Dipak K. Midya

The Ho: Ethnicity & Ritual Actions: the Case of an Indigenous People in India Dipak K. Midya

This book is based on the Ph. D. thesis entitled 'Dynamics of Sociopsychic Life of an Inmigrant Ethnic Group: A Study on Ethnicity and Ritual Actions', which was awarded with from Vidyasagar University in 2007. The study is based on an agrarian Ho community of Kendujhar District in the State of Orissa in India, who witnessed development-induced displacement from their traditional home and ultimately resettled in an industrial setup. The Ho is an indigenous people of India where they are also categorized as a Scheduled Tribe. The study tries to depict how ethnicity, traced through various ritual actions related to the annual festivals and life cycle of the Ho ethnic group, provided the community with survival strategy to cope with their problems in adaptation to an industrial environment. It analyzes various facets of ethnicity among the Ho from diachronic as well as multidimensional perspectives.