Latest report from the International Commission on the Futures of Education at UNESCO put forward a compelling case for a “new social contract for education that can repair injustices while transforming the future” which is built on ethic of care, reciprocity and solidarity (UNESCO, 2021). Challenging inequalities requires us to learn from past and understand the ways in which historic exclusions and oppressions have been firmly cemented and carried forward in and through education. Particularly in the context of network 7’s 30^th anniversary, I believe the insights from this research offers unique perspectives on strengthening justice in and through education by centering the lived experiences of Indigenous youth and will contribute towards network’s efforts towards collectively envisioning the future of social justice.

In my research carried out as part of PhD study, I move away from deficit view of Adivasis (Indigenous) and challenge injustices in public education of Adivasi students by examining how historic trends continue to play a role in the contemporary education system. Through this research I recognise, unpack and challenge the (in)justices in and through education by working with an Adivasi community called Soligas and the youth who are pushed out of the education system, often marginalised as ‘dropouts’. I do so by adopting a theoretical framing that helps in integrating the past injustices into analysis of the present situation facing Adivasis. The critical theoretical framework that I conceptualise hold value for educational research with marginalised communities within the contexts of rising nationalism and political rhetoric of ‘decolonising education’.

This research foregrounds lived experiences of Indigenous youth, and attends to Indigenous pedagogies, through an ethnographic study grounded in Indigenous and participatory approaches principles. I use a theoretical framing that combines decolonial (Quijano, 2007; Simpson, 2016; Tuck & Gorlewski, 2016) and anti-caste theory (Ambedkar, 2020). The combination of decolonial and anti-caste theory shines light on how coloniality/modernity, violence, injustices etc. affect dominant groups and marginalised populations like Adivasis and Dalits differently in the colonised nations. It helps identify and recognise the dangers of appropriating decolonisation to normalise the hegemony of dominant groups (Sajjanhar, 2022) and reinforce existing injustices in postcolonial India. Therefore, I use a combination of decolonial and anti-caste theory which offers framework that not only challenges colonial logics but also helps reclaim subaltern cosmologies of Adivasis who are marginalised in a caste-based society. Moreover, it also provides a critical analytical lens to understand the complexities of strengthening justice in and through education in the context of rising Hindu nationalism and appropriation of decolonising education.

Drawing from the intersection of critical Indigenous scholarship (Kovach, 2009; Simpson, 2016; Snow et al., 2016) and critical participatory scholarship (Ochocka & Janzen, 2014; Wakeford & Sanchez Rodriguez, 2018), this research grounds both Indigenous and participatory principles. I draw on Indigenous approaches by centering relationality. Relationality, here, is in terms of how critical Indigenous scholars theorise, that is, relationality as central to their ways of thinking, being and understanding the world (Wilson, 2008; Tynan, 2021). I ground this research in participatory approaches, by using a PAR framework (Ochocka & Janzen, 2014, p. 21) within ethnography as it helps address both relational as well as technical aspects of doing research and renders an action-oriented stance. Following the PAR framework of cyclical nature of research, this study was based on the research project conducted as a part of my Master dissertation (refer R Bhat (2022)). Hence, the research design, and the research questions are influenced by the previous research and the relationship I developed with the participants who are members of the community organisations Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivrudhi Sangha and Taluk Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha (SAS). One of the ways in which I practice relationality in research design is by honouring their perspectives and making their key concern regarding education of Soliga youth central to this research. One of the key issues that several members pointed out was their shared concern of Soliga youth ‘dropping out’ or, more accurately, being pushed out of the formal education system. I am placing their concern as a key issue for this research, and it informs the research questions for this study. Grounding both Indigenous and participatory approaches brought authenticity to the ethnographic study by providing a framework for centering Soliga ways of being and knowing. The resulting framework helped me engage reflexively with colonialities embedded in research processes (Udah, 2024) and immerse myself in the praxis of re-envisioning epistemologies that have been colonised (Zavala, 2016).

Findings of this study demonstrate ways in which colonialities of schooling play out in the everyday lives of Soliga youth. Through a decolonial analytical framing, this study highlights the systemic removal of Soliga youth from the education system marginalising them as “dropouts”. It shows how the idea of "lesser Adivasi child” is created and shines light on education as a site of (re)production of Brahminical-colonial caste and racial hierarchies. It theorises saviourism in education and calls for critical examination of its role in (re)producing deficit narratives of Soligas. It also shows how non-Adivasi educators, administrators, students, and the state tend to position themselves as benevolent saviour and the racialised representation of Adivasis as ‘uncivilised subjects’ without engaging with critical histories of racism and colonialism, and ongoing Adivasi dispossession and oppression in and through education. It shines light on systemic removal of Soliga youth from their ancestral landscapes in and through education and how epistemic injustice is at the core of how colonialities are (re)produced in education. Hence, the research argues for the centrality of Indigenous and caste-oppressed voices in shaping pedagogies for strengthening justice in and through education. Along with Soliga youth and community members, this study shows how Indigenous Soliga land-based pedagogy (LBP) can disrupt the colonialities embedded in education.

Ambedkar, B. R. (2020). CASTES IN INDIA. In V. Moon (Ed.), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: writings and speeches, vol 1. (Vol. 1, pp. 5-22). Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Govt. of India. https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/CPV/Volume1.pdf Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies : characteristics, conversations and contexts. University of Toronto Press. Kovach, M. (2010). Conversation Method in Indigenous Research. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 5(1), 40-48. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7202/1069060ar Ochocka, J., & Janzen, R. (2014). Breathing life into theory: Illustrations of community-based research: Hallmarks, functions and phases. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 7(1), 18-33. Quijano, A. (2007). Coloniality and modernity/rationality. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 168-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601164353 R Bhat, D. (2022). Laying methodological foundations for educational research with an Adivasi community [Masters dissertation, University of Bristol]. https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/352318284/Redacted_Final_2022_11_30_Bhat_D.R._MSc_Educational_Research.pdf Sajjanhar, A. (2022). The New Experts: Populism, Technocracy and Politics of Expertise in Contemporary India. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 52(4), 653-677. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2021.1934889 Simpson, L. B. (2016). Indigenous Resurgence and Co-resistance. Critical Ethnic Studies, 2(2), 19-34. https://doi.org/10.5749/jcritethnstud.2.2.0019 Snow, K. C., Hays, D. G., Caliwagan, G., Ford Jr, D. J., Mariotti, D., Mwendwa, J. M., & Scott, W. E. (2016). Guiding principles for indigenous research practices. Action Research, 14(4), 357-375. Tuck, E., & Gorlewski, J. (2016). Racist Ordering, Settler Colonialism, and edTPA:A Participatory Policy Analysis. Educational Policy, 30(1), 197-217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904815616483 Tynan, L. (2021). What is relationality? Indigenous knowledges, practices and responsibilities with kin. cultural geographies, 28(4), 597-610. https://doi.org/10.1177/14744740211029287 Udah, H. (2024). Decolonising Research for Justice: Ethical Imperatives and Practical Applications. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23, 16094069241294040. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241294040 UNESCO. (2021). Reimagining our Futures Together: A new social contract for education. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707 Wakeford, T., & Sanchez Rodriguez, T. (2018). Participatory action research: Towards a more fruitful knowledge. University of Bristol and the AHRC Connected Communities Programme. Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Fernwood Publishing. Zavala, M. (2016). Decolonial methodologies in education. Encyclopedia of educational philosophy and theory, 1-6.