Fighting Eviction: Tribal Land Rights and Research-in-Action

This book discusses two development themes: the land and housing rights of India’s Adivasi, and methods for engaging marginalized people in action research. It focuses on a concrete problem –enclosure and eviction of the Katkari, a primitive forest tribe, from their rural hamlets on the plains of Maharashtra. The book traces the evolving relationship between Adivasi and caste-based agrarian societies in modern India, and the transformation of the Katkari into bonded workers in brick kilns and charcoal operations, serving the urban and industrial interests of Greater Mumbai. Using rigorous and participatory methods adapted from different disciplines and theoretical perspectives it also recounts Katkari efforts to exercise their rights and illustrates what it means to do research ‘with’ people rather than ‘on’ people. The book will appeal to development practitioners and graduate students of Sociology, Anthropology, Development Studies and Tribal Studies.