Aaron HuqFollow

Abstract

Garo people are a cultural minority group in South Asia (SA), who were previously known as a “tribal group.” In this paper, I define them as indigenous/ethnic minority (I/EM). Indigenous or ethnic minority are categories that SA governments use to legally recognize so called former tribal groups, which continue to bear the problematic connotations of the colonial term “tribe.” Due to one of the significant connotations being “primitive/savage,” I/EM groups like Garo people are not recognized as rational agents. I use Miranda Fricker’s term epistemic injustice (EI) to investigate this issue. In SA societies influenced by colonial and postcolonial productions of knowledge or epistemology, Garo and the broader I/EM epistemologies are marginalized, and thus, EI rises as a result. I argue in this paper that by reinventing Garoness whether through actions or resistance or words, while keeping a part of the traditional identity alive through evolving rituals, Garo people bring agency to their marginalization, decolonizing indigeneity in the process and creating new epistemology that fights the broader epistemic injustice against I/EM groups in South Asia. I provide a historicist analysis of Garo people combating EI from colonial period to today. I analyze both primary and secondary etic sources such as works of colonial officials and contemporary scholars on Garo people. For emic sources, I utilize scholarly works of Garo authors as well as my field research reflections from conversing with Garo villagers in Bangladesh. This project is significant because there are many conflicts regarding indigeneity within the discourse of SA identities, which ultimately reinforces the mainstream “Hindu/Muslim” narrative where I/EM identities or their epistemologies have no place. Looking at the Garo decolonial project of combatting EI, we can see how I/EM groups like Garo people navigate and find their place in this reality.

Advisor

Welsch, Christina

Second Advisor

Schiltz, Elizabeth

Department

History; Philosophy

Disciplines

Asian History | Continental Philosophy | Epistemology | South and Southeast Asian Languages and Societies

Keywords

Colonial History, Decolonial Philosophy, Ethnic Minority, Garo, Gender, Indigenous, Indigenous Decolonial Thought, Indigenous History, Indigenous Philosophy, History & Politics of Identities, Postcolonial History, South Asian Studies, Subaltern Studies.

Publication Date

2024

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2024 Aaron Huq