“We’ve Had Enough of Being Research Subjects!”

Regina Hansda is a researcher in human geography at the University of Newcastle in the UK. She is a member of India’s indigenous Santal community. At the international conference on ‘Food Sovereignty and Indigenous Food Systems’, which recently took place in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar and was organised by Living Farms (one of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung’s project partners), she spoke with Antje Stiebitz about indigenous agriculture, religion and the role of women.

Antje Stiebitz: India’s indigenous communities have to balance their traditions with the modern living standards of the majority society. What pressures do the Adivasi (a collective term for India’s indigenous peoples) have to face?

Regina Hansda: The aggressive neoliberal agenda currently being pursued is causing considerable anxiety. Present food production and agricultural methods, such as the expansion of monocultures, are not compatible with the realities and needs of local communities. I just visited a district close to the town of Muniguda, which is in the eastern state of Odisha. This is an area that is mainly home to Adivasi but also to gigantic cotton and eucalyptus plantations, i.e. cash crops. These commercial plants cannot be eaten by the local farmers and, to make matters worse, they strip the soil of its nutrients. Another issue facing the Adivasi is that following their conversion by Christian missionaries during colonial rule, radical Hindu nationalists are now insisting that the Adivasi were originally Hindus, but this is not true. In spite of this, they are now behaving just like the missionaries of the past. 

Your first name is Regina. Were you converted to Christianity by Christian missionaries?

Yes, I am a Christian. My grandfather was a Christian, as well as my mother. But now I’m beginning to strongly question this identity. When the British built the railway network, they created small jobs and my father, like many indigenous people, found a job on the railway. As a result, our family moved away from our rural community and we stopped eating our traditional food and speaking our language. As a child, I gradually recognised that there was a certain shame attached to our food: whenever my mother brought some traditional food home, she always ate it in secret. Religion also plays a role here. Around half of the Adivasi converted to Christianity. Now the Hindus want to convert us to Hinduism. There are also others who are animists and worship nature. The Hindus say, “Don’t eat beef, don’t eat meat!”. The Christians tell us, “Don’t worship false gods!” Of course, these religious differences lead to tension.

How did indigenous people end up being displaced? Aren’t they able to assert their land rights?

I recently visited the city of Ranchi in the state of Jharkhand. I was expecting to see mainly indigenous people living there. But when I arrived, I mostly saw shopping centres, and I asked myself, “Where are the indigenous people?” They were working as rickshaw drivers and doing other similar jobs. This land should be protected territory. I also asked myself how the Adivasi could lose land that once belonged to them. Some indigenous people were conned, others were taken in by modern-day life: they sold their land because they hoped to one day be able to partake in this wealth.

Indigenous women gather in a village in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Photo: Antje Stiebitz

Are the Adivasi being forced to partake in modern life?

That is the crucial question: am I creating conditions that leave no other option? Or are people gradually choosing to join in? They are being pushed as well as pulled, and we have a tendency to imitate the ‘superior’ culture. That’s because the Indian education system teaches us that our culture is inferior. Once you have that idea in your head, it’s hard to go back.

The Church also had little respect for the indigenous way of life. How do you view the impact that Christian missionaries had?

In my home, everyone is quite religious. I’m the only one who is critical of the Church. I’m conscious of the fact that the Church made it possible for me to study, but at the same time I cannot say that I fully agree with what the Church is doing. They undermined my culture.

Through its mission, the Church’s main objective was also to pursue its own interests…...

That’s exactly what I’m trying to explain to my family. Although I also understand their point of view. When I was four months old, my mother was widowed. She was living in a village, could neither read nor write and had five daughters. The support that she received from the Church helped her enormously.

Indigenous communities are frequently described as being particularly egalitarian when it comes to the issue of gender. Is this true?

If you compare the balance between the sexes in indigenous communities with other communities in India, it’s true that women here are relatively equal. But even in our communities, women can still be punished, for example when they lay claim to land. That has been the experience in my family. There is no equality in our communities and we need to ask these difficult questions. There is little point in discussing food security if we do not question the inequalities that exist in peoples’ homes.

You yourself belong to the Santal ethnic group. Do you feel this helps you in your work?

Becoming an academic was a conscious choice. I would like to see indigenous people become involved in knowledge creation. We’ve had enough of being the subject of everyone else’s research! But at the same time, I have to accept that accusations may come from within. In my view, it is crucial that our communities are able to determine how we live. That’s where I would like to see change.