Abstract

This study examines the lived experiences of the Bharia people of Patalkot with regard to ecology, society, and the modern school. The research methodology, attempting to keep the agency of the Bharia at the centre, has helped to evolve knowledge that is at once embedded and questioning. At the interface of the tribal and the non-tribal existences, like the market and the modern school, there are undercurrents of exploitation, alienation and a sense of being undervalued. The thriving forests of Patalkot enhance socio-cultural and ecological relationships of tribal society and help rethink development in terms of ecological restoration and egalitarian relationships, both of which are in decline in the contemporary phase of capital through liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation.