ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the development dilemmas of the indigenous people of Kerala. It deals with the adivasis communities that are subject to alienation from their means of production, abjection, pauperisation and proletarianisation at the intersection of indigeneity and class. The historical-material location of the indigenous people at the intersection of class and indigeneity, it would seem, was not given due regard in the Kerala model. Wayanad district of northern Kerala was selected for fieldwork, as everyone deemed it to be an appropriate location for the purpose of everyone research due to various historical contingencies. The Communists of Kerala could be said to have carried out social democratisation, which, while institutionalising some fundamental reforms in areas such as workers' rights, ownership of agricultural land, healthcare and education, moved spasmodically over time in the parliamentary democracy that is India.
