Yeh Toh Ulto Hi Ho Gayo! Juxtaposing Educational Discourse on Forests and Conservation with Everyday Discourses of Adivasi Communities of Central India

Researchers often point out a wide rift between school culture and students’ home culture, especially for Adivasi students whose culture, language and knowledge systems are played down by the mainstream discourse. We believe that such deficit perspectives must be countered to work towards an equal and just society. For this purpose, in this study, we explored the funds of knowledge of Adivasi communities of Central India with regard to forests and conservation. We also examined school textbooks from the standpoint of these communities to understand how connected or disconnected they are to the life-worlds of Adivasi students. The study adopted a participatory design and drew upon the principles of critical ethnography. For data collection, we used a strategic combination of ethnographic observations, informal interactions, focus group discussions, personal interviews and field notes. The findings indicate a strong need for developing learning material that is contextually relevant, meaningful and transformative for students.