Cooperativism in Indigenous Culture and the Idea of Community Economy: Rethinking the Economic Space

Abstract

This paper deals with the capitalocentrism of political economy discourses and diverse forms of collective economic practices in indigenous communities as bulwark against the hegemony that capitalocentrism creates. It refers to some important cooperative experiments across the world and examines in detail the collective customary practices of the Rabhas, an indigenous community of Assam. Being a community that historically revolved around the collective, much of its politico-economic autonomy and customary practices were interrupted by colonial occupation. The community struggles to keep many of its customary community practices alive and, in the process, has creatively adapted them into many modern institutions.