Jesuit Archives | ARSI | Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Rome

Writings by Rinald D’Souza on religion, society and the arts.

The Lived Contestations of Adivasi Catholic Identity-Making

In the mid-nineteenth century movement towards Christianity in Chotanagpur in central India, the missionary Constant Lievens (1856-1893) played a pioneering role in the establishment of the Catholic Mission among the Adivasis (indigenous peoples). Through Lievens’ legal advocacy, Adivasis not only adopted a faith, but also began to reclaim their lands and their indigeneity. Drawing on ethnographic research around the intercessory prayer for the beati_cation of Lievens, this paper analyses the present-day lived contestations of Adivasi Catholic identity-making. The paper argues that Adivasi Catholic identities are lived in contestation and continuous negotiation with their present realities, while also borrowing from the legacies of their own past struggles and their intermediaries.

Adeus Romuald. There is still so much more to do.

Romuald D’Souza SJ (1925-2019) was among the finest Jesuit educationists from Goa. Awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 for his contribution to education, Romuald had distinguished himself in the field of business management education first at the XLRI, Jamshedpur and later by founding two premier business schools: XIM, Bhubaneshwar and GIM, Goa. In his tribute to Romuald, Rinald D’Souza SJ contends how Romuald deployed his own spiritual heritage to influence his brand of business management education.