Weekly Seminar: Indigenous Science of Nagaland’s Jhum cultivation

March 30, 2016

Dr. Abhinandan Saikia, Assistant Professor from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati spoke on the indigenous science of the shifting cultivation at the weekly seminar on March 29, 2016. The title of his talk was: “Idea of Innovation in Shifting Cultivation: Insights from Nagaland, India.”

Dr. Abhinandan Saikia began his talk with the discussion on ‘Innovation’ as a concept and an important component in every sphere of human society in the present times. He talked about how anthropologists believe that innovation leads to transformation in the entire structure of a system and for this reason ignore the innovations of indigenous people. Dr. Saikia’s lecture focused upon the major debate of the discourse of whether innovation really happens in an indigenous society? To argue his take on the debate, he discussed a case study from Nagaland and the indigenous knowledge system of shifting cultivation. He also elaborated on the debate involving the environmental sustainability of Jhum (shifting cultivation as locally known), given the challenges of Global warming & Climate Change in the contemporary era.