Abstract: Jharkhand (India) is a multilingual and a multicultural state with as many as 32 notified tribes. Each of these tribes has distinct languages of their own. Apart from the speakers of tribal languages there are speakers of link languages such as Panch Pargania, Khortha and Nagpuri and there are speakers of regional languages such as Oriya, Bangla, Urdu and Hindi. However, in this paper my attempts to show how the use of dominant language (Hindi) in education for tribal children puts a negative impact in their academic performance. With supporting evidences it also explains how mother tongue education can lead to better learning output and literacy level of the tribal children in the State. Moreover, the rich indigenous knowledge of the tribal society also needs to be documented and preserved. This can be possible only if make efforts to preserve the endangered tribal languages. And for people to understand and gain this precious knowledge they should be taught in their own language.

Abstract: The invitation of the Race, Ethnicity, Indigenous Peoples and Politics workshop at the 87th Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science invited political scientists to “explore Indigenization as an emancipator process within a colonial institution that has liberatory and educative possibilities”. At the same time, however, the workshop invitation recognized that there was no agreed upon understanding of what constituted “indigenization”. This paper will attempt to clarify this area of study in political science. It will outline the different meanings of indigenization and raise questions about how their acceptance will influence the discipline. There will be an explanation of why the modern university is perceived to be a “colonial institution”, and how indigenization is being theorized as “an emancipator process” that can result in aboriginal liberation and educational improvements. The paper will also evaluate the evidence that is used to support arguments for university indigenization and raise questions about the validity of alternate viewpoints.

Paper / Communication