03/09/2023
By Alicia Weaver
Dayamani Barla, 2023 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies, will deliver the annual Day Without Violence Lecture "Jal (water), Jungle (forest), Zameen (land), Sangharsh (struggle): Stories of Adivasi Resistance and Survival" on Thursday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. in Coburn Hall, Room 255.
Dayamani Barla is an Adivasi (Indigenous) activist, journalist, writer and storyteller from Jharkhand, Central India. Known as The Iron Lady of Jharkand, she has been at the forefront of resistance against displacement and dispossession of Indigenous people from state violence, neoliberal development projects, and industrial expansion. Jharkhand is endowed with rich biodiversity and mineral wealth.
Adivasi people have been the traditional custodians and protectors of these rich resources commonly referred to as jal (water), jungle (forest), and zameen (land). Since India’s independence, uneven processes of industrialization (e.g., dams, mining, steel plants) sanctioned by the state and led by global conglomerates have displaced Adivasi people from their ancestral lands and systematically eroded their rights. Against this colossal scale of structural violence, Dayamani Barla has led mass movements to protect land, water, forests, and to uphold Adivasi people’s rights and voices.
For more information, or to join via livestream, please visit uml.edu/greeley.