Adaptation and acculturation: Resettling displaced tribal communities from wildlife sanctuaries in India

Abstract

Tribal population across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, face violence and abuse in the name of conservation that carries a heavy human cost. A report on the eviction of populations from 34 protected areas in Africa made it evident that the Congo DRC, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic of Congo had displaced whole villages leading to conflict and multiple human rights abuses. Recently in India, around 400 families from Amchang wildlife sanctuary in Assam and 78 families from Satkosia wildlife sanctuary in Odisha were forcefully evicted and their houses demolished. The population thus forcefully evicted from wildlife sanctuaries are subjected to disruption of the original settlement, cultural shift and scattered kinship groups. Studies have also highlighted the consequences of displacement on health since it leads to collapses in mutual help in childcare and deteriorates healthcare trends. The present study was conducted among the displaced tribal communities from wildlife sanctuaries in Odisha and Chhattisgarh States in India. The paper analyzes the acculturation process observed among the displaced tribals and the ways in which they adapted themselves into host communities.