CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference on Indigenous/Tribal Peoples' "Research Methodology" and Literature

7-9 August 2025

The history of academic knowledge-making has oftentimes been a history of exclusion, of voices deemed marginal, of knowledge considered unscientific, of communities seen as lacking rather than being abundant. In the palimpsest of global scholarship, Indigenous and tribal peoples have been written into footnotes, case studies, and appendices, even as their philosophies, cosmologies, and epistemic lineages stretch across millennia. What constitutes a method? Who names evidence? And how do we speak of knowledge in cultures where the body remembers what books refuse to record?

Indigenous/Tribal communities across India and the world have, for generations, been carrying forward their epistemologies that are not merely descriptive but relational, intimately tied to life, to language, to land, and to community. Their knowledge traditions are tactile, embodied, and lived. But the academic eye, trained on the grids of modernity, often fails to see this. It fails to see that a sacred grove is a school, that a seed can be an archive, and that a story is not only a metaphor, but a method. What has been called research has been seen, in the words of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, to be a "dirty" word in the vocabulary of Indigenous/Tribal people.

But Indigenous/Tribal methodologies persist and challenge the mainstream discourse. They resist and rupture the archive and whisper from the margins. They unsettle the smooth narratives of academic legitimacy. The conference does not seek to merely add Indigenous/Tribal methods to the existing academic toolbox. Instead, it asks a more difficult question: What if the toolbox itself is the problem? What if the instruments of research, its language, its ethics, and its metrics, must be rebuilt altogether?

Works by thinkers, activists, and writers have opened up doors for conversations about Indigenous/Tribal epistemologies. Against the backdrop of the University Grants Commission's renewed focus on the Indian Knowledge System (IKS), the conference offers a much-needed space to reflect on what it means to learn from, rather than simply about, Indigenous/Tribal knowledge keepers.

The use of "Tribal" reflects the constitutional terminology of "Scheduled Tribe" in India, whereas "Indigenous" aligns with globally recognised and community-preferred language. This choice supports the international focus of the conference.

Themes and Subthemes

1. Indigenous/Tribal Worldview and Knowledge Systems

a) Perspectives of Cosmovision and Spiritual Beliefs

b) Diversity in Indigenous/Tribal Thought Systems

c) Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Sustainable Resource Management

d) Indigenous/Tribal Studies and Ecological concerns

2. Decolonizing Methodologies

a) Research Methods in Academia to Engage with Indigenous/Tribal Societies

b) Methodological Techniques and Challenges in Engaging with Indigenous/Tribal Societies

c) Research Ethics and Accountability in Indigenous/Tribal Studies

d) Autoethnography, Testimonio, Participatory Action Research-novel research approaches

3. Language, Signs and Symbols in Indigenous/Tribal Knowledge

a) Oral Cultures and Traditions

b) Languages and Sacred Texts as Knowledge Carriers

c) Symbolism and Ceremony

d) Literariness of Indigenous/Tribal rituals

4. Global Indigenous/Tribal Perspectives

a) Comparative Perspectives: Maori, Aymara, Native American, First Nations, Asia etc.

b) Commonalities and Differences in Indigenous/Tribal Research Approaches

c) Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Indigenous/Tribal Research Ethics

5. Expressions of Indigenous/Tribal Philosophy across Time and Form

a) Indigenous/Tribal values in literary/non-literary expressions

b) Understanding the concept of modernity through Indigenous/Tribal perspective

c) Exploring present resilience shaped by ancestral triumphs and struggles

d) Indigenous/Tribal literature as a way toward healing historical trauma

6. Identity and Marginalization

a) Construction of Indigenous/Tribal 'self' and critical reflexivity through literature

b) Indigenous/Tribal identity formations through lived experiences.

c) Queer discourse in Indigenous/Tribal literature/culture.

d) Disability representation in Indigenous/Tribal literature/culture.

Registration Fee

Research Scholars (without accommodation): ₹1000

Research Scholars (with accommodation): ₹2000

Faculty (without accommodation): ₹4000

Faculty (with accommodation): ₹4500

International Scholars: $75

Important Dates

Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 May 2025

Acceptance of Abstracts: 15 June 2025

Registration: 20 June 2025

Full Paper Submission: 31 July 2025

We invite original, unpublished and well-researched papers on the aforementioned themes and sub-themes from faculty members, independent researchers and research scholars enrolled in universities or research institutions. Each presenter will be allocated fifteen minutes for presentation and five minutes for discussion.

Provide your details and upload your abstracts (150 words) here: https://forms.gle/UhfboogZrpG5dWZ87

NOTES:

• The conference will be held exclusively in-person, with no online participation options available.
• For out-station paper presenters, accommodation will be arranged in the University Hostel or Guest House, subject to availability.
• Lunch and refreshments will be provided for all presenters during the conference days.
• No additional TA/DA will be provided.
• All presenters will be awarded certificates for their paper presentations.
• Selected papers will be published in a peer-reviewed journal with an ISSN number.

For any queries, please contact efluitprmconference@gmail.com