Disappearing Peoples? Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asia



Barbara Bower and Barbara Rose Johnston, eds.

2007

Left Coast Press

On May 2, 2008 the cyclone Nargis crashed into Myanmar, killing an estimated 78,000 people and inundating countless acres of land. A week later, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck Wenchuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. These two events brought the world’s attention to South and Central Asia for a brief moment, shinning for an instant the world’s attention on the plight of the indigenous peoples of this area. Although the media’s focus on the conditions and issues of these peoples was brief, their plights continue. In fact, the condition of many of these indigenous peoples existed long before these two traumatic events. As the book Disappearing Peoples? Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asiaclearly points out, most of the current issues impacting indigenous peoples in South and Central Asia stem not from natural disasters, but from processes associated with globalization and its sister processes of imperialism and capitalism.



Today, no place is beneath the radar or beyond the reach of the sweeping force of globalization. No part of the planet can escape the impact of the way one set of peoples – typically characterized as being in the “developed” world – use the planet, its resources, and its people to fulfill a cultural mandate of endless growth, using their power and influence to conquer, redeem, and transform the world and its people. The formerly isolated regions of the world are now part of the global mainstream, as illustrated by a quick glance at the headlines in our daily newspapers featuring the issues, problems, and conditions in once-distant lands: Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Kashmir, and Tibet. (p. 9)



It is within these countries that the issues impacting local indigenous peoples are covered in the outstanding edited volume by Barbara Brower and Barbara Rose Johnston. In this volume the authors not only explore some of the cultural diversity of the South and Central Asian region, but they also outline the history and many of the current conditions that threaten indigenous peoples and other cultural minorities. Furthermore, and to some extent the highlight of the book, are the sections examining some of the many ways that indigenous people are responding to such threats in their struggle for sovereignty, self-determination, and/or survival. Indigenous peoples or minority groups discussed in the book are: the Raika of Rajasthan, the Peripatetics of South Asia, the Bhils of India, the Tharu of Nepal, the Dom of Pakistan, the indigenous peoples of the Kashmir Himalayas, the Hazara of Afghanistan, the Wakhi and Kirghiz of the Pamirian Knot, the Badakshani of Tajikistan, the Lezghi of the Caucasus Mountains, the people of Tibet, and the Minhe Mangghuer of China.



Again, as mentioned in the beginning, the key theme that runs throughout Disappearing Peoples? Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asiais that the processes associated with globalization are having a critical effect on indigenous peoples. Part of the globalizing process is the incorporation of Western systems of law, governance, justice, ownership, and the like by countries and states formally free of these laws. Commonly associated with imperialism, these processes operate today with profound effect on the globalizing economies and governments in South and Central Asia. Economic and political influence is exercised, for example, by global capital manifest in multinational trade agreements and their consequent impacts on diverse systems of survival and production. Economic links among countries become conduits for ideas and values, similar to how the historic Silk Road once operated connecting eastern Europe to Western Asia. The pervasiveness and force of contemporary processes of world trade, however, leaves little room for the gradual accommodation of indigenous peoples with differing lifeways in these regions.



Ideal for an undergraduate class or graduate seminar, this book provides the perfect text for leading students through several varying case studies of contemporary impacts to indigenous peoples. Not only is the book culturally encompassing, but it is also geographically and ecologically diverse. As such, it should also be considered essential reading for anyone working in, or interested about, South and Central Asia and its indigenous peoples. Furthermore, each case study includes a section entitled “Food For Thought.” These sections are handy for forming the most critical question of the moment: What can we, or I, do? Providing resources, websites, and organizations involved, these sections complete each case study and makes Disappearing Peoples? Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Minorities in South and Central Asiaan exceptional educational resource.

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