Out of This Earth
East India Adivasis and the Aluminium Cartel

Out of the Earth: East India Adivasis and the Aluminium Cartel by Samarendra Das and Felix Padel, Foreward by Arundhati Roy (Paperback) (ISBN: 9788125041641)

Out of this Earth is a penetrating anthropological study that uncovers the hidden history behind mining projects in tribal areas of south Odisha. Capping its largest mountains are some of the world's best bauxite deposits, promising prosperity to one of India's poorest states. Entrenched capitalist notions of development collide with the locals' perception of metal factories as a new colonial invasion. Tribal people who have lived around them since history began, do not see these mountains as a resource to be exploited, but a source of life itself.

Meticulously researched, this seminal book brings to light the displacement and cultural genocide of adivasis, alongside hideous scams and pollution. It lays bare the complicated and bloody history of the aluminium industry, at the heart of the military-industrial complex. Out of this Earth is a penetrating anthropological study that uncovers the hidden history behind mining projects in tribal areas of south Odisha. Capping its largest mountains are some of the world's best bauxite deposits, promising prosperity to one of India's poorest states. Entrenched capitalist notions of development collide with the locals' perception of metal factories as a new colonial invasion. Tribal people who have lived around them since history began, do not see these mountains as a resource to be exploited, but a source of life itself.

Felix Padel is an anthropologist trained in Oxford and Delhi universities. He connects his life and work with that of his great-great grandfather, Charles Darwin.

Samarendra Das is an Odia writer, filmmaker and activist with the Samajvadi Jan Parishad (Socialists People's Council), trained in maths and computer science at Brahmapur and Indore universities.