More on the Adi tribe that was shown in the BBC documentary. It was fascinating to see how their values fit into daily routines. For example, mithuns, a cow/water buffalo, are a living currency for the tribe, they are not milked or slaughtered for meat. The only justified reason for killing these mithuns are as a sacrifice to the spirits, which feature prominently in their beliefs. If the spirits are not appeased, they apparently spread illness. If a tribesman gets ill they go to a shaman. The shaman looks at a leaf which tells them what is wrong and what spirits to engage in a ritual.
While all this is happening, there is a spread of christianity in the adi tribes, which comes as a result of christian missionaries coming to the area at various points in time and helping illnesses get better with massages and simple medicine. As a result, some of the people now follow the religion as it has proven more successful at 'protecting' them. When it comes to ceremonies, young people have started doing different dances and songs because of the influence of Bollywood movies. The one redeeming thing about all this modernisation, is the fact that there is a village council of everyone, who decide on matters, even crime. Changes from the outside world have come at the request of villagers, not outsiders.
When it comes to a design project and analysing this research, the interesting tension comes in this interaction between the tribe and the outsiders. It is decided by the tribespeople, yet it is the fault of outsiders that any modernisation has happened in the first place. What would our society be like if everyone collectively decided on what was given to us and what wasn't?
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