Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Impact of Globalization on Socio-Cultural Identities of Tribal Communities of North East India

Nowadays very often the issues related to Globalization have occupied the discussions between scholars, theorists, researchers, etc. Globalization though it has its impact on economy of a country particularly, yet it has parallel and equal affect on socio-cultural aspects of any group worldwide. The significantly alarming fact regarding the socio-cultural identity of basically the third world countries is the main area of concern for the stakeholders in the last and present century. The most striking and disturbing impact of globalization has been on the socio-cultural identities of basically the ethnic and indigenous tribal communities of the world, particularly India, a country rich in culture and tradition. It has been a threat to all those tribal communities of North Eastern part of India to be very specific, as it carries with it a significant characteristic and that is cultural sameness or universalism. It plays a negative role in annihilation of cultural identities and extinction of their richness in indigenous knowledge by its cultural hegemony and a powerful weapon of language i.e. English. It even contributes to a drastic change in the social structure including art, culture, literature, folklores, and dance forms of those groups by incorporating global trends sponsored by Western states. The revolutionary change in communication technology has undoubtedly brought the people together under one single umbrella, yet at the same time it causes fears about loss of cultural identity of those groups. At some stages it undermines the very foundation of the existence and livelihood of those groups.

By Sasanka Dhaval Saikia

J.D.S.G. College, Bokakhat

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