The tribal/​adivasi reality in India is a complex one; complex not in terms of social structure or systems, but in terms of numerous ethnicities that constitute the tribal reality. Any theoretical attempt to historicise such a reality would have to critically engage with this embedded diversity that characterises the tribes as a social grouping within Indian society. 

Contemporary debates concerning tribes/​adivasis in India are now being framed by tribal academics around a framework called pre and post Xaxa. This is posited by the Tribal Intellectual Collective India and is argued as fundamental to comprehension for any scholar who is interested in Tribal Studies. 

Within this framework, one of the key issues being theorised concerns tribal epistemology and the way it is conceived, conceptualised, and positioned. This talk is a critical reflection on the subject of epistemology, and attempts to problematise the perspectives and historical experience of the tribes in India within the said theoretical domain.