Understanding Marginalisation

Marginalisation corresponds to a long history of certain minority communities struggling for equality. But understanding what marginalisation means and how certain communities are referred to as marginalised is a complicated concept. Class 8 SST syllabus includes a chapter on ‘Understanding Marginalisation’ which aims to familiarise students with concepts like Adivasis, Minorites, Muslims, and safeguards methods to protect and develop them. This blog brings you the revision notes on Understanding Marginalisation as well as questions and answers.

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What is Marginalisation?

‘Marginalised’ as a term refers to those individuals or groups of persons in the social environment who are treated less important or fall under the category of lower sections in the society. As per Class 8 Understanding Marginalisation, ‘Socially Marginalised’ are those who are marginalised on the basis of if they speak a different language, follow different customs, belong to a different religious group from the majority community are not accepted by society. 

In other words, ‘Marginalised’ means to be forced to occupy the sides or fringes hence not be at the center of things.

• Socially excluded people are viewed with hostility and fear. 
• There is a sense of difference between different communities.
• There are also social, economical and political factors where certain groups are marginalised.

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Who are Adivasis?

The term originally refers to inhabitants –  communities who lived and often continue to live, in close association with forests. 8% of the Indian population are Adivasis. As per Class 8 chapter on Understanding Marginalisation, there are around 500 different groups of Adivasis in India. They are not among a homogeneous population.

• Most of the Industrial and mining areas of India are located in the Adivasis area.
• Orissa is for more than 60 different tribal groups. Also, they are found in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and in the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. 
• They have a different range of tribal religions like Shakta, Buddhist, Vaishnav, Bhakti, and Christianity, other than Islam or Hinduism. 
• Adivasis have their own languages, which were as old as Sanskrit. Santhali was spoken by a large number of people and had a huge publication.

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Adivasis and Stereotype

Stereotype as a characteristic has been imposed upon groups of people on the basis of race, sexuality, nationality, or orientation among them. You will learn more about how adivasis are stereotyped in Class 8 Understanding Marginalisation, here is a summary of this section:

• Adivasis are wrongly portrayed because in ways like colorful costumes, headgear, and through their dancing skills. 
• Blamed for their lack of advancement in society.
• They are also believed to be exotic, primitive, and backward.

Adivasis and Development

Forests play a crucial part in the development of various areas in India. For example, metal ores, medicinal herbs, diamond, animal products like wax or honey, coal, etc have all came from the forests. Adivasis are commonly the tribal communities that live near forests and rely on them for their livelihood. Here are the important pointers you must remember while understanding marginalisation from the perspective of Adivasis and development:

• The life of people is heavily dependant on forests which plays important role in providing the availability of the clearer quality of air and water. 
• Till the 19th century, Adivasis had all access to these vast tracts.
• All the empires were majorly dependant on forest resources. 
• They were once known as hunter-gatherers and nomads in the pre-colonial period. 
• They lived by shifting agriculture and cultivating in one place.
• For the past two hundred years, Adivasis have been forced through economic changes, forest policies, and political force applied by State to migrate as workers in plantations, industries, and as domestic workers.

Minorities and Marginalisation

The term minority refers to those communities that are numerically small in relation to the rest of the population. Let’s take a look at the features of Minority as elaborated in Class 8 Understanding Marginalisation:

• It confines the issues of power, access to resources and has social and cultural dimensions.
• Safeguards are required in order to protect minority communities against the possibility of being culturally overpowered by the majority. They also protect them against any discrimination or harm they may face.
• The Constitution provides these safeguards so that India remains culturally diverse and promotes equality as well as justice. 

Muslims and Marginalisation

13% of the Muslim community are marginalised in India. They have over the years been deprived of the benefits of socio-economic development, basic amenities, literacy, and public employment. Take a look at the revision pointers on this section under Class 8 Understanding Marginalisation:

• Muslim customs and practices such as wearing burqa and fez make them different from others and this is why they tend to be identified differently and are not like the rest of the Muslims. 
• This socially excluded Muslims in some instances has led to their migration from places where they have lived which leads to the ghettoization of the community. 
• Ghettoization: A ghetto is an area or locality that is largely populated by people of a particular community. This can be due to various social, cultural, and economic reasons.

Conclusion

In this chapter, we understood what exactly is marginalisation and communities that are socially marginalised. There are many different reasons for each of these communities being marginalised. Each community experiences marginalisation in different ways. Yet, the lives of a marginalised community of people can and do change.

Important Questions and Answers

Here are the important questions and answers for Class 8 Understanding Marginalisation:

This was all about the revision notes on Chapter 7 of Class 8 Understanding Laws. We hope you find this useful. Stay tuned to Leverage Edu for more such informative reads and check out our Class 8 study notes here!