal Welfare Research Institute). It argues that both museums present a reductive interpretation of Adivasi culture and history. They characterize Adivasi as static remnants from a primitive past, neglecting their cultural diversity, sophistication, religious heterogeneity, and political development. Yet, the missionary museum in Gumla also uses an emancipatory discourse, emphasizing the injustices suffered by tribal communities, as well as their political struggles and achievements (in past and present times), and accordingly grants Adivasi a place in (their own) history, as well as political agency.

Publication year:2018