This volume analyzes the histories of forced relocations of indigenous Adivasi population in colonial and the reasons behind indigenous counter-attacks. Following the tribal migrant narratives in the Narmada Valley, this book illustrates how the colonial and postcolonial commodification of nature, construction of large-scale water projects and forced dislocations have systematically marginalized the Adivasis, subsequently relegating them to a free laboring class; and how forced relocation has led to social transformations of the Adivasis challenging their autonomy and modes of survival. The author argues that forced mobility and colonial modernization or capitalist development are entangled concepts and processes that have manifested within each other and the lives of the ousted people triggering manifold historical and current transformations which have intensely altered their intricate everyday lives to an extent that it becomes difficult to comprehend traditional tribal linkages to culture or nature.

Author Biography

Sutapa Chattopadhyay is Researcher at Maastricht University, Netherlands.